O Captain! My Five Favourite CAPTAIN AMERICA Moments From The Comics

 The comic book movies I really love (the first Superman, the first Spider-Man, the first Iron Man, The Dark Knight) always send me back to the comics, and Captain America: The First Avenger was no exception. A faithful translation of a four-colour hero’s adventure leaves me jazzed about that character, and reminds me why I like ‘em in the first place. With that in mind, I decided to compile my five favourite Captain America moments from the comics. Keep in mind, these aren’t intended to be the best Cap moments, by any means—just the ones that always stuck in my mind and made him a favourite character of mine since I was a kid. They’re kind of odd choices—they’re not particularly exciting or badass or cool, in many cases. In at least one, they’re downright embarrassing. Still, I think that the basic elements of these scenes, which have always stayed with me for one reason or another, add up to help round out Cap as a standout character for me. So…

If It Ain’t Supposed To Be Broke, Then Fix It (From Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #12)

In the penultimate chapter of Marvel’s first big ensemble maxiseries, a Beyonder-powered Doctor Doom blasted all of the superheroes to bits with a bolt from the blue. However, in the series’ final chapter, Doom accidentally revived the heroes (with a little bit of subliminal suggestion from a Beyonder-possessed Klaw), and the good guys triumphed in the end. Unfortunately, Captain America’s prized shield was shattered by the blast that (temporarily) killed everybody, but that didn’t stop the Star-Spangled Avenger from leading everyone into battle with its fragmented remains. Anyway, as the heroes prepared to return home, they noticed that there were still some residual side effects of the Beyonder’s cosmic powers floating around—side effects that included paranormal wish fulfillment, like Spider-Man being able to restore Dr. Curt Conners from the dead. Cap decided to try and use some of this power to try and restore his most trusted asset from oblivion…

I love this whole sequence—the emotion Cap feels for an inanimate hunk of metal always got to me, even as an eleven-year old. And I love the look of sheer joy on his face when the shield is magically repaired.

Old Soldier (From Daredevil Vol. 1 #233)

The Born Again arc from Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli’s run on Daredevil is the gold standard by which I’ve always judged every DD run that’s come after it. It’s never been matched for storytelling power, grit, or just plain coolness ever since. But one of my favourite aspects of it is its treatment of Cap, who is never actually referred to by name in any of his appearances, and is simply called “the soldier” in the narrative captions. In this series, the Kingpin unleashes a maniacal washout from a failed super-soldier program—the drug-addled lunatic called Nuke—on Hell’s Kitchen, trying to flush out Daredevil. Nuke is defeated, but questions about his origin linger, and Captain America decides to investigate. Looking for Daredevil, he finds his alter ego Matt Murdock instead, who urges him to ask his bosses in Washington about where Nuke came from.

 

This last panel is such a beautifully short and simple distillation of Cap’s entire character—his idealism, how out of place he feels in today’s world—and it’s done with such a simple image and so few words.

 

3.     Red, White, and Blue Movie (From Incredible Hulk Vol. 1#417)

It’s perennial Marvel sidekick Rick Jones’ bachelor party, so with most of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four (plus numerous other heroes to boot), you know it’s gonna get crazy! Nick Fury kicks off the night by sending a stripper, then the gang settles in to watch a nudie flick. The Vision, like all good nerds, insists on running the projector…

…then he busts Cap for covering his eyes!

Stands to reason that the Marvel Universe’s biggest boy scout would feel embarrassed to be watching a dirty movie…although not as embarrassed as Rick Jones, when he discovers that the star of said movie is his bride-to-be, Marlo! But that’s another story.

Thanks For The Memories (From Avengers Vol. 1 #277)

I’ve written at length here before about my love for the Under Siege storyline from Roger Stern’s outstanding Avengers run. In it, Baron Zemo and his latest incarnation of the Masters Of Evil take over Avengers Mansion, holding several team members hostage while brutalizing others (Hercules is beaten into a coma by the Masters’ biggest bruisers, while poor Jarvis is tortured half to death by Mister Hyde). As always, the Avengers turn the tide and take the Mansion back from Zemo and his goons, but not before they’ve taken the time to trash a bunch of the heroes’ personal effects…including most of Cap’s pre-WWII memorabilia, like his original triangular shield and the only photo he has of his mother.

Man. What a bunch of jerks. Like the Daredevil appearance noted above, this one always drove home the pathos of Cap for me, and immeasurably deepened him as a character.

Sargasso? (From Avengers Vol. 1 #154)

This particular Avengers issue sticks out in my mind as being one of the first comic books I ever owned as a kid, so it obviously already has great meaning for me. It’s a pretty killer issue, starting off with the Vision being taken captive by a bunch of Atlantean renegades, and ending with their ally Tyrak the Treacherous invading Avengers Mansion (notice a theme here?) disguised as the Inhuman known as Triton. Scarlett Witch sees through his disguise, and all hell breaks loose. Unfortunately for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Tyrak is able to make short work of them—he takes out the Witch, Yellowjacket, and the Wasp with knockout gas, crushes Iron Man’s power pack (which renders his armor useless)…but that’s when Cap steps up to the plate, delivering this memorably salty line of dialogue:

Wow, only the Living Legend of World War II could spit that out with a straight face. And he means it, too! That is a guy I want on my side. Too bad Tyrak drops a wall on him a second later—only the Beast escapes to bring reinforcements for next issue’s rematch.

 So there you have it. I’m not sure why none of these scenes are actually from Cap’s own title—there are certainly lots of great moments to be found there—but these are, as I said, the ones that always stayed with me. And if you don’t like ‘em, feel free to shove them up your Sargasso…whatever the heck that means.

The Unfunnies: Tiny

So I still have a puppy, as per the last installment of the Unfunnies, and I must say that they are a lot more work than I remember from my youth. It's almost like I had some sort of help, someone to clean up the poops and endure the early-morning urination excursions.

In honour of young Branston Pickle, who is a delightful dog despite the amount of matter he ejects over the course of each day, here is another dog comic:

Not shown: Tiny dodging an enormous cleaver.

- From Action Comics No. 27

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, A Mostly Spoiler-Free Review!

 This was starting to look like the summer that the superhero movies needed a superhero to save them. Thor was decent but hardly godlike, X-Men: First Class buried its promise beneath scores of uninteresting secondary characters, and Green Lantern was a forgettable, by-the-numbers affair at best. When it looked like all hope was lost, though, Captain America: The First Avenger roared in on a souped-up Harley and saved the day with an appealing lead, a winning supporting cast, and an affectionately retro sensibility.

 

Captain America begins with a present-day prelude that manages to evoke Aliens, The Thing, and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind all at once, with a research team finding a mysterious airship buried in the arctic ice. Within it is the perfectly-preserved body of a visitor from another era. From there, we flash back to the darkest days of World War II, where Hitler’s chief weapons designer, Johann Schimdt (Hugo Weaving) lays claim to a mysterious otherworldly cube, hoping to harness its powerful energy for his own evil schemes. Meanwhile, in the U S of A, a scrawny Brooklyn kid named Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is once again trying unsuccessfully to enlist in the army; the 98-pound weakling’s history of illness has him declared 4-F, but all he wants is to serve his country (seen in the film’s trailers, the effect of placing Evans’ face on a much smaller actor’s body is a startling but ultimately convincing effect). Catching the attention of Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), Rogers is eventually accepted and fast-tracked into a secret military project to create a series of super-soldiers who can defeat the Nazi menace. Injected with experimental formulas and bombarded with “vita-rays”, Rogers is transformed from a scrawny wimp into, well, Chris Evans. An assassin’s bullet ensures the project can never be duplicated, making Rogers a one-of-a-kind hero. Seen by the army as being too valuable to possibly lose in combat, Rogers is sent overseas in a star-spangled outfit and paraded around with showgirls in a series of USO performances. Still, Steve volunteered for the experiment so he would have the chance to save lives, so when he finds out that the platoon of his childhood pal Bucky Barnes has been captured by Schmidt’s nefarious Nazi sub-division, HYDRA, our hero rushes off to save the day, and the career of Captain America begins. Before long, he’s wearing a more practical version of his familiar outfit, and toting around an indestructible shield designed by Howard Stark (father of Tony, AKA Iron Man).

 

Directed with the same affection for the period he brought to The Rocketeer 20 years ago, Joe Johnston’s Captain America is full of earnest, gee-whiz spirit. It’s a colourful, humourous, action-packed blast, helped along by a robust score from Alan Silvestri (Back To The Future, Predator). Early detractors wondered whether or not Chris Evans would be right for the role, having already played a Marvel hero as the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four films. They needn’t have worried—he is an actor, after all, and the cocky Johnny Storm is nowhere to be seen (although longtime Marvel fans should keep their eyes peeled during the World’s Fair sequence for a reference to another Human Torch). His Steve Rogers is a likeable do-gooder, eager to save as many lives as he possibly can. It’s a refreshingly un-ironic performance; when asked by Dr. Erskine if he wants to kill Nazis, he responds, “I don’t want to kill anyone. I just don’t like bullies”. Hayley Atwell provides the love interest as British agent Peggy Carter, thankfully never reduced to the role of screaming damsel-in-distress, and Tommy Lee Jones enjoyably chews the scenery as Cap’s military overseer General Chester Phillips. Hugo Weaving is nice and dastardly as Johann Schmidt and his crimson-faced alter ego, the Red Skull, and Toby Jones snivels admirably as his sidekick, Dr. Arnim Zola.

 

It’s become a common complaint lately that the recent spate of Marvel movies (The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and Thor) have all merely been trailers for 2012’s Avengers film, which will see the heroes team up for the first time. Captain America: The First Avenger had me leaving the theater much more excited at that prospect than any of the above-mentioned films did, but it also stood perfectly well on its own, even with its wraparound present-day sequence that brings the hero into the present day. I personally can’t wait to see how Evans’ Cap fits into the 21st century, both in The Avengers and, hopefully, a solo Captain America sequel. Easily the best Marvel movie since the first Iron Man, and probably my personal favourite since the original 2002 Spider-Man, Captain America: The First Avenger makes the old-fashioned seem new again. Now let's just hope that Toby Jones' Arnim Zola shows up in a sequel looking like his comic-book counterpart: 

The Unfunnies: This Doggone Life

 In honour of the fact that I got a new dog yesterday, I give you this here strip from Adventure Comics No. 42:

 

Don't be fooled, though: I might have posted a comic about a dog so ugly that he can't win a contest that he is the only entrant in, but that implies nothing about my dog. My dog, in fact,

My dog will win all of the prizes.

John Buys Comics: John Buys Comics

Not sure why, but I just caught up on some stuff that I bought up to two weeks ago. Well, I'm pretty certain about why I caught up on it (I like comics and thus read them all the time) but why there were about six unread issues from each week remains a mystery. In any case, don't explode with surprise if something from a while back creeps into this here episode of JBC.

More Flashpoint Miniseries!

 

Why It's They're Here: Partially because I seem to be reading all of the tie-ins on this one (I fully intended to skip some of these thangs, but they all seem to feature just enough of my preferred characters to entice me into laying down the dollars) but mostly because they've been flinging out some pretty fun (if super-grim) twists and turns and alternate universe hooba jooba.

Non-Spoiler Summary: You know... alternate universe stuff. The world is changed and everything's different because of one little difference in the timestream.

The Very Best Thing About It: [BIG FAT SPOILERS IF YOU ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT FLASHPOINT SPOILERS] Despite the fact that this whole event is kind of stupid, there have been some neat alternate universe things going on in these books: Jimmy Olsen ending up as Cyborg's Pal in a Superman-free world; Evil Magic Dr Thirteen; skinny, kept in the dark his whole life Kal-El; Martha Wayne as the Joker to Thomas Wayne's Batman. There's a lot of neat ideas here that are perfectly-employed in such a consequence-free setting. Plus, Barry Allen having to be horribly electrocuted twice to get his powers back was inexplicably hilarious.

The Very Worst Thing About It: Reverse Flash Messes With Regular Flash Through Time Japery was an irritating plot in the Flash's own comic last year. Revisiting it here is agonizing - will the Flash dig deep and overcome his foe yet again? Probably! Reverse Flash is one moustache and one top hat away from tying Iris West to a train track in order to get the deed to an orphanage with an oil well underneath it and it is slowly killing me to read.

Who Made It: So many people.

Michael Moorcock's Elric: The Balance Lost

 

Why It's Here: Because Elric, that's why. Ye Eternal Champion, albino style,  is one of the most entertaining tragic figures in fantastic literature.

Non-Spoiler Summary: In the classic Moorcock mode, the balance between Chaos and Order is getting out of whack and it's up to the variously tragic incarnations of the Eternal Champion to make things right. Featured Champeens include the titular Elric (murderous, mopey, albino magician-king and last of his people), Corum Jhaelen Irsei (maimed, mopey prince and last of his people, plus my fave Champ), Dorian Hawkmoon (Not quite as mopey - the one I know least about) and newest incarnation Eric Beck (hipster, game designer, albino).

The Very Best Thing About It: I haven't read all of the Moorcock-inspired comics out there, by any means, but I have read a lot and this issue captures a lot of the requisite themes better than most. Possibly because everyone involved wasn't incredibly high during the entire process, possibly for other reasons. Plus there are lots of neat Chaos critters that have the same creepiness that Guy Davis' designs often do.

The Very Worst Thing About It: No Oswald Bastable.

Who Made It: Chris Roberson, writer. Francesco Biagini, artsman. Stephen Downer, colours. Travis Lanham, Letters.

Tiny Little Reviews:

Mystery Men

Why I'm Keeping This Short: Because the second issue came out one or two weeks ago - this is one of the books that fell through the cracks for some reason. But still, David Liss and Patrick Zircher have done an excellent job of creating a Pulp-era Marvel comic, complete with brand-new (and well-dressed) heroes and villains. There are three issues to go and I shall be getting them all.

Secret Six No. 35

Why I'm Keeping This Short: Secret Six is a known quantity and a proven excellent comic. Too bad it looks to be ending in a coupleof issues. But Gail Simone don't shiv: she's taking Bane's excellent character arc to what should be an epic conclusion. Glee!

Moriarty: The Dark Chamber No. 3

Why I'm Keeping This Short: I'm running low on time. Briefly, the premise of this comic is that Professor James Moriarty managed to kill Sherlock Holmes on Reichenbach falls, and, his life having no meaning without a worthy adversary to challenge him, abandoned his criminal empire and sank into obscurity. Now, years later, a mad plot threatens London and Moriarty takes on the role of (anti) hero in order to save the day. Plus: one of the best depictions of Dr Watson I have ever encountered.