29: Hitler

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Hitler

Title text: So he's saying that God thought Hitler's art was so bad that the Holocaust was an acceptable alternative. It's no secret that the hat guy is closely based on Aram, from Men in Hats.

Explanation

Cueball speaks to an early version of Black Hat (with more of a top hat than his later "boater" hat style) about the Holocaust and Adolf Hitler. Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany beginning in 1933 and starting World War II in 1939 by attacking Poland. During that war, the Germans (under Hitler's leadership) killed millions of people; most of them were Jews, but other ethnic groups, homosexuals, and the mentally disabled were all targeted as well. This has come to be known as the Holocaust.

Black Hat's comment that Hitler wanted to be a painter, but did not get into art school, is historically accurate. He applied to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts twice. In any event, Cueball implies in the second frame that had Hitler been accepted into art school, the course of history might have changed, and the Holocaust might never have occurred. Black Hat suggests that perhaps God intentionally prevented Hitler from becoming an artist because God is an "art lover" and Hitler's art was terrible.

As with other early comics, the title text explains the comic for us: this implies that God would have preferred the Holocaust to have occurred rather than allow Hitler to make some bad paintings. Such a comment that God could be so callous would surely be offensive to many people. Cueball's reaction to this shocking statement is relatively mild and suggests that Black Hat has made such controversial statements before. He will make a similarly controversial and Nazi-related statement again in 984: Space Launch System.

The title text also informs the reader that Black Hat is based on a character named Aram from a now-defunct comic strip entitled Men in Hats. In the original quote when this comic was posted on LiveJournal (see Trivia) Randall directed the user to a specific Men in Hats comic about parenting. Like Black Hat, Aram seems to have frequently made judgmental, insulting, or controversial comments in a very emotionless manner. Aram wore a grey (perhaps intended to be black) suit with a red bowtie and a black top hat with a white strip above the brim. Black Hat's hat clearly evolved from the top hat design later in xkcd.

This may be the comic where Black Hat truly comes into existence for the first time. He appears earlier in 12: Poisson, but that was actually first released more than a month later. Then there is also 24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey, released a good month earlier. But here Black Hat does not really resemble his later appearances.

Transcript

[Black Hat and Cueball are talking together in the same position in all four panels.]

Cueball: Learning about the Holocaust has really shaken my belief in God.

Black Hat: You know, as a young man, Hitler was rejected from art school.

Cueball: Yeah... shame he didn't get in.

Black Hat: Well, have you seen any of his paintings? They're awful. Defy all rules of composition.

Cueball: What are you suggesting?

Black Hat: Maybe there is a god, but he's a real art lover.

Cueball: This is why I don't go out in public with you.

Trivia

• This was the 31st comic originally posted to LiveJournal.
  • The previous was 34: Flowers.
  • The next was 28: Elefino.
• Original title: "Friday's Drawing - Hitler"
• Original quote from Randall: "Yes, it's entirely possible that those two are Aram and Gamal."
  • The link is to a specific comic from the comic Men in Hats.
• This comic was posted on xkcd when the web site opened on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
  • It was posted along with all 41 comics posted before that on LiveJournal as well as a few others.
  • The latter explaining why the numbers of these 41 LiveJournal comics ranges from 1-44.
• One of the original drawings drawn on checkered paper.

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Discussion

I was born in the sixties of the last century, just into a new Germany. I can joke about Hitler, but sentences should be correct. An awful history which still does happen nowadays.--Dgbrt (talk) 22:46, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

Black Hat doesn't know what he's talking about. Hitler is actually a good artist. --ITErsoy (talk) 01:31, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

His art had no soul. They were in essence, forgeries of art that hasn't been done. The painting looks fine, but there's no depth. Take it from me, I'm an art student. 141.101.99.122 11:06, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

I feel uneasy with saying most of them were jews. Most of those killed where men, and more likely, german men. Hitler lead an aliance with Mussolini (Italy), the Croats (who massacred the serbs in methods that disgusted even the german concentration camp leaders) and others. I think you should make it clear it was *Naszi* Germany. I think you should link to the wikipedia page on the holocaust, Nazis, and Hitler, because the explanation made here can be taken as oversimplified/childish. 141.101.99.122 11:06, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

-Way after the fact here, but the Holocaust had nothing to do with Mussolini or the Serbs. Neither did the US and UK have anything to do with Stalin's brutality of his people. The comic specifically stated the Holocaust, which was committed against more Jews than all other ethnic group combined. To say the Holocaust was mostly focused on the killing of Jews is quite accurate historically and in no way is it childish. 173.245.56.130 00:03, 17 October 2015 (UTC)

I just googled Hiter's paintings and he was actually a very good artist! Keavon (talk) 00:13, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

Yea, but did you know that Hitler wrote the 2 sequels to The Matrix? (though not the original, obviously.) Taking that into account, I think we'll agree that a capricious enough god could object violently to whatever nonsense was motivating his work 🤔 [ User:00N8 ]

Disambiguation

The trivia section should be disambiguated, it implies either Black Hat or Hitler have been mentioned before, and that they just haven't been together before this comic. I can do stuff! (talk) 04:06, 29 January 2024 (UTC)