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Comic book Politics
Oct. 14th, 2010 10:04 amHPBooks run again, so that means comic book time! I picked up:
CAPTAIN AMERICA #33 “The Death of Captain America Act 2, The Burden of Dreams Part 3”(Brubaker/Epting)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #603 “The Two Americas Part 2” (Brubaker/Ross)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #604 “The Two Americas Part 3” (Brubaker/Ross)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #605 “The Two America Conclusion” (Brubaker/Ross)
THE MARVELS PROJECT (Brubaker/Epting)
SECRET WAR Book 1 of 5 (Bendis/Dell’Otto)
SECRET WAR Book 2 of 5 (Bendis/Dell’Otto)
SECRET WAR Book 3 of 5 (Bendis/Dell’Otto)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #33 was just an issue I was missing in the story leading up to how Bucky becomes Captain America. However, I do need to point out a rather funny (though I doubt intentionally) set of panels in which Bucky/Winter Soldier’s cybernetic arm comes alive in S.H.I.E.L.D’s science lab and starts whacking the scientists trying to study it.
The CAPTAIN AMERICA two America’s storyline, a little like Civil War, takes a critical look at contemporary political issues. Bucky/Captain America must stop the insane Captain America from the 1950s, who has started a wingnut anti-government group called “The Watchdogs" -- a kind of a paramilitary version of the Teabaggers. The Watchdogs want to take “old” America back by force. It becomes pretty clear which old America they want, one where the one where Watchdog members feel free to use a six-letter swear word when talking to Falcon (who, if you don’t know, is black).
I think it’s cool that Brubaker is using the Captain America title to make the point that this kind of thinking from the far right is wrong-headed and dangerous. But, since this was only a four issue story, there wasn’t very much time to build much complexity into the Watchdog movement. Personally, I happen to agree that the equation is pretty simple (racists/Tea Baggers=bad), but it might have been interesting to see how the murky ideals of the Tea Party can be seductive to some people, or perhaps, why it is that some folks are so angry about the direction this country is headed.
Brubaker does make some stabs at answering that. He suggests that one of the big seducers is the desperate poverty brought on by economic collapse. The crazy 1950s Cap looks out at farm foreclosures and such, and is reminded of the Great Depression, and he’s angry to find America in such a sorry state once again. He can’t understand why the wars aren’t pulling Americans together (like World War II did), and instead seem to be sucking even more life out of the country.
And once again, I picked up an eerily similar themed collection in SECRET WAR by Bendis. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I ended up finding Bendis' stuff more interesting. I suspect if I ever met Brian Michael Bendis in person I'd find his politics... less clearly mirror mine the way Ed Brubaker's seem to. I say this if only because he seems much more able to articulate the positive aspects of policies that I find somewhat odious. Though, weirdly, like when watching the new BSG, I found that the more clearly he articulates the point of the oppostion, the more clearly I can focus on why it's WRONG.
At any rate, SECRET WAR has a copyright date of 2004 which seems to place it pre-New Avengers and pre-Civil War. 9/11 is only two years old, and Nick Fury, director of S.H.E.I.L.D. goes to see the president of the United States to present evidence that Latvaria is harboring scientists who have been supplying supervillians with superpowered technologies. In an interesting twist, the US government has been sending monetary aid to Latvaria as well as making diplomatic inroads into the very insular country, so they tell Fury they've got it covered. He's horrified that they're ignoring information that could lead to another assault on US soil and hatches a (diobolical?) plan to illegially overthrow the government of Latvaria.
He enlists an early version of the New Avengers: Captain America, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Luke Cage/Power Man, and Wolverine... along with a mysterious new woman, whose identity I never get because I only had the first three issues.
The reader can tell through forward/back flashes that something has gone horribly wrong with Fury's plan. There's been an attack in the now on Luke Cage that's left him hospitalized in a coma... and the doctors can operate on Luke's injured internal organs because of his unbreakable skin.
One of the things I've come to appreciate (and sometimes hate) from Bendis is his sense of humor. Sometimes it seems stuck in inappropriate places (like during a briefing on the S.H.E.I.D. helicarrier,) but other times it's read-out loud funny. I ending up relating to Shawn a scene where a drunk Wolverine sniffs out Peter Parker and Matt Murdock's secret identities. Wolverine leers over at Pete and says, "I've never seen you out of costume before." To which a very irritatated Peter replies, "I've never seen you drunk," and Wolverine scoffs, "Sure you have!"
I may have to look for the last issues of this series because I'm curious what the fall out for Fury is....
CAPTAIN AMERICA #33 “The Death of Captain America Act 2, The Burden of Dreams Part 3”(Brubaker/Epting)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #603 “The Two Americas Part 2” (Brubaker/Ross)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #604 “The Two Americas Part 3” (Brubaker/Ross)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #605 “The Two America Conclusion” (Brubaker/Ross)
THE MARVELS PROJECT (Brubaker/Epting)
SECRET WAR Book 1 of 5 (Bendis/Dell’Otto)
SECRET WAR Book 2 of 5 (Bendis/Dell’Otto)
SECRET WAR Book 3 of 5 (Bendis/Dell’Otto)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #33 was just an issue I was missing in the story leading up to how Bucky becomes Captain America. However, I do need to point out a rather funny (though I doubt intentionally) set of panels in which Bucky/Winter Soldier’s cybernetic arm comes alive in S.H.I.E.L.D’s science lab and starts whacking the scientists trying to study it.
The CAPTAIN AMERICA two America’s storyline, a little like Civil War, takes a critical look at contemporary political issues. Bucky/Captain America must stop the insane Captain America from the 1950s, who has started a wingnut anti-government group called “The Watchdogs" -- a kind of a paramilitary version of the Teabaggers. The Watchdogs want to take “old” America back by force. It becomes pretty clear which old America they want, one where the one where Watchdog members feel free to use a six-letter swear word when talking to Falcon (who, if you don’t know, is black).
I think it’s cool that Brubaker is using the Captain America title to make the point that this kind of thinking from the far right is wrong-headed and dangerous. But, since this was only a four issue story, there wasn’t very much time to build much complexity into the Watchdog movement. Personally, I happen to agree that the equation is pretty simple (racists/Tea Baggers=bad), but it might have been interesting to see how the murky ideals of the Tea Party can be seductive to some people, or perhaps, why it is that some folks are so angry about the direction this country is headed.
Brubaker does make some stabs at answering that. He suggests that one of the big seducers is the desperate poverty brought on by economic collapse. The crazy 1950s Cap looks out at farm foreclosures and such, and is reminded of the Great Depression, and he’s angry to find America in such a sorry state once again. He can’t understand why the wars aren’t pulling Americans together (like World War II did), and instead seem to be sucking even more life out of the country.
And once again, I picked up an eerily similar themed collection in SECRET WAR by Bendis. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I ended up finding Bendis' stuff more interesting. I suspect if I ever met Brian Michael Bendis in person I'd find his politics... less clearly mirror mine the way Ed Brubaker's seem to. I say this if only because he seems much more able to articulate the positive aspects of policies that I find somewhat odious. Though, weirdly, like when watching the new BSG, I found that the more clearly he articulates the point of the oppostion, the more clearly I can focus on why it's WRONG.
At any rate, SECRET WAR has a copyright date of 2004 which seems to place it pre-New Avengers and pre-Civil War. 9/11 is only two years old, and Nick Fury, director of S.H.E.I.L.D. goes to see the president of the United States to present evidence that Latvaria is harboring scientists who have been supplying supervillians with superpowered technologies. In an interesting twist, the US government has been sending monetary aid to Latvaria as well as making diplomatic inroads into the very insular country, so they tell Fury they've got it covered. He's horrified that they're ignoring information that could lead to another assault on US soil and hatches a (diobolical?) plan to illegially overthrow the government of Latvaria.
He enlists an early version of the New Avengers: Captain America, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Luke Cage/Power Man, and Wolverine... along with a mysterious new woman, whose identity I never get because I only had the first three issues.
The reader can tell through forward/back flashes that something has gone horribly wrong with Fury's plan. There's been an attack in the now on Luke Cage that's left him hospitalized in a coma... and the doctors can operate on Luke's injured internal organs because of his unbreakable skin.
One of the things I've come to appreciate (and sometimes hate) from Bendis is his sense of humor. Sometimes it seems stuck in inappropriate places (like during a briefing on the S.H.E.I.D. helicarrier,) but other times it's read-out loud funny. I ending up relating to Shawn a scene where a drunk Wolverine sniffs out Peter Parker and Matt Murdock's secret identities. Wolverine leers over at Pete and says, "I've never seen you out of costume before." To which a very irritatated Peter replies, "I've never seen you drunk," and Wolverine scoffs, "Sure you have!"
I may have to look for the last issues of this series because I'm curious what the fall out for Fury is....