I give up on Technorati. I'll just hope word of mouth and various links get me page reads. Because I need attention.
Speaking of attention, I did not buy Captain America Reborn. I think that maybe I'm the only person on the planet that isn't excited that Steve Rogers is back. I've waxed on (and off, Miyagi-san!) about how I'd really like to see comics moving forward, and that the continual resurrection of golden age heroes is not moving forward, so I won't go into it again.
I think that my dislike of this storyline (which I know nothing about other than it exists) is twofold: one, I like Bucky and his story of redemption, and how he's a Formerly Very Bad Person trying to live up to this epic legacy. This isn't Dick taking over as Batman, because that's what Dick has been working towards every moment of his life (even before meeting Bruce, as Alfred pointed out in Batman and Robin #2 this week). Dick is a good guy, no question about it, no matter what gray area things he may or may not have done in the past. Bucky wasn't a good guy. And, granted, he was brainwashed, but it's not like he doesn't remember the things he's done. They were very bad things.
Second: the idea of Captain America never really worked for me until Civil War (the arc, not the war), which I admittedly only vaguely followed. But there's no symbolism in post-Vietnam/Nixon/Pentagon era of a man wearing the stars and stripes... or to put it in terms more relevant to my generation, the post-Lewinskygate/Schiavo/Patriot Act era. And then I started to realize that he stood for all the things I believe in (some of which are considered very very unamerican these days). Particularly personal freedom being more important than the illusory idea of safety, and the notion that the government (and superheroes) exist to protect everyone from everyone - including the government (and superheroes), especially minorities that get kicked around by majorities.
Even though I started to appreciate this more modern Steve Rogers, he was still surrounded by this aura of perfection. I'll be totally honest, again, and say I haven't read a ton of Captain America stuff, but just the way I see other characters talk about him gives me this feeling. I don't like war, any war, and I think that America did some awfully bad things during all of the wars it's been involved in. I don't think having some Storm Saxon (okay, yes, Steve Rogers predates V for Vendetta, but still) look-a-alike wearing the American Flag is really going to do it for me.
I want Captain America to be conflicted over wearing the uniform. And Bucky is. And his conflict over the terrible things
he did is a good allegory for the terrible things America has done. That's the kind of Captain America I want.
The Cap I want to read about uses guns, because it's a bad ass world out there. The Cap I want to read about doesn't think he deserves the job. The Cap I want to read about is high-tech, but that high-tech came from another country. The Cap I want to read about thinks that the world isn't perfect, and that the people he's there for may not need him... and he feels despair but balances that with his love of a flawed country.
My Captain America speaks fluent Russian, because this is 2009 and our enemies aren't Nazis and Reds and Charlie. They're everyone, everywhere. Anyone who can sit at a computer and hack into a system, anyone who can hop on a plane and fly it into a building, anyone who can put together a bomb in his shed and take out a city block. They're even us. And Bucky knows that.
So I'm not psyched Steve Rogers is reborn. He's not my Captain America, because I don't think I live in that kind of America. Maybe I wish I did. I understand having a symbol of that hope. Maybe I'm just too cynical for a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Captain America to stand proud with his square jaw and make everything okay again. Because everything is not okay.
Speaking of attention, I did not buy Captain America Reborn. I think that maybe I'm the only person on the planet that isn't excited that Steve Rogers is back. I've waxed on (and off, Miyagi-san!) about how I'd really like to see comics moving forward, and that the continual resurrection of golden age heroes is not moving forward, so I won't go into it again.
I think that my dislike of this storyline (which I know nothing about other than it exists) is twofold: one, I like Bucky and his story of redemption, and how he's a Formerly Very Bad Person trying to live up to this epic legacy. This isn't Dick taking over as Batman, because that's what Dick has been working towards every moment of his life (even before meeting Bruce, as Alfred pointed out in Batman and Robin #2 this week). Dick is a good guy, no question about it, no matter what gray area things he may or may not have done in the past. Bucky wasn't a good guy. And, granted, he was brainwashed, but it's not like he doesn't remember the things he's done. They were very bad things.
Second: the idea of Captain America never really worked for me until Civil War (the arc, not the war), which I admittedly only vaguely followed. But there's no symbolism in post-Vietnam/Nixon/Pentagon era of a man wearing the stars and stripes... or to put it in terms more relevant to my generation, the post-Lewinskygate/Schiavo/Patriot Act era. And then I started to realize that he stood for all the things I believe in (some of which are considered very very unamerican these days). Particularly personal freedom being more important than the illusory idea of safety, and the notion that the government (and superheroes) exist to protect everyone from everyone - including the government (and superheroes), especially minorities that get kicked around by majorities.
Even though I started to appreciate this more modern Steve Rogers, he was still surrounded by this aura of perfection. I'll be totally honest, again, and say I haven't read a ton of Captain America stuff, but just the way I see other characters talk about him gives me this feeling. I don't like war, any war, and I think that America did some awfully bad things during all of the wars it's been involved in. I don't think having some Storm Saxon (okay, yes, Steve Rogers predates V for Vendetta, but still) look-a-alike wearing the American Flag is really going to do it for me.
I want Captain America to be conflicted over wearing the uniform. And Bucky is. And his conflict over the terrible things
he did is a good allegory for the terrible things America has done. That's the kind of Captain America I want.The Cap I want to read about uses guns, because it's a bad ass world out there. The Cap I want to read about doesn't think he deserves the job. The Cap I want to read about is high-tech, but that high-tech came from another country. The Cap I want to read about thinks that the world isn't perfect, and that the people he's there for may not need him... and he feels despair but balances that with his love of a flawed country.
My Captain America speaks fluent Russian, because this is 2009 and our enemies aren't Nazis and Reds and Charlie. They're everyone, everywhere. Anyone who can sit at a computer and hack into a system, anyone who can hop on a plane and fly it into a building, anyone who can put together a bomb in his shed and take out a city block. They're even us. And Bucky knows that.
So I'm not psyched Steve Rogers is reborn. He's not my Captain America, because I don't think I live in that kind of America. Maybe I wish I did. I understand having a symbol of that hope. Maybe I'm just too cynical for a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Captain America to stand proud with his square jaw and make everything okay again. Because everything is not okay.
