Elon Musk: American oligarch
Cartoonist: Darryl Cunningham
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Release date: September 9, 2025
Elon Musk’s story includes some of the life twists and turns commonly associated with supervillains. Publicly, he starts out as an ally of sorts who wants nothing more than to revive space travel and bring humanity closer to Mars, while building “green” cars for the greater good. Stephen Colbert called him on the second episode of Late Night in September 2015 and had him ask if he was a superhero or a supervillain. At the time, his big plans for SpaceX and Tesla branded him a visionary, but he wasn’t entirely sure what the question would be.
For a moment, things tilted toward flawed superheroism. And a switch. Suddenly, it is revealed that he is a supervillain disguised as a realist, willing to use tax dollars to fund ideas for self-aggrandizement.
Cartoonist Darryl Cunningham has given people like Musk the comic treatment in books like “Putin’s Russia” and “Billionaires: Lives of the Rich and Powerful,” explaining the roots, development, and rise of their problematic ways. His latest book, Elon Musk: America’s Oligarch, feels like a natural next step in his trajectory as a creator of nonfiction comics. This is a story about predatory progress and how one man can dictate so much just by having access to money.
Elon Musk follows the titular figure from his childhood to his recent clash with the second Trump administration after his controversial and questionable work as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
This last part is more of an epilogue to the book’s larger story, focusing on Musk’s grandiose ambitions and his quest for authority and status among the elite. In doing so, we explore his dealings with billionaire Peter Thiel, his desperate attempts in the early days of SpaceX’s creation, and his controversial acquisition of Tesla through strategic stock ownership practices.
Cunningham is known for injecting a touch of dry humor into his precise examinations of subject matter, primarily to emphasize the absurdity inherent in the pursuit of power. This works well to reinforce his sharp criticism of Musk’s moral character and unethical views, especially about what the future should look like and whether the wealthy and powerful should ignore the law to achieve it.
The manga artist’s signature line art and use of solid colors brighten visual details and help text-heavy pages flow more easily. It also allows the reader to fill in the panels with images of masks and other characters he works with. These photos are plentiful online, especially in the form of memes and reels. It’s pretty hard not to see this guy’s face on social media or other types of visual media. As such, the art invites ample interpretation as the story unfolds, allowing us to apply our own assessment of the mask as we read.
Cunningham focuses firmly on a particular element of the story that veers this experience into deeply disturbing territory: Musk’s use and abuse of taxpayer money. Much of this has to do with the parts of the book that deal more directly with SpaceX and Tesla. Musk, an ardent supporter of the private sector’s ability to accelerate and further develop space travel and energy-efficient transportation, regularly sought government funding to keep projects going.
Everything fit into a pattern. Mr. Musk will raise money from his private interests, funnel it into rushed prototypes and startups already facing tight production deadlines, and then take refuge in government coffers for continued financial support.
I couldn’t help but feel furious while reading these sections. In two or three pages at a time, Mr. Cunnigham explained how taxpayer dollars quickly disappeared into ill-conceived plans that would have had a better chance of success if egos had not played such a large role in the early stages of each project. The current economic situation and what awaits us in the coming year can confuse the mind and cause a lot of frustration.
Sitting down to read Darryl Cunningham’s book is like bracing yourself to watch a classic documentary (by Errol Morris or Alex Gibney) that will change your perspective on the present, right after the credits roll. Cunningham joins Elon Musk in issuing an urgent warning to readers about the dangers of giving too much of society’s and corporate currency to one person. This is a book that helps us better understand what we’re aiming for in 2026, and should be considered essential reading for anyone looking to unravel the most puzzling behavior of the world’s richest men.
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