Ridley re teams with with artist Georges Jeanty “The American Way: Those Above and Those Below,” a six-issue sequel 2007’s “The American Way.” Set in 1972, the new Vertigo miniseries will blend historical events with contemporary racial issues, exploring a time “when social and political tensions in America were at an all-time high.”
“The American Way: Those Above and Those Below” tracks an alternate timeline in which costumed superheroes — once paragons of the Establishment — fall into disgrace during the turmoil of the 1960s following the Kennedy assassination, the Kent State shootings and the public’s growing cynicism over the lies of its leaders. Enter Jason Fisher, once known as the New American — one of the few “heroes” who still operates openly after the disbanding of the Civil Defense Corps (CDC), the former governmental agency that oversaw America’s greatest propaganda tool: its costumed heroes. Jason takes on a quixotic mission, championing the disenfranchised in inner-city Baltimore. Jason, however, finds both resistance and outright hostility from the very people he is trying to help, who see him not as a savior, but as a tool of the heavy handed police force that targets America’s young, black men through racial profiling. Jason’s dilemma: to uphold the law, or to serve the people. In 1972, you couldn’t always do both.
