Obviously the big news this week has to be the Captain America redesign. It’s definitely got a lot of people talking. Chris from 2 Guys Buying Comics doesn’t like it:
Look, the “classic” Cap costume we’re all familiar with is patently ridiculous, over-the-top, and totally awesome.
This thing makes Captain America look like… well frankly it makes him look like U.S. Agent (which, for the uninitiated, is not a good thing).
I’m struggling with the point of all this, since it’s been confirmed that this isn’t Steve Rogers anyway. (Which pushes this even farther into U.S. Agent territory.)
Jeff Wetherington of Athena Guides: Comics appears fairly laid back about the change:
The new Captain America looks like a cross between Cap, the Silver Surfer (oooooh shiny) and Union Jack with all that armament on him. The gun and dagger are not what I think of when I think of Captain America, but I always like Alex Ross’ work and this is no exception. Still, I’m convinced that Marvel will return to the iconic costume when Steve Rogers is finally resurrected.
Nima Yousefi of Equinox of Insanity considers symbolism:
The original Captain America was created as a symbol of our fight against the Nazis. He was the personification of our ideals; that even in a struggle against a pure and relentless evil we would never cede our beliefs in liberty and justice. He didn’t need guns or knives; all he needed was a shield. Correction, an indestructable shield. The symbolism is as obvious as it is poetic. He was a reflection of the American soul.
Sadly, the new Captain America strikes me as a reflection of the new American soul. He represents an America that believes that we need to be just as vicious as our enemies, that we should hunt down and kill our enemies before they can do us harm, and that we can still maintain moral superiority simply by virtue of who we are, rather than what we do.
And our own Carla Hewitt considers other aspects:
Now, when talking about this at the store with my illustirous and savvy fellow employees, I got into the fact that should Bucky accept the role that’s been set for him as the new Captain America, this is some good story. For one, think about this: ever since he was a kid, he’s never really been his own man, startring out as a mascot for the WWII war effort, then manipulated into the Winter Soldier… and now given this new hat to wear as an American icon? Mind you, there’s no terrible communism or torture involved, but still, it’s a lot to think about and digest.
Plus, there would be no way that Bucky would want to wear the traditional Captain America uniform. The man was like a father to him, this shining exemplar of everything Bucky knew was right and good and all that… it’d be uncomfortable for a man like him to step into the same mold because it simply wouldn’t measure up. It’d be like wearing your dead father’s old suit, creepy and way too uncomfortable, I said, then realized once again why I think Brubaker knocks it out of the park for me.
I was worried about the way a character would feel about a change in costume.
So what do you think?
October 13th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
I think Carla has pretty much got it right. If it’s Bucky (which is my guess) then most of the changes flow out of his character, which is the way it should be. I don’t really like the way the outfit looks, but things like the excessive black and the weapons are just part of the “Bucky trying to live up to Cap’s legacy” motif.
October 13th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Seconding Carla Hewitt’s opinion as well here. If she’s right, it all makes perfect sense for the character as we’re about to know him.
Hoping it’s a long trip with this incarnation…
October 13th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
I think it all depends on who’s wearing the suit. Obviously whoever it is has some respect for Steve Rogers otherwise they wouldn’t care about wearing his suit. If Rogers was coming back and wearing this new suit I’d be upset. But since we’ve been told its not, I’m willing to wait and see who it is and how it comes to be.
And even though I’m hoping its Bucky, I have a feeling Brubaker may pull a fast one on us and come out of left field with the new Cap coming from Nick Fury, using a Steve Rogers LMD to fill the suit. Not my first choice but it would make for an interesting story … no?
October 13th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
What’s an LMD?
October 13th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Nima Yousefi is wrong. The original Captain America did use guns; see the cover for Captain America #41 as an example. As a result his analogy between the actual U.S. and its symbol Captain America similarly falls apart and is a mere projection of his own personal beliefs on current U.S. foreign policy. He also glosses over the number of German, Italian, and Japanese nationals killed with very real guns and knives in defense of liberty and freedom.
I really wish young bloggers would do just a little research before deciding “how it is” and “what it means”.
Careful research defeats young willfulness again, Grasshopper.
But for the sake of fun let’s run his analogy through after we’ve fact-checked it:
The new Captain America is symbolic of America’s recent return to it’s basic values and beliefs. Just as the Golden Age Captain America was willing to kill in defense of liberty and freedom so too does the modern Captain America stand ready to use any means to defend America against it’s many enemies. Just as America currently sends it’s fighting men to thwart anarchy and Islamic fascism so too does the new Captain America come at his enemies armed and ready to fight for freedom.
See Nima Yousefi’s analogy still works wonderfully once it conforms to the facts about Captain America and his history.
Mr. Yousefi should feel free to correct his factually errant blog post and has my permission to use his new fixed analogy at no cost to him.
October 14th, 2007 at 12:27 am
Whatever the case may be, it seems Mr. Brubaker is going to continue giving us captivating stories.
October 14th, 2007 at 12:28 am
Or del gorky you could just point out that in the REAL WORLD we used guns and knives and huge personal sacrifice to defeat evil. Our ideals? How does he think this country came into being? Liberty and justice were served through the barrel of a gun. Why do people insist that war is supposed to somehow be tame and bloodless? Talk about ignorance!
October 14th, 2007 at 12:46 am
Captain America has become a fantasy for people who want to be seen as innocent and pacifistic, but also want to wallow in violence and war glory.
It’s a despicable belief, and an insult to those who had have had to deal with true, messy reality whether, before, during or after the WW2.
October 14th, 2007 at 3:16 am
Nima Yousefi is grade a maroon. As was pointed out, historically Steve Rogers DID use guns in WWII. And he was AT WAR, of course Cap killed.
As far as I’m concerned Cap should be willing to kill today, it would make the character less of a jingoistic idealistic goofball, and more of a threat. Cap is a SOLDIER.
Which is not to say he’s a cold blooded murderer, but he should be a killer, and it should bother him.
But like any soldier, he has to be able to kill. Especially in a world where the bad guys are often more powerful than he is. It’s his equalizer. It would make him more than the “God Of Winning” as someone once put it. Cap should be willing to kill someone to save innocent lives. I’m tired of him(and many other super heroes) being neutered by pacifistic writers who can’t conceive of writing a sympathetic killer.
It also hints at a distaste for the military, because that’s what a soldier does, he kills when he has to, to keep himself from being killed, to keep his compatriots from being killed.
October 14th, 2007 at 3:47 am
The new costume looks like Bucky wearing a skin tight Captain America poncho.
I think the US Agent analogy hits the nail on the head. Though I’d hit that nail harder.
It’s worse than any of the US Agent’s outfits. And that includes his Force Works costume.
October 14th, 2007 at 10:38 am
I don’t object to change at all, and more power to Marvel and Brubaker for injecting some life into the franchise…but anybody who thinks this is a permanent change, well, wanna buy the bridge Gwen Stacy got tossed from?
October 14th, 2007 at 11:05 am
As ever, it’s easy to bleat and scream about sacrifice and killing to preserve freedom when you’re sitting comfortably behind a keyboard bitching on a comics blog, while real people are dying far, far away from you.
Cap the WWII soldier did indeed kill. Cap the modern hero (until very recently) did not kill. There’s a simple explanation for this: As Cap became less of a soldier and more of a legend, an ideal, an example for people to aspire to, he proved that you could defeat your enemies without sinking to their level. He opposed killing because he wanted the heroes he fought alongside to be better than those whom they opposed.
Steve Rogers has killed a few characters in modern times. Not only the classic issue where he shot the ULTIMATUM terrorist, but at the end of the Rieber/Cassady arc, he killed the lead terrorist by punching him so hard he broke his neck. He also killed (or at least let die) a few HYDRA agents at the beginning of Brubaker’s tenure on the book. Both of these instances were used to point out that Steve wasn’t firing on all cylinders–the first was an unavoidable choice that prompted him to go public with his identity, and the second was a symptom of his anger over the death of Hawkeye and the dissolution of the Avengers.
I don’t have a problem with Cap killing people, but make no mistake–Steve Rogers stopped killing because he knew Cap had to stand for something better. This new Cap, who in all likelihood is Bucky/The Winter Soldier, is probably going to revert to the soldier model of Cap, who killed as necessary. The story will no doubt explore whether or not that makes him worthy of being Cap, and indeed, what Cap is really about these days.
October 14th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
I say we call him Capt. Bling Bling or The Chrome Captain of Bling(CCB). Or, the Chromium Guardian.
October 14th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
LMD = Life Model Decoy. It’s a SHIELD robot that looks like a particular person and makes an easy out when they want to bring back someone who died. “That wasn’t really Cap, that was an LMD.”
October 15th, 2007 at 4:37 am
As I indicated in the post that Nima cited, Steve Rogers developed a strict no-killing policy. It’s what separated him from being a primary-color-clad version of the Punisher.
Is the new Cap operating sans-scruples, or is he just out to kneecap some b*tches? Either way, the Captain America mantle and firearms do. Not. Belong. Together.
This is a sad (and very shiny) metaphor for what our country has become. Very depressing.
October 15th, 2007 at 8:56 am
“Is the new Cap operating sans-scruples, or is he just out to kneecap some b*tches?”
Have you been reading the comic?