Indian Comics Irregular #93

In Robert Silverberg's "The Gate of Worlds," his 1967 what-if novel,
the Turks dominate Europe and the Aztec Empire rules the seas.
Russia controls most of Asia, while England is a poor, backwater
country that has only recently thrown off Turkish rule.

How is that possible? Silverberg postulates a world where the Black
Death killed three-quarters of Europe, not one-quarter.
Consequently, Europe in 1500 was a "desolate, sickly land, forcibly
converted to Islam and suffering under Turkish misrule." When the
Turks conquered London, they renamed it New Istanbul; Shakespeare
wrote his literary masterpieces in Turkish.

As they travel together, the Aztec sorcerer Quequex tells the young
English narrator Dan Beauchamp what went wrong:

"The Black Death shattered Europe. We were granted the extra
hundred years we needed to make our power permanent. Today we
are the masters here, and the Incas in the south, and so it will
remain. You know, you white people might have conquered Africa
too. You have the seed of conquest within you. But Africa also
was spared your fury and its black kingdoms remain. Perhaps your
plague was the vengeance of the gods upon you, to teach you not to
invade other lands."

"But we are peaceful people," I protested. "Meek--kind--loving--
turning the other cheek--"

"Tragedy made you meek. But what were you like before the
plague? Do you know the story of your Crusades? How your
soldiers marched into Syria and Palestine as bloody conquerors?
That was what you were like."

"The Crusades had a religious purpose!"

"Did they? Oh, yes, you Christians wanted Christ's homeland for
yourselves. It belonged to others, but you stole it. And in the
same way you would have stolen Africa and our lands, all in the
name of holiness, if the gods had not broken you. You would have
come to us and forced your cross down our throats and killed our
kings and burned our temples. But you were prevented from doing
it! The gods sent you the plague, and then they sent you the
Turks! Instead of being masters, you were mastered!"

An implausible scenario? Perhaps. But as Jared Diamond explains in
"Guns, Germs, and Steel," Eurasia had several natural advantages over
Africa and the Americas. Civilization got a head start there because
of geographical and biological happenstance, not because its people
were inherently superior. See
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/westmyth.htm for more on Diamond's
theory.

If the Old World had an "unfair" advantage over the New World,
Silverberg's scenario removes it. He puts the hemispheres on a level
playing field. The result: Indians won the clash of civilizations.

In the book, incidentally, the Aztecs abandoned human sacrifice long
before the present--just as Europeans eventually abandoned stoning
witches and burning heretics at the stake. Comparing the Aztec
Empire then to a Western democracy now is as meaningless as comparing
a European monarchy then to the Mexican democracy now. Both are
apples-to-oranges comparisons.

Getting Ready to Roll

As always, thanks to the vendors who continue selling PEACE PARTY.
Cherokee Publications has just placed their eighth order, easily
making them our biggest distributor. Check out their merchandise at
http://www.cherokeepublications.com.

Meanwhile, artist "Big Man" Ron Fattoruso is back on board. He did
the drawings for PP #1 and is rarin' to do more. Stay tuned as we
gear up to bring readers more action and adventure.

Rob Schmidt
Blue Corn Comics