MSM and 'Captain America' Again

In what shouldn't be a surprise at all, the Mainstream Media is giving ink to Marvel's resurrection of Captain America.
THIS incarnation of the "Living Legend of World War Two" has an odder history than usual, even for comic characters.
Follow me back to the "Golden Age of Comic Books" below the fold.

My friend, the late Jack Kirby, and his still-living partner Joe Simon created a number of Superheroes throughout their careers in comics. During the late 30's/early 40's they often followed the once-popular convention of young, almost always male, sidekicks assisting the super-humans.
Jules Feiffer said of Robin, the Boy Wonder: God, how I hated him!
As Jack Kirby and Stan Lee undertook the successful revival of Marvel Superheroes in the early 60's, they tried a sidekick named Rick Jones, who was involved in the Incredible Hulk saga. The whole riff was passe, and they knew it soon enough.
When Marvel's Avengers found Captain America in suspended animation, the back-story was that his WWII sidekick Bucky Barnes had been killed in Cap's previous adventure, which gave the reanimated relic some moments of fashionable angst and 60's-style psycho-drama. Artist Jim Steranko even tried making Rick Jones his partner for a VERY short time. I wasn't reading comic books when Cap had yet a THIRD junior sidekick.
Two generations after Captain A's revival, the Arctic ice gave up corporeal Bucky Barnes himself as the Soviet Winter Soldier -- now he's wearing the stars and stripes again.
As Jack said to me, and it bears repeating: "Marvel can use Captain America for a hundred years!"

McCarthyite Captain America & Bucky in 1954. (Inset) Bucky Barnes as the Soviet Union's Winter Soldier two generations later, soon to take over Captain America's job, after DYING for the chance over 50 years ago.

One ironic note in Captain America's publishing history is that this character, and his "dead" partner were used as a shrill, Anti-Communist hit team in a short-lived series circa 1953-54. Stan Lee was the writer/editor, and John Romita did the artwork. (See illustration)
This team would later take Spider Man to the heights of popularity a decade later, but THIS Captain America/Bucky team were rank McCarthyite thugs -- when Marvel reprinted a couple of these stories during their heyday, the fans let them know how displeased they were at the coarse, intolerant, and frankly stupid attitudes expressed in them.
The irony was how Marvel was still persecuted by those same rabid right-wingers they had cringed before in these pages. We 60's fans all knew how Lee and his cousin/publisher Martin Goodman were investigated by Congress soon after printing this crap, and submitted to a so-called Comics Code Authority, rather than be censored from  outside their industry.

•  Tip Jar for Captain A

  I hope the B team does OK

  by MT Spaces on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 10:52:19 AM PDT

  •  Goodbye Mr. A

    http://music.clevver.com/...

    (great music video by the Hoosiers)

    by XStryker on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:07:18 AM PDT

    •  Eeeek! Mister A ...

      ... was a creation of the ultra-talented, but cantankerous Steve Ditko.
      This character was straight out of Ayn Rand -- humorless to a fault.

      CAPTAIN "A" largely had a plodding good humor about him -- let's hope Captain B laughs a little too.

      by MT Spaces on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:20:17 AM PDT

•  Too much backstory? Too little?

  As a casual comic-reader, I don't really understand what your point is here.  Guess I'll wander elsewhere . . . .

  by ajbrown on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:00:38 AM PDT

  •  Just a little media history ...

    ... casual stuff at best.
    The McCarthyite Cap is important for the historic early Romita/Lee collaboration, though.

    by MT Spaces on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:09:57 AM PDT

    •  I'll read anything that's not a candidate diary

      nowadays, so thanks for posting!

      by ajbrown on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:15:58 AM PDT

•  Rick Jones

  Hey, give the kid a little credit. He DID save the universe during the Kree-Skrull war. Sidekick to Cap, to Hulk, and to Mar-Vell.

  A better career than Snapper Carr.

  The upcoming big crossover for Marvel is "Secret Invasion," in which we discover that the superhero community has been infiltrated by shape-shifting Skrulls posing as various heroes.

  I'm wondering if we'll see a retcon in which the murdered Steve Rogers was actually a Skrull.

  by Elwood Dowd on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:03:32 AM PDT

  •  Oh good call.

    I'm stupid for not seeing that. Of course!

    by XStryker on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:05:21 AM PDT

  •  I prefer ...

    Irving Forbush

    MT Spaces
    (Permanent Marvelite Maximus, MMMS Member)

    by MT Spaces on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:15:01 AM PDT

•  Thanks for the history rundown

  but I'm missing what the MSM has to do with this. Or whether or not Cap's McCarthyite past is reflected in the character/mantle today. Certainly Ed Brubecker's writing is more nuanced than the Silver-Age and pre-Silver-Age version of Cap.

  I liked how the Civil War plotline showed Cap defending Civil Liberties, and how the whole "Negative Zone" prison thing was kind of a commentary on Guantanamo. And I think the Thunderbolts' role in this mirrors that of Blackwater - we're paying villains to help us.

  I look at it from a different perspective - the partner becomes the hero. Not "a" hero (like Nightwing), but "the" hero. It would seem more meaningful to me if Marvel didn't constantly revive people (like Bucky himself, long the gold standard for characters whose death was considered unreverseable).

  Marvel and DC alike will continue rebooting their signature characters to "reintroduce" them to new (and more naive) fans, over and over again. The only thing that can kill a character is a lack of interest, and yet we STILL get a new Moon Knight book every few years or so.

  by XStryker on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:04:44 AM PDT

  •  Just giving ink ...

    ... to a fantasy character.
    It helps the comics industry, though.

    by MT Spaces on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:06:53 AM PDT

•  Yes, I heard Brubaker interviewed

  on Morning Edition this week.

  by Elwood Dowd on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:09:09 AM PDT

•  DC's killing off the New Gods, too

  Bad year to be a Kirby creation.

  by Elwood Dowd on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:15:52 AM PDT

  •  Darkseid can NEVER die.

    The Hunger Dogs will hound DC until they relent (again).

    by MT Spaces on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:24:09 AM PDT

•  What will be interesting

  is Bucky's lack of Super Soldier Serum. To offset this, Marvel has Captain America packing heat along with his shield. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this yet... Steve Rogers is nigh irreplacable.

  by dantes on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:23:48 AM PDT

  •  A blood transfusion ...

    ... during World war II should have done it.
    (They are both Type AB, ya' know.)

    Artificially reviving Zombie-Bucky should put some viggah in his Viagra too.

    by MT Spaces on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:27:30 AM PDT

  •  Hey, don't forget Bucky's metal arm!

    Not that I'm really into Winter Soldier taking over the role either. It's an interesting question though, is it the suit, or is it the person? Can anyone else but Rogers be the "true" Captain America?  The Flash has changed, Green Lantern... quite a few on the DC side.

    There's been a rumor floating around that DC was going to kill off Bruce Wayne. Could someone else be Batman?

    My answer's no, but that's just me.

    by pakaal on Sun Feb 03, 2008 at 10:02:24 PM PDT

•  Okay, now that I've recced this

  I want an in depth Wonder Woman diary, focusing the hazards of pre-New Age men writing for the first prominent super heroine.

  I've always liked the Perez Wonder Woman, but every time I try to go back through the older stories of Wonder Woman I cringe and blush at the bizarre themes that showed up in those issues.  Bondage themes were possibly the mildest stuff.  I hate how she always had to be saddled with Steve Trevor, even to the point of having him brought back from the dead.

  It's kind of funny.  DC conveniently forgot the Catwoman: Her Sister's Keeper, where Selina Kyle was reset as a prostitute forced into fetish/dominatrix work by her lover/pimp.  I thought it was a great story, but apparently DC couldn't handle that particular back story.  Tres ironic coming from a company that has entire stable of female characters in skin tight spandex and other revealing outfits.

  by Fabian on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:42:33 AM PDT

  •  Start with Gloria Steinem's ...

    ...essay circa 1970 that helped re-launch the costumed version of the character.
    Wading into the psychology of W.W. is like exploring a battlefield -- there's razor wire, unexploded ordinance, booby traps ...

    

    Wonder Woman 199 (just before she re-donned her costume)
    Art by Jeff Jones

    by MT Spaces on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:57:03 AM PDT

    •  That could easily be a HellBlazer cover.

      Except that Constantine covers were a little more subtle.  A hardcore horror comic with covers more understated than Wonder Woman?  Go figure.

      Always got a kick out of the early Teen Titan comics because Donna Troy, Wonder Girl easily outclassed most, if not all of her male team mates.  The cheesy 70s dialogue added that je ne sais quoi as well.

      Oh, and you forgot badly dated fashion as well.  At least CatWoman had an .... interesting sense of style.  I was always partial to the caped outfit with the skirt slit up to her hip on either side.

      by Fabian on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 12:05:02 PM PDT

  •  Her creator

    William Moulton Marston, was a psychologist who invented the lie detector. I believe he lived with his wife and mistress.

    by Elwood Dowd on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 12:24:56 PM PDT

    •  He was an interesting figure.

      And his fascination with certain subjects does show.

      But most of my beefs have to do with male writers being apparently clueless about writing for a female lead.  It's as if the idea of a solo woman was simply unfathomable.  How many male heroes have had their paramours resurrected more than once?  Even once?

      by Fabian on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 12:32:12 PM PDT

      •  Problem of the times....

        There just weren't many women comic book writers. He (Marston) was pretty obviously a little too fond of those scenes where Wonder Woman got all tied up in ropes and such, but give him credit for saying 'hey, there should be a superhero that women can look up to', at least that's what I've heard.

        by pakaal on Sun Feb 03, 2008 at 10:07:08 PM PDT

    •  Not to mention his fellow DC staffer ...

      ... Dr. Frederick Wertham who made a name for himself running down the Comics.

      by MT Spaces on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 12:59:03 PM PDT

      •  Billy Mumy's rock band

        Seduction of the Innocent.

        by Elwood Dowd on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 01:08:29 PM PDT

      •  Wertham?

        He worked at DC? I only know him from his Comics Code Authority years and the frenzy about EC's gore.

        by pakaal on Sun Feb 03, 2008 at 10:09:36 PM PDT

•  Karl Wagner's "Kane" ...

  ... had a "reanimated" mistress, and I'll skip the details -- One of the creepiest stories in the Fantasy genre.

  by MT Spaces on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 12:53:37 PM PDT

•  Then There's Huckabee and his "Spider-Man" thang.

  Don't know if you keep up on S-M but as a comics fan these stories stick out at me - I just thought to myself, if there's anyone who I would expect not endorse Huckabee, it would be Peter Parker. The character isn't any more religious than any of the other Marvel characters (Kurt Wagner aside, and a few others perhaps), and I doubt as a scientist and a science teacher he'd appreciate Huckabee's endorsement of Creationism in public school.

  But it was a friend of mine who pointed out another interesting problem with Huckabee accepting the endorsement. Just last month Parker made a deal with Mephisto to save his aunt May's life. Somehow I doubt that would play well with Huck's constituency....

  by pakaal on Sun Feb 03, 2008 at 09:52:19 PM PDT