..By funding the GOP through the NRA, the Kremlin over the decades bought a US society awash in unregulated guns, and paid for the massacres that followed and that continue to this day. They did it for the propaganda value, with dead Americans as a bonus.

That IS an egregious tie!

I think the reason why there is such a focus on the evils of "work for hire" in comics (instead of voice acting, etc.) is that you can no longer put food on the table with comics. These characters are bringing in millions while their creators cannot pay for groceries or rent.

Or funeral expenses.