Meta tags:
description= Reading Mark Gruenwald s Captain America;
Headings (most frequently used words):
captain, america, 1985, been, torn, apart, 310, october, 309, september, 308, august, 307, july, all, rise, please, american, history, gru, articles, of, capfederation, latest, amendments,
Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (330), and (126), that (112), for (65), this (62), cap (57), gruenwald (54), with (52), #america (51), his (45), captain (40), but (33), about (29), which (25), all (22), one (21), are (21), issue (21), you (21), these (19), from (19), not (19), steve (18), him (17), very (17), will (17), nomad (16), madcap (16), jack (16), new (16), out (16), into (16), get (15), bernie (15), character (15), here (15), has (15), just (15), way (15), like (14), have (14), then (14), what (14), there (14), more (14), good (13), comics (13), rosenthal (12), american (12), during (12), political (12), much (12), was (12), off (12), who (12), been (11), mark (11), 1985 (11), avengers (11), they (11), going (11), isn (11), most (11), 307 (10), some (10), title (10), can (10), man (10), over (9), love (9), after (9), things (9), even (9), their (9), superhero (9), had (9), monroe (8), bag (8), age (8), again (8), mid (8), ever (8), course (8), than (8), take (8), thing (8), 1980s (8), always (8), first (8), years (8), does (8), job (8), her (8), serpent (7), stern (7), reagan (7), paul (7), neary (7), kind (7), stuff (7), did (7), late (7), people (7), marvel (7), how (7), make (7), right (7), pretty (7), think (7), series (7), book (7), against (7), through (7), doesn (7), well (7), comments (6), torn (6), now (6), reading (6), 309 (6), society (6), secret (6), power (6), mind (6), class (6), boy (6), armadillo (6), under (6), dave (6), next (6), upon (6), between (6), too (6), when (6), while (6), let (6), without (6), place (6), them (6), work (6), its (6), might (6), important (6), makes (6), old (6), our (6), life (6), other (6), idea (6), rogers (6), himself (6), would (6), reason (6), write (5), apart (5), englehart (5), wars (5), emerson (5), front (5), meaninglessness (5), byrne (5), hawkeye (5), malus (5), justice (5), absurdity (5), 2010 (5), history (5), filed (5), uncategorized (5), along (5), two (5), run (5), fact (5), basically (5), don (5), storyline (5), squadron (5), supreme (5), exactly (5), those (5), time (5), soon (5), long (5), takes (5), before (5), little (5), panel (5), being (5), back (5), story (5), protagonist (5), she (5), writer (5), say (5), blog (4), west (4), coast (4), thought (4), starfox (4), shield (4), roger (4), popular (4), nick (4), fury (4), matter (4), interests (4), liberal (4), hellfire (4), club (4), glass (4), blowing (4), books (4), claremont (4), anaconda (4), 2011 (4), few (4), icon (4), era (4), kirby (4), tea (4), many (4), lot (4), great (4), because (4), fun (4), enough (4), today (4), issues (4), use (4), any (4), something (4), super (4), read (4), claims (4), know (4), store (4), personal (4), relationship (4), anyway (4), whole (4), page (4), real (4), wouldn (4), question (4), hero (4), side (4), could (4), tagged (4), nothing (4), financial (4), also (4), home (4), despite (4), gets (4), see (4), almost (4), letters (4), diana (4), albers (4), colors (4), ken (4), feduniewicz (4), inks (4), dennis (4), janke (4), pencils (4), best (4), call (4), around (4), least (4), thanks (4), clear (4), problem (4), wordpress (3), com (3), name (3), 308 (3), 310 (3), watchmen (3), bubbles (3), ralph (3), waldo (3), broker (3), mockingbird (3), margaret (3), fuller (3), john (3), infinitude (3), ideology (3), superheroes (3), grant (3), morrison (3), diamondback (3), comic (3), chris (3), charles (3), dickens (3), black (3), knight (3), beyonder (3), anarchy (3), february (3), gru (3), interesting (3), 1970s (3), won (3), return (3), agree (3), look (3), doing (3), dematteis (3), come (3), three (3), huston (3), symbol (3), anti (3), war (3), written (3), patriot (3), todd (3), want (3), particular (3), same (3), moore (3), knowledge (3), sad (3), eventually (3), entry (3), used (3), readers (3), folks (3), days (3), identity (3), every (3), century (3), another (3), away (3), never (3), both (3), put (3), position (3), pages (3), fighting (3), end (3), mad (3), meaning (3), bock (3), looking (3), find (3), leaves (3), own (3), shop (3), sense (3), couple (3), star (3), york (3), however (3), confrontation (3), only (3), point (3), everyone (3), company (3), part (3), editor (3), mike (3), carlin (3), extraordinary (3), iteration (3), person (3), especially (3), need (3), throughout (3), advantage (3), rather (3), scene (3), true (3), partner (3), early (3), mean (3), inevitable (3), down (3), kinds (3), constrictor (3), site (2), website (2), required (2), comment (2), reader (2), content (2), log (2), sign (2), subscribed (2), subscribe (2), create (2), free (2), rise (2), please (2), july (2), august (2), september (2), october (2), union (2), politics (2), metatextuality (2), democracy (2), grim (2), gritty (2), existentialism (2), erotic (2), violence (2), chickens (2), captan (2), march (2), may (2), june (2), night (2), defrosted (2), storylines (2), portrait (2), hard (2), textual (2), king (2), creator (2), friendly (2), period (2), hell (2), discussed (2), until (2), everything (2), touch (2), okay (2), bunch (2), tales (2), wants (2), 1940 (2), deal (2), socialists (2), others (2), cannot (2), different (2), eclipse (2), except (2), 1950s (2), commie (2), brief (2), warner (2), audience (2), word (2), directly (2), kicks (2), introduction (2), appreciate (2), aren (2), were (2), saying (2), questions (2), damn (2), prestige (2), ahead (2), transcendent (2), understand (2), bronze (2), dialog (2), development (2), still (2), change (2), wheedle (2), quasar (2), start (2), gonna (2), really (2), response (2), came (2), note (2), last (2), although (2), term (2), god (2), stand (2), 602 (2), system (2), perspective (2), writing (2), perfect (2), high (2), interested (2), role (2), strange (2), thesis (2), arguments (2), 19th (2), help (2), hello (2), embodiment (2), patriotism (2), democratic (2), seemingly (2), author (2), lays (2), must (2), economic (2), naive (2), destiny (2), suit (2), getting (2), post (2), able (2), liberty (2), powerful (2), mere (2), significant (2), gun (2), hand (2), general (2), bit (2), upshot (2), colleagues (2), local (2), grocery (2), law (2), organization (2), annoyed (2), hope (2), stay (2), rent (2), bringing (2), characters (2), together (2), joker (2), malice (2), outline (2), absent (2), eponymous (2), uses (2), move (2), young (2), taking (2), dream (2), spangled (2), inane (2), conversation (2), guy (2), remember (2), big (2), paper (2), begins (2), script (2), making (2), fellow (2), panels (2), made (2), become (2), collision (2), said (2), line (2), plot (2), attempt (2), force (2), interest (2), recall (2), crossover (2), main (2), ride (2), kooky (2), quartet (2), greatest (2), crossovers (2), quit (2), crisis (2), unfortunately (2), dealer (2), should (2), counterargument (2), universe (2), given (2), gotten (2), optimist (2), anyone (2), individual (2), matters (2), ultimate (2), philosopher (2), product (2), pro (2), blithely (2), quest (2), parallel (2), entire (2), future (2), confidence (2), canny (2), anything (2), yet (2), problematic (2), living (2), existence (2), cause (2), brings (2), criminal (2), troubles (2), qualities (2), seem (2), since (2), necessarily (2), half (2), mix (2), titles (2), share (2), haired (2), citizen (2), establishing (2), 100 (2), crowd (2), where (2), keep (2), pure (2), why (2), mentioned (2), places (2), across (2), business (2), sets (2), entirely (2), podcast (2), ready (2), form (2), decides (2), solidarity (2), expected (2), fight (2), valuable (2), meeting (2), inaugural (2), yes (2), eros (2), present (2), combat (2), started, design, email, loading, collapse, bar, manage, subscriptions, view, report, privacy, already, account, latest, amendments, articles, capfederation, select, month, friends, grabbed, hold, reins, stan, lee, dinner, using, incompatibility, dealism, sixties, leftism, produced, gave, fooled, damaged, 60s, radical, saved, wired, idealism, approach, yielded, ripe, fruit, recreated, image, cynicism, conservatism, afflicted, democrat, types, generation, knew, expressionistic, year, rarely, corporate, screwed, dawned, politically, ahem, somewhat, perfunctory, lauded, itself, toothless, disney, endorse, memorable, geriatric, skull, developed, crucial, figure, introduced, lasted, created, joe, simon, preeminent, premature, fascism, huac, terminology, literature, quite, simply, coalition, communists, leftists, dispute, punching, hitler, meant, december, means, neocons, cum, pjs, dreaming, went, ill, advised, revival, smasher, guise, conclude, overview, strong, admittedly, erratic, progressive, credentials, chasm, separates, usually, thinks, ought, subject, wth, brett, schenker, stress, refusal, join, kids, sweepstakes, dumb, wade, contested, waters, miller, braving, swaddling, ambitions, cloak, medium, trumpeted, coming, genre, concerned, format, full, speed, believe, second, encountered, context, rack, extensive, rest, racks, contained, achieve, maximum, impact, intimate, idiom, tics, regard, plotting, possess, highly, your, tell, feel, short, preamble, care, finally, promising, indeed, golly, review, 1995, kills, 443, sadly, suck, affair, generated, returned, damning, outburst, asserts, carefully, show, sounds, wayne, lady, talkin, ass, responses, intelligent, misgivings, heroes, practically, joes, thank, balls, duncecaptain, creators, mag, temerity, suggest, recognize, socialist, found, borscht, rally, round, flag, boys, someone, wait, overstreet, guide, reads, controversial, group, wonderful, decades, turn, slander, standing, principles, called, sample, sack, winghead, mostly, totally, warning, asstorm, ink, sniffed, mcdonaldland, ronald, montreal, particularly, played, dialogic, construction, prism, notional, pastime, corollary, pop, culture, taken, bible, primary, touchstone, belligerents, socio, scrum, thinking, contemporary, analogous, grace, millennium, bon, weekend, les, amis, detour, madness, mutually, exclusive, asinine, hopeful, throw, bare, heart, philosophers, founders, erect, systems, ideas, challenged, pragmatic, grounds, capitalism, shown, mercy, forces, lie, fly, chain, mail, apparently, money, buy, ticket, wangle, trip, card, necessity, stopping, unassailable, philosophical, spree, chicken, noises, hurt, certainty, nor, seems, cut, unceremoniously, fired, leaving, shenanigans, implication, counter, madcappian, illogic, rationale, forges, incompatible, dreams, ideological, capisce, obviously, verbal, shell, game, sequence, renewed, emphasis, obvious, permutation, omitted, stung, wave, learn, fomentor, indestructible, insensible, epistemes, fungun, provokes, strike, production, hence, surrogate, happens, resolves, boss, worries, overqualified, references, commander, whatever, nation, prestigious, enforcement, clerical, explains, scores, gig, slack, sleeping, couch, awakened, lets, herself, house, boyfriend, hasn, turned, snaps, shaggy, scooby, doo, somethin, sleep, til, noon, face, demons, blown, kingdom, massive, hike, meanwhile, stalks, fridge, reveals, intentions, striking, economy, sidekick, durign, newly, minted, trace, arcs, traversed, auteurist, assignment, editing, stranding, duration, odd, boards, plane, bound, chat, raf, reminds, britons, nazi, invader, checks, top, baxter, mando, extra, ads, inside, cover, utterly, commonplace, strangely, stop, bonne, nuit, awesome, though, stupid, specimen, crap, necessitated, imperatives, event, pay, 350, followed, crazier, splash, wacky, earnest, simplistic, perhaps, probably, jaded, sight, quick, somehow, sympathetic, plight, artwork, affecting, sympathy, earned, agreed, scientist, guinea, pig, errand, puts, chance, doctor, bring, wife, coma, awfully, lovable, sap, victims, hands, despicably, mercenary, 80s, style, doc, frankenstein, ends, calculatedly, climactic, stalemate, friend, enemy, feed, larger, dominate, couldn, talk, notice, stalked, mystery, orange, lummox, worst, fails, miserably, characteristically, fights, opponent, discussion, table, ellipsis, exclamation, combo, sidetracked, orginal, occurs, patiently, awaiting, prodigal, throws, curve, forcing, heed, los, angeles, california, conclave, prof, beeline, hoping, score, quinjet, drowsy, compound, defense, surrounded, miasma, balloons, wherein, revealed, harried, day, frankly, nice, interaction, charming, newlyweds, telegraphs, intention, keeping, antagonist, circa, 1965, occasional, guest, drawn, mini, 1983, plug, upcoming, consider, among, achievements, sw2, motto, goes, double, disastrously, annoying, wide, huge, buying, 1991, growing, vhs, tape, obsession, disrupted, defensible, narratological, concept, manifestly, leisure, sometimes, david, hasselhoff, infinite, earths, analyze, analysis, continues, body, epic, tenure, derive, dynamism, unique, uncongenial, concluding, remove, pointed, offers, possible, cosmic, existentialist, prior, wrong, blind, favour, believes, fervently, else, duty, immortal, phrasing, interfere, human, loses, forever, minus, cynical, calculation, rooseveltian, democrats, christmas, carol, commitment, incident, messenger, plunges, fervour, once, channeled, faith, christ, sophisticated, trait, traipses, yellow, toting, heartland, lifery, baggism, apple, pie, raised, evangelical, christian, explain, meet, cavorting, gay, bashing, scenario, horror, redneckery, constant, prominent, sequences, focus, reclaim, red, statism, superheroic, necessary, object, reasoning, paths, stakes, independent, crimefighter, subdue, succeeds, acting, instincts, served, badly, instead, charging, fist, elects, reference, wonderfully, strategic, prophet, easily, pretense, conversion, words, tools, fighter, arsenal, blasted, freelancer, clearly, reaganite, thematic, imperative, separate, distracts, central, sidekicks, girlfriend, far, balance, version, lone, wolf, hooks, former, adventurer, confronts, existential, distracting, middle, government, spells, ominous, looks, usa, bedevil, 332, onward, perceptive, slipping, previously, paved, remarking, distressing, control, situations, flip, vaunted, natural, leadership, unambiguously, buried, hatchet, initial, turbulence, total, suggests, healthiest, world, seeing, waking, nightmare, reflections, windows, formation, dealing, codependency, later, sum, drives, toward, decision, bizarre, retroactive, publication, brought, bucky, consort, aberrant, smashing, rampaged, timely, silver, ice, suffering, including, retroactively, insane, improper, soldier, treatments, watching, kkk, ish, grand, director, shot, deranged, lingering, weakness, wayward, brown, youths, length, latches, jon, wilson, michael, kaiser, mighty, podcasts, triangulate, surgically, removes, peter, parker, elements, predecessors, grafted, onto, rarest, problems, agonize, intentioned, maintaining, defending, excesses, structures, give, purpose, treat, punch, maxi, plus, foucauldian, contributions, clothing, pitt, draft, ludicrous, appeal, alan, frank, miler, grownups, emo, misfits, cuts, core, psyche, tried, expository, cadences, drama, humour, following, advertizing, exec, interlocutor, exclaims, talking, toothpaste, saddle, mankind, sure, shouldn, biggest, vision, ideal, weak, gender, expect, sage, friendship, sayin, independently, wealthy, engage, woman, nineteenth, got, plate, moves, extract, social, matrix, embedded, urban, professional, liked, stories, prefer, commitments, morality, intersubjective, experience, exception, rule, variety, chauvinistic, state, either, private, simpler, terms, 150, posts, further, develops, reaganian, begun, noted, ago, trickle, economics, showering, opportunities, ruthless, hikes, possesses, skills, industrial, capitalist, commercial, artist, architectural, constructionists, primed, standoff, conveniently, named, figures, featured, longer, idiotic, bear, delivers, ego, triptych, effortlessly, stage, legendary, avenger, pick, bumbled, decree, left, discuss, comes, forge, wasn, icy, chunk, months, missing, archive, menu, intervened, considering, plan, capping, decided, print, babies, literary, theorist, better, worse, sit, seated, fingers, reach, keyboard, mic, film, thoughtful, displayed, such, abundance, closer, turns, actually, sketches, promises, add, basic, metatextual, spice, above, speaks, volumes, proliferating, organized, principle, threaten, completely, obscure, poignant, romantic, modern, serious, drawbacks, progresses, trying, build, case, narrative, extremely, thinker, merely, spectrum, generally, equation, hopeless, fount, platitudes, likely, happened, principled, stance, rampant, consumerism, whim, apply, artistic, talents, creation, comrades, escape, scientific, item, vaults, brand, corporation, ubiquitous, biotech, bete, noire, defeat, workers, rights, charter, rescue, ace, teleporter, steward, sidewinder, caps, dispensing, rousing, intra, textbook, traitor, fine, dragged, losers, weres, nevertheless, huff, quickly, realizes, guild, capable, wresting, contracts, informer, devotes, remainder, singularly, distasteful, project, having, clean, device, predisposes, events, eyes, cobra, rattler, headlong, resident, tipped, anonymous, phone, certain, purple, member, reservoir, humanity, earlier, entries, structural, symbolic, reasons, personality, stretch, placing, rhetoric, fanged, mouth, supervillain, offering, biting, critique, quasi, criminalization, unionization, began, crackdown, air, traffic, controllers, proceeding, apace, canada, driven, dissenting, voice, explicit, hundred, eponymously, uniting, reptiles, within, argue, jason, powell, disagree, play, ongoing, supporting, roles, respective, seriously, presented, surrogates, whereas, bat, serpents, empathized, despised, oft, impressive, lack, respect, arch, villains, classic, antagonists, scared, regular, banding, stave, oblivion, associated, hazards, profession, men, slyly, wit, remark, favourite, exercise, nasty, sexuality, par, gibbons, dan, laurie, celebrating, bodies, victory, tenement, fire, incidentally, fit, plans, aka, pleasure, mood, natured, brawling, moment, epitomizes, uniquely, janus, faced, contribution, landscape, surface, says, rage, hatred, crystal, emerge, dark, wolverine, punisher, lobo, etc, favourites, mine, finest, non, drawing, triumphantly, humane, alternative, selling, badassery, dominated, 1990s, slightly, subversive, classicism, evident, johnny, walker, allow, understood, logical, nihilism, playful, dp7, begin, training, workout, teaching, swordless, dilettantish, space, eternal, unarmed, four, filler, hurry, rush, spill, skirmish, opportunity, startling, exchange, ushers, storytelling, rhythms, characterize, gentle, walk, gruen, wald, skip,
Text of the page (random words):
ow could he then we get some nice interaction with those charming newlyweds hawkeye mockingbird gruenwald does a good job with this stuff and telegraphs his intention of keeping cap s old antagonist from the cap s kooky quartet days of avengers circa 1965 around as an occasional guest star gruenwald had of course written and drawn a hawkeye mini series in 1983 along the way they work in a little plug for the upcoming west coast avengers series which i love by the way i consider it among steve englehart s greatest achievements next cap gets sidetracked again this time by a gruenwald orginal i love a good ellipsis exclamation point combo this orange lummox wants in to avengers hq in the worst way but he fails miserably in the attempt characteristically gruenwald s cap fights only to force his opponent to the discussion table notice that cap is being stalked by some kind of mystery outline and talk the armadillo does this is the kind of earnest dialog that gruenwald does best it s simplistic no question about that i wouldn t want to write this kind of stuff but perhaps what is more important is that i probably couldn t write it i m a pretty jaded fellow and i was annoyed by the armadillo on sight but those two quick panels somehow made me sympathetic to his plight and it s not the paul neary artwork that s affecting me the sympathy is well earned this is a man who agreed to become a mad scientist s guinea pig and now errand boy which is what puts him on a collision course with cap on the off chance that said doctor malus by name might be able to bring his wife out of a coma armadillo is an awfully lovable sap and just the first in a long line of victims at the hands of gruenwald s despicably mercenary 80s style doc frankenstein eventually we get a three way confrontation between cap armadillo and malus that ends in a calculatedly anti climactic stalemate the upshot is that cap leaves for new york with one new friend and one new enemy the malus plot would feed into the larger power broker storyline that would dominate so much of this series during the next few years and just before he makes his way back to the storyline that interests me most we get this wacky stuff followed by this even crazier splash this perfect specimen crap necessitated by the imperatives of an inane x over event will eventually pay off big time in captain america 350 for now though it s just stupid the next issue however will be awesome bonne nuit dave 7 comments filed under uncategorized tagged as armadillo beyonder captan america dr malus hawkeye mockingbird power broker secret wars ii west coast avengers february 27 2010 5 16 pm captain america 307 july 1985 title stop making sense script mark gruenwald pencils paul neary inks dennis janke colors ken feduniewicz letters diana albers the gruenwald era begins strangely remember me that s the inside cover of this utterly commonplace looking issue no baxter paper no mando paper no extra pages no no ads no prestige here in fact there s almost no captain america he boards a plane bound for new york on page 2 has a brief chat with an old raf guy who reminds him that britons remember cap as an anti nazi invader during the big one when they think of him at all and then checks out of the story for good at the top of page 3 i d say that s pretty odd here we have a young writer taking on his dream assignment after editing the title for a couple of years and he kicks things off by stranding the star spangled protagonist in an inane conversation with an old man for the duration of the issue an auteurist move if ever there was one captain america 307 uses the arcs traversed by jack monroe nomad cap s sidekick durign the j m dematteis years and the newly minted madcap basically the joker without malice which makes a lot more sense to me than a joker with malice to trace the outline of its absent eponymous hero in bringing these two characters together gruenwald reveals his intentions with striking economy here s how i see it we start with nomad sleeping on cap s couch he is awakened by bernie rosenthal who lets herself in looking for the man of the house she s annoyed that her boyfriend hasn t turned up and snaps at jack like he s shaggy or scooby doo or somethin o and jack if you ever hope to find a job i wouldn t stay up late every night and then sleep in til noon then she leaves to face her own financial demons in good ol reagan america her glass blowing shop is about to be blown to kingdom come by a massive rent hike meanwhile nomad stalks to the fridge jack slack he resolves to get himself a job any job and man that s exactly what he gets bag boy at a local grocery store the boss worries that jack is overqualified for the position one of his references is nick fury commander or whatever he is of the nation s most prestigious law enforcement organization i uh did some clerical work for them jack explains but nomad scores the bag gig in the end and while our surrogate protagonist is getting to know his colleagues this stuff happens bock bock bock the upshot well first this then this which doesn t do a damn bit of good along the way we learn that the fomentor of fun is indestructible insensible and at war with all epistemes with fungun in hand madcap provokes a general strike against the production of meaning hence the title of this issue new wave cap things get very interesting when we take on the fun gun stung nomad s perspective does cap matter obviously he does jack monroe s little verbal shell game at the end of this sequence no i m mad no i m cap will return with renewed emphasis in issue 309 but for now i think it s significant that one obvious permutation is omitted i e no cap s mad for gruenwald cap and madness are mutually exclusive things his captain america is the embodiment not of some asinine patriotism but of the liberal democratic ideology at its most hopeful in one seemingly throw away story the author lays bare 1 the meaninglessness at the heart of all things the nothing that all philosophers and political founders must erect their systems upon and readers will note that madcap s ideas are never challenged except upon pragmatic grounds 2 the absurdity of life under capitalism in 1980s america i e both jack and bernie are shown to be at the mercy of economic forces that put the lie to the naive idea that character is financial destiny also captain america has to fly home in his chain mail suit because he apparently doesn t have enough money to buy a ticket as steve rogers and has to wangle a free trip with his avengers card 3 the necessity of stopping madcap despite his unassailable philosophical position the spree isn t all chicken noises people are getting hurt on these pages and the certainty that nomad is not the man for that particular job nor it seems is he cut out to be a bag boy he is unceremoniously fired for leaving his post during the shenanigans 4 the implication that captain america will be able to counter madcappian illogic with a fighting rationale which forges the seemingly incompatible dreams of liberty and justice for all into one very powerful ideological shield against mere anarchy capisce next issue another strange detour bon weekend les amis dave 3 comments filed under uncategorized tagged as anarchy bag boy bernie rosenthal captain america chickens glass blowing gruenwald ideology madcap nomad february 22 2010 10 40 pm all rise please hello my name is dave i used to write a lot about superhero comics back in those days i was particularly interested in the role these strange tales have played in the dialogic construction of american identity through the prism of the notional pastime a corollary of the thesis that pop culture has taken the place of the bible as the primary textual touchstone for belligerents on every side of today s socio political scrum the idea being that thinking about contemporary arguments about captain america as analogous to mid 19th century arguments about grace and the millennium could help us to understand what the hell is going on here i ve been doing other things of late writing about montreal mcdonaldland and ronald reagan mostly but then totally without warning came the perfect asstorm that is warner todd huston high on tea and the ink he sniffed out of captain america 602 here s a sample of this sad sack s perspective on ol winghead isn t it wonderful that a decades old american comic book hero is now being used to turn readers against our very political system being used to slander folks that are standing up for real american principles in real life and one called captain america at that the group in question man i can t wait for the overstreet guide entry that reads 602 controversial tea bag panel did you get that these people i use the term with some misgivings are real american heroes like they re practically g i joes man thank god someone has the balls to stand up to these socialists and then duncecaptain america or anyway the creators of the icon s mag has the temerity to suggest these people wouldn t recognize a socialist if they found one in their borscht rally round the flag boys anyway the whole sad affair has generated many intelligent responses you ll note that in the last of these todd returned with an even more damning outburst in which he asserts that he has too read captain america before although not very carefully as this page will eventually show and makes sounds like john wayne little lady when he s talkin out his ass sadly the really important response is the one that marvel came up with a nd man does it ever suck so that s it i don t care how long it takes i m finally going to write the mark gruenwald series i ve promising to do for about 7 years it might take a long while indeed but by golly we re gonna review captain america 307 to 443 1985 to 1995 if it kills us all we ll start soon but first a short personal preamble about my relationship with the series i m not going to make any great transcendent claims for these books in the first place i don t believe in great transcendent claims and in the second place i know that i encountered them at exactly the right age i was 11 in 1985 and in exactly the right context off the rack at the comics store and with a pretty extensive knowledge of what the rest of those racks contained during the mid to late 1980s for them to achieve maximum impact i understand that gruenwald s work is hard to appreciate without an intimate knowledge of the bronze age superhero idiom with all of its very particular tics with regard to dialog plotting and icon development and that many who do possess this knowledge still don t think very highly of captain america squadron supreme quasar and d p 7 i m not here to change your mind about that or to wheedle you into reading these comics for the first time i just want to tell you how i feel about them one thing i do want to stress re gruenwald is how much i appreciate his refusal to join the comics aren t just for kids sweepstakes of the mid 1980s we can all agree how dumb that was can t we what i love about these books and about squadron supreme in particular is the way they wade into the same contested super political waters that miller and moore were then braving without swaddling these ambitions in the cloak of the medium s much trumpeted coming of age basically gruenwald is saying that the genre was always concerned with these questions damn the prestige format full speed ahead okay enough of that let s conclude for today with a very brief overview of captain america s history and of the title s strong if admittedly erratic progressive credentials i e of the chasm that separates the character as he has usually been written from the super patriot that warner todd huston and his audience thinks he is or ought to be of course these people don t have to take my word for it they can read brett schenker on the subject or they can just go directly to the 28 issue storyline which kicks off with the introduction of the super patriot that was going on during the very period that wth claims to have been reading the title so created by jack kirby and joe simon in late 1940 cap was and is the preeminent symbol of premature anti fascism to use huac terminology in the history of american literature he is quite simply the popular front that s a new deal era coalition of communists socialists and others leftists icon there cannot be any dispute about that punching out hitler meant something very different in december 1940 than it means when today s neocons cum in their pjs while dreaming about it after the war the character went into eclipse except during a very ill advised mid 1950s revival in commie smasher guise here basically is the captain america that huston wants he lasted three issues stan lee defrosted him during the tv dinner age using the character to comment upon the incompatibility between new dealism and sixties new leftism this produced a few interesting storylines during the 1970s steve englehart gave us a won t get fooled again portrait of cap as a kind of damaged 60s radical saved by the icon s hard wired ww ii era idealism this approach too yielded very ripe textual fruit then the return of the king creator kirby recreated a very tea bag friendly cap in the image of the political cynicism and conservatism that afflicted him along with the many reagan democrat types of his generation during this period as with a lot of stuff that the king did during the mid to late 1970s no one knew what the hell to do with his expressionistic two year run on cap and people rarely discussed it again until the great age of everything kirby ever did is great because corporate comics screwed him over dawned in fact i agree that these comics are very fun to look at but politically they are ahem somewhat out of touch okay ak after kirby we get a bunch of people doing some very perfunctory things with the character i e even stern byrne s much lauded run which i like very much in itself is toothless enough for today s marvel disney to endorse it of course j m dematteis did come up with a few memorable tales geriatric cap vs skull and developed the crucial figure of bernie rosenthal introduced by stern and byrne then in 1985 mark gruenwald grabbed hold of the reins and next cap 307 good night friends dave 5 comments filed under uncategorized american history gru american history gru select month june 2011 1 may 2011 1 march 2010 1 february 2010 2 articles of capfederation absurdity anaconda anarchy armadillo bag boy bernie rosenthal beyonder black knight captain america captan america charles dickens chickens chris claremont class justice comic books diamondback dr malus erotic violence existentialism glass blowing grant morrison grim and gritty superheroes gruenwald hawkeye hellfire club ideology infinitude jack monroe john byrne liberal democracy love interests madcap margaret fuller mark gruenwald meaninglessness metatextuality mind over matter mockingbird nick...
|
