Captain America, MIA

I have to admit that I was never all that interested in comics. Whilst everyone else was reading the childrens’ comics I was out doing active stuff like cycling and playing football, so by the time my friends were reading Judge Dredd et al, my ship had not only sailed it had been run aground on the Devon coast and all of its cargo looted.

You may be surprised therefore that I’m marking the sad passing of Marvel’s Captain America.

The thing is, he’s kind of like the perfect Amercian President in comic book form. A Private in the army, Steve Rogers was never going to be the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. But by some luck he winds up being injected by super serum and suddenly he’s a hero. It’s like the American dream with storyboards and speech bubbles.

Over the years he’s charted the rough seas of American foes too. The first cover historically showed Capt. A punching Hitler and from then on he was fighting the good fight. Fighting for truth and democracy. Beating the Axis of Evil… oh wait, stepped into reality for a moment then. But seriously, he took on the Japanese at the time of Hiroshima, defeated the Nazi’s and protected America and its allies.

The thing is, in the modern world G W Gump and Captain A are struggling for allies. What’s the Captain fighting now? Sure he’s a superhero, but he’s only one guy. And what was it that killed him? A sniper as he left a New York courtroom where he was sentenced to jail. A slight irony in this time of heightened policing and the patriot act.

PS An interesting project for the comicbook minded – Toonopedia