I find it funny that this article, about Marvel’s latest comic collaboration with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, gets caught up in questions of continuity — namely, that Captain America isn’t resurrected for this special issue. No, the Sentinel of Liberty only appears in The New Avengers: The Spirit of America in a videotaped message, like a dead uncle bequeathing his estate to ungrateful relatives:
The story begins with Captain America on a videotape asking his fellow Avengers to protect a soldier serving overseas and her brother, a National Guard member stationed in the U.S., from a terrorist organization.
“As this story shows, the positive values he has stood for since the ’40s are still very much alive in the brave men and women serving in our military,” Sabouni said.
Marvel Comics previously announced that another person will take over the “mantle” of Captain America early next year. His identity has not been revealed, and the costume will be revised, said Michael Pasciullo, Marvel’s vice president of merchandising and communications.
Those in the comic book industry say Captain America’s first-time appearance since his death, plus the military story line, will stir demand for “Spirit of America.”
“When I let people know, there will be a big outpouring of support for Captain America and the military,” said Cherry Lewis, manager of Cosmic Comics in Grand Prairie, near Dallas.
One million copies of The New Avengers: The Spirit of America, the fifth in a series made exclusively for the military, began being distributed over the weekend on bases worldwide.
November 12th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
i certainly would like to get a copy………….
November 12th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
who’s the writer/artist team?
November 12th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Wow… that’s a very cool idea. It’s good to see Marvel doing something special for our military.
-D
November 12th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
wait, did they say they are redoing the uniform again? no more knife and gun?
November 12th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Yes, Sylar, and Steve and Tony are BFFs and Scott finally left the X-Men for the Avengers.
November 12th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
The creative team:
writer – Stuart Moore
penciller – Cliff Richards
inker – Joe Pimentel
colorist – A. Street
My PX actually had these weeks ago. I enjoyed it.
November 12th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
now i know !
November 13th, 2007 at 11:39 am
groan…..more blatant comic book war propaganda. “remember to support your country’s illegal wars of attrition!”.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Benrama – It’s done for the TROOPS, not the war. Similar to what the WWE does every year. The “war” is a joke, but the human beings I think we can stand to be behind…
November 14th, 2007 at 2:10 am
I have read all 5 of these AAFES/MARVEL specials. Several of them while I was derving downrange. SO I take great offense to Benrama’s comments about the comic and the war. I watch my soldiers put their lives on the line everyday for a war they dont necessarily agree with but do support. If you ever served and ever went over there (and I dont mean watching some FX series or renting a movie about it) you would also see a society so pressured by their former regime and their religious masters that they live such desolate and empty lives. Most of them are glad we came. Now they get a chance to have medicine, education, and a slowly building sense of national pride and security.
And I get free comics now and then to show me that a company, one that I have been buying from since I was 8, actually has some concern for me and my troops. Nothing in that book told me to go fight the war, nothing said anything about how evil Iraq, Al Quida or anything else is. Heck the terrorist group was aim and they were ROBOTS. Ive cleared lots of rooms, captured many insurgents, and never were they with AIM or robotic in nature.
The book just reminds us that there are people, for whatever reason, who risk their lives everyday and that they have family. And some of them have family who are also risking their lives everyday. My brother is in Iraq. My fiance is coming back from Iraq tomorrow. One of my best friends since 5th grade is there right now as well. Other friends will be there within the next year as might I be. So keep your self indulgent hatred to yourself and focus on what this is about. Someone made a comic to support troops.
I suppose if they made a Katrina relief comic it would be to “support the wellfare state or New Orleans?”
November 14th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
“I watch my soldiers put their lives on the line everyday for a war they don’t necessarily agree with but do support”
And this is admirable why, exactly?
How does killing people in service to an unjust invasion simply because you’ve been told to qualify as noble conduct?
“If you ever served and ever went over there (and I dont mean watching some FX series or renting a movie about it) you would also see a society so pressured by their former regime and their religious masters that they live such desolate and empty lives. Most of them are glad we came. Now they get a chance to have medicine, education, and a slowly building sense of national pride and security.”
Keep telling yourself that long enough, bub, and you may actually start to believe it.
Or face reality:
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
Your occupation is a crime under international law. It is mass murder on an obscene scale.
You are not humanitarians. You are brutal conquerors. You do not deserve support or admiration for what you have done and are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
You are not doing good for the Iraqi people.
You are there for the benefit Halliburton and the oil companies and the neoconservative agenda of global domination.
No doubt German soldiers in WWII were given comforting rationalizations for invading and destroying.
And imperialists have always said their conquests were for the good of the conquered. The rape and pillage of the Americas and Africa were about bringing Christianity to the Americas, right?
As for the insurgency, you are directly responsible for it. It’s a reaction to you. No US invasion, no insurgency. Stop acting like you are Iraq’s protector. This was NEVER about protecting the Iraqi people. This was about invading their country and beating them into submission to steal their oil and create a permanent US military presence on their land.
Oh, and the “it’s for the soldiers” line is bs. “Serving” in Iraq is a crime against humanity, and the only option for an ethical person is to refuse to participate.
The soldiers may be fine people as individuals but they are NOT admirable for their “service”. We can sympathize with the fact that they were lied to and manipulated. We can focus on telling them that, and presenting them wit the clear, unfiltered information their “superiors” (a term I use loosely) will never provide them.
Wanna help the soldiers? Tell them to go AWOL. Give them resources on how to declare conscientious objector status. Trying to make them feel they are doing a good thing helps no one. It’s be like making a comic targeted at drug addicts trying to make them feel good about their drug problems.
It’s sad that Marvel has gone from publishing books like 311 to being a shill for imperialism. Their Army product placement ads are a disgrace. Oh, well, there’s probably good money in it, and that’s all that matters, right?
So much for “with great power comes great responsibility”…
November 14th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
So I assume you have been there? You have talked face to face with these people? You have seen the carnage and been victim of attacks from the insurgency? Or do you tout your right to opinion based on internet sources and time magazine?
When my soldiers risk their lives it is not necessarily in the “killing people in service to an unjust invasion” as many of them build wells, electrical service plants, schools, hospitals and homes. You do realize that the army and other military forces have more then just “mindless killing machines” and also employ doctors, carpenters, photographers and many other professional skills and occupations.
But this is neither the proper place or time for this discussion. If you are so sick and disgusted with the way the “western world” works you are more then welcome to abandon it and move away.
November 15th, 2007 at 8:29 am
viper – yes we are aware that the military employs more than just hired thugs, killers and murderers. the doctors, engineers, carpenters are all helping the military industrial complex in their own way. you are obviously biased on this issue, so you sound like an nra member touting the virtues of handgun ownership – you clearly don’t have an objective perspective on the issue. not to mention you probably believe 911 was perpetrated by a few goonz in a cave. thats the equivalent of arguing world geography when you have a pro-flatworld stance.