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This is why I’m reasonably certain that when archaeologists dig up America in 4000 years, they are going to think that we thought superheros were real and we worshiped them as gods.

Eh… it balances the bad karma from this:
http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/tag/port-authority-jackie-gleason-statue/
Ralph Kramden and Jackie Gleason who both lived at 328 Chauncey Street, in Bed Stuy.
Yes, Ralph drove a city bus (Madison Avenue), not a Port Authority coach. Tell that to Viacom/TV Land…

It joins a long line of fictional character statues, even of comics characters…

Apparently Heidi is learning from the Outhousers with lines like this

When the statue reaches its final destination it can become shrine of sorts for garbage, dog poop, graffiti, flaming dumpsters and other protests over Marvel’s shitty behavior over the years.

Not sure that was necessary in an article about a statue but hey what do I know?

I’m a Captain America fan an all that but really a corporate brand permanently placed in a public park? Plus, I was a bit unsure about the Brooklyn thing, now it turns out Cap wasn’t from Brooklyn anyway. Oh well, no need letting facts get in the way of a good story.

To be a worthy statue it would have to be from the original Kirby design, anyway,

It’s true. I still hate Marvel.

Is there some way to see the white text on a mobile version of the site? There’s no ‘mousing over’ for that.

It says this…”Captain America: Steve Rogers #2, from the creative team of writer Nick Spencer and artist Jesus Saiz, reveals that Steve’s memories of indoctrination were implanted by Kobik, the sentient Cosmic Cube who became a girl. Not only that, but Kobik has been under the influence of Steve Rogers’ most fearsome archenemies, the Red Skull, for months.”

Marvel has just gone from “The House of Ideas” to “The Casa of Crap”…

Copy the text and then paste it elsewhere – in a note, or draft of a comment…

Thanks!

Well, I expected as much which is why I never got the reaction to it. I hate being all “these people didn’t read the comic/don’t read comics” but it’s such an obvious issue #1 and Marvel cliffhanger play that of course it’d be revealed if not in issue 2 at least 4 what’s really going on. All of that makes me think it’s now even more in poor tase mainly because Spencer and Co. did such a bad job convincingly lying about it.

Maybe the problem is not the creators or the editors but the legion of “fans” and “journalists” that overanalyze and ruin everything on the internet. You know what’s kinda fun? Just reading comics. With no one else’s commentary. The internet appears to be full of those three annoying guys at the comic shop that I hated so much as a kid. They had opinions on everything, ruined everything, and never fucking left.

I hope that was worth all the trivializing of Jewish people for.

If this is the best story they could come up with, it’s no wonder comic sales are awful.

Oop, you got a sentence ending in a preposition there.

I hope that trivializing of Jewish people was for all the worth.

There we go. Err, wait- … Worth all of which- No… Cause it’s the Jewish’s worth…

Well, the content of the spoiler was exactly the theory that some fans had already posited. It doesn’t come as a surprise, really.

I wasn’t bothered by the kiss in the film. Oh, it was stupid and had absolutely zero buildup or development, but it was only one of the many stupid, stupid things in that film.

One thing no one can deny: the scene was true to the context of comics’ intro of Sharon Carter. She existed to displace Peggy Carter– who as I recall appeared for the first time in a TALES OF SUSPENSE story– and to give Cap a new romance who just happened to look like his last one.

Always thought it a little suspicious that Sharon and Peggy were “sisters.” Really? Peggy’s in her presumptive 20s in `1945, and so is Sharon in 1965. There’s a familial relationship that would be more believable as to the age-difference, but it’s probably fortunate that Lee and Kirby didn’t go there…

“Cap has been evil before and he’ll be evil again.”

Captain American has not been evil before. He’s been brainwashed, manipulated, impersonated and mistaken. He’s never been evil. Or least he never was when I was reading Marvel Comics, which admittedly stopped back in the early to mid 2000s. So I guess I can’t speak to much after that or about any continuity changes made that would explain how, for example, Hydra would even have been a thing in 1930s/40s America since it was actually created by Baron Strucker in World War II-era Japan.

And for anyone who doesn’t think this whole thing is stupid and lame, what do you think the reaction would be if “The Walking Dead” came out with an episode this fall where they revealed that Rick Grimes has secretly been the scientist responsible for the zombie plague all along?

If anything can happen, then nothing that happens can mean anything.

Mike

Totally agree with MIke’s comment (above)..

As a writer, I like to think that if I were given the awesome privilege of writing a story for a character who has been around for 70+ years or more, I wouldn’t take the opportunity to totally screw up who he is and what he’s about. That is what bothers me the most. They sacrificed Cap’s character and his legacy for the sake of a stupid story that will “get people talking!” and supposedly make them money.

“If anything can happen, then nothing that happens can mean anything.”

Nobody tell him about the magic time travel bullets.

Holy fuck, there is no sacrificing of legacy. It’s obviously going to be a fakeout. Have you brain donors read a comic before?

It’s ridiculous for people to get angry over what is obviously a gimmick designed to get media attention and (hopefully) beef up sales. Didn’t we learn from the “death of Superman” (and later the “death of Captain America”) not to take these “shocking” twists seriously?

Mike said: “Captain American has not been evil before. He’s been brainwashed, manipulated, impersonated and mistaken. He’s never been evil. Or least he never was when I was reading Marvel Comics, which admittedly stopped back in the early to mid 2000s.”

Mike is utterly correct. Cap was brainwashed in that Lee-Kirby story where he salutes Hitler. I stopped reading Captain America in 1996 (after Rob Liefeld’s first issue), so I can’t speak to the last 20 years of Cap. But the character was never evil when I was reading the book.

“There’ve been other stories where he’s been a Nazi/Hydra agent … those were not attempted at a time when racial hatred were already at a recent high, specificlly in the context of addressing that heightened racial hatred.”

Kirby’s Cap-as-Nazi story was drawn in 1965, in the middle of the Civil Rights movement, when racial hatred was at a much greater high than it is now, with much greater repercussion than there are now.

I’m not saying people shouldn’t be outraged by that recent panel if they want to be outraged, but why aren’t they equally (or more!) outraged by the Kirby panel? At that point the Holocaust was only slightly further in the past than 9/11 is to us now.

Heidi, I love this piece! You framed the discussion around this story so well.

In the 15ish years I’ve been a comic book internet human, I don’t remember seeing people incensed about a comic book while invoking so much… I dunno, ethical high ground? It’s a bit surreal. Fun to see people argue it, though!

I really love how Marvel’s marketing bit them on the ass this time. But it’s also one of those any press = good press sorta things, I guess.

Still, it’s been a while since they had this kind of backlash! Probably since the Jemas days, right? Or maybe Joe Q’s Spider-Divorce was like this too and I’m not remembering it well.

“You voted with your attention and hate won.”

For what it is worth (little?) we sold roughly 4x the copies of REBIRTH on Wednesday than we did of the new CAPTAIN AMERICA, so I’m not sure that this is an accurate hot take.

-B

^^^

I think the writer forgets that Captain America just had a worldwide blockbuster success in the cinemas, and people know him from not just the comic books – who have also been joining in this discussion. Of course it will seem like it’s more popular, when Rebirth only really effects long time DC fans.

I think what everyone else is forgetting is that the issue you’re all talking about with the Hitler salute panel, is in tales #67. The cover for that story SETS UP the premise, doesn’t leave it till the end, and the cliffhanger, so to speak, is not on the topic of HOW this could be the case, because it is completely explained within the pages of the book, but how Bucky is going to rescue Cap. A completely different problem. No one tricked anyone, in fact the COVER was the selling point – when covers were used to tease the inside of a book, not just look pretty.

I don’t buy DC’s love and optimism because I feel that their efforts are empty and hollow. It’s a show, and it’s a show that they aren’t even very earnest about.

I also don’t buy Marvel’s kayfabe in telling us “Yeah, Cap’s evil, always was,” but I don’t know why kayfabe is necessary at all.

They seem to have some big, fundamental change for the character every 2 years or so.
Was that always the case? Where they doing this in the 60s-90s?

Back in the 50s and 60s DC would often do stories like this. The covers showing Superman or Batman betraying their friends or country, only for the whole thing to be revealed as a deception designed to capture a villain. Back then, the story would wrap up in a single issue, and next month you’d get another adventure about the hero you were paying for.

Today, if you pick up a random superhero comic, you might find yourself in the middle of one of these story lines — trapped there for months and months to come. Or worse, you might pick up an issue of any given superhero title only to learn that the hero has been “dead” for months, and you’re actually reading about some replacement person wearing a similar costume (and will be for many months to come).

I guess some readers like these stories, but just as obviously, some readers will walk away and never return. Marvel and DC have been able to count me in that second group for a long time, and gimmicks like these keep me away (fortunately, there’s a TON of great stuff happening elsewhere in comics). Plots may not be irreversible, but lost readers seem to be.

I sometimes wonder if the writers and editors aren’t working for Hydra. It’s incredible that the current Hollywood people actually seem to “get” these Marvel characters better than the current batch comics creators do (DC characters seem to be a mystery to both parties these days).

Having been digging through Englehart’s run lately, I can say “Yeah, pretty much.” Remember the Secret Empire (headed by EVIL RICHARD NIXON!!!), newly-revived Peggy Carter with the fragile psyche, and Nomad, to say nothing of his on-again off-again bromance with Falcon? All within the span of a year? Maybe it seemed like more time, just because they were taking down villains of the moment every ish or two. This current issue reads to me like a story beat, and I’m right entertained and looking forward to more of Spencer’s Steve Rogers; the media blitz around it seems kind of ridiculous, though.

amazes me that the mainstream media cares about shit like this. Don’t these organizations have anyone on staff who actually reads comics and can be like “this is a frigging non-story fake out that will be resolved within six issues and never referenced again”

Shocking. Just shocking!

Or not. Definitely not something I’m putting $5 down for.

“Nothing is permanent, nothing is irreversible.”

Then nothing matters and if nothing matters, why are you reading/watching it?

Mike

sigh. Is Marvel really this desperate? they need to steal a meaningless hedline. This is aimed at people like me, who claim not to care about this superhero bullshit anymore. Of course, hearing this just makes my blood boil.

I predict that a recantation of Spenser-Cap speedier than the one that attended the debacle of the Spider-Clone saga.

“will be speedier”

Cap’s really a H***a Agent. Doc Strange can’t eat real food and pukes up black goop when he uses magic.

The one thing I can say unequivocally is: This is why I’m not buying a lot of Marvel comics these days.

podcornpodcast.com has been down for a while now

also it’d be great if these were downloadable

Hey Risbo, thanks for writing in. We were dealing with some backend server issues, but we’ve fixed it all up now!

We’re hosted on a podcasting service that lists us anywhere you get your podcasts, whether it’s Stitcher, iTunes, or even another app like Pocket Casts. You can download them all there– would you prefer a direct download link as well, though?

yeah, direct download be nice, so that i don’t have to go to “page source” and look for the mp3 file.

thanks.

Oh, god. This was . . . painful to sit though. I’m know I’m old, and listening to young extroverts work out what they’re going to say aloud for 2 minutes is torture for an old introvert like me, but is this the zenith of podcasting? I know I’m probably not the audience for this, but does anyone feel an obligation to prepare for the show’s subject.?
For some reason I can listen to Kevin Smith get high and talk about shit, but listening to these 3 get lit and free associate for 40 minutes . . .
I’m sorry, I guess this was supposed to be some kind of ironic performance piece.

I’m looking forward to this movie, very much, but…

After a string of picture perfect logos, this one is pretty damned ugly.

That logo has all the charm and dynamics of a Hallmark greeting card.

This movie is going to have to be pretty terrific to overcome some challenging hurdles:

– That ugly, patchwork logo.

– Putting Peter back in high school again does feel like reboot territory.

– Tying him into the crowded MCU from the start takes away the best parts of the original Spider-Man (for me) which was the hero who felt all alone in the world.

– “From the director of Clown’ doesn’t fill me with a lot of confidence.

– No J.K. Simmons as JJJ!

– Marisa Tomei as Aunt May?! Then, I guess Tobey Maguire is almost old enough to play Uncle Ben. (Though, if 50 is now considered of age for Peter’s aunt and uncle, Kyle Chandler would be a good choice.)

The original cast was excellent. All of them! The idea that after the third movie flopped (which had nothing to do with the cast) that they should reboot the entire thing and throw the baby out with the bath water was absurd And it’s ruined this franchise (so far.)

“And it’s ruined this franchise”

No, the fact that Amazing Spider-man 1 and 2 sucked (and Spider-man 3) is what ruined the franchise.

If any of them were worth a shit, no one would be whining like you are.

I’ll add my vote to say that logo sucks too. What were they thinking?

Intelligent analysis of what went wrong with the Amazing Spider-Man movies.

“Is this a modern Spider-Man (who inspirationally skateboards to Coldplay like all the cool kids do these days) or some kind of old fashioned throwback (Peter Parker takes pictures with an ancient film camera instead of his phone)? Is it a retread of the same old Spider-Man origin or is it really going to do bold new things with the character? Is Peter Parker a wisecracking dork or a James Dean-style (or, if you’re feeling less generous, Luke Perry-style) introverted brooder? The answers to all these questions shift from scene to scene.”

http://screencrush.com/the-amazing-spider-man-series-what-went-wrong/

Interesting… is this the first time Spider-Man’s mask eyes have been animated?
(And will Stark hire him as a scientist?)

Trailer 2 “Captain America: Civil War” 5 Major Easter Eggs Revealed
http://zharazhar.blogspot.co.id/2016/03/what-did-we-see-in-trailer-2-captain.html
#5. The Underwater Prison Facility Emerges
#4.Definitive Numbers of The Major Accidents
#3.Further Explanation of Black Panther’s Background Story
#2. Hydra Facility in Russia and Potential Baron Zimo’s Background story
#1. The First, Fresh and New Look of Marvel Cinematics Universe’s Spider-Man

Trailer 2 “Captain America: Civil War” 5 Major Easter Eggs Revealed
http://zharazhar.blogspot.co.id/2016/03/what-did-we-see-in-trailer-2-captain.html

“ass”? THAT’S not very patriotic! ;-)

This new Steve Cap costume with the detachable shield will make one helluva action figure!

Why not let Sam Wilson go back to being the Falcon? That shield belongs to Steve.

This would be a great opportunity for Marvel to get an A-list team on a Falcon book

I gotta say, very nice. It is too bad that Sam Wilson has to be used for his ‘color’ to sell titles though, but I like it that he is also still Captain America, at the end of the day he should keep both the wings, and sheild. What if like Agent 13 had a kid w/Steve, but then it was mulatto -uh oh, did I just give a way the story behind the Civil War 2?!???!? The whole story will have no real content, but it will be all about old character-based assets being rep’d by different races, genders, and religions…like good ‘American’ ‘comic books’…

(bring sequential back please, and stop pushing titles based on this Civil War 2 premise… I mean, like, c’mon!!! Dang! man!)

Also, after a double-take at the new shield action pics, Rogers is gonna need some of this: Tarrago Hightech Nano Protector Spray 250 Ml -he can get it, I just saw it online for sale for like, 11.00 free shipping… ‘Cuz that shield is not gonna be a pretty sight after he is done using… Either that or just don’t ever use white paint on that thing -naaawww, becuz I would just not even want the stringy bits of blood hanging off that thing, n brain matter n sh!+, so yeah, there is this too, btw: DG Nano Ultra-Hydrophobic Waterproof Spray 250ml. Actually just stop by Wakanda, and get a another round disc deal, man. ‘Not digging the new shield for Rogers. Sorry. …Maybe if you told me that the shield is a trans-gendered, mexician, jewish superhero that can turn into things like that shield, then heeeey, that’s what this ‘all new marvel’ is going to get my $4.00 is all about yeaaah, baby. I miss David Bowie, too.

“but the series (secret wars) has been hit with massive delays. in spite of this, marvel has decided to continue the publisher’s plan to re-launch the entire universe with all-new , all-different marvel.”

considering how every time we turn around it seems that the secret wars series keeps getting pushed back, i’m curious, what other options did they have? were they gonna stop putting out new books until the secret wars series finally finished? maybe just put out reprint books until the secret wars finale, or just release any finished pages of the series, a few pages at a time until it’s all done. i guess they could have mad scrambled some more battleworld and warzone books, but would that have made the fans happy or just piss them off? a massive , company wide, game changing, mega event, and the flagship book of the entire enterprise is no where to be found. that’s gotta be embarrassing.
i wonder if the massive delays are holding up any plans or release dates for stories or books that would spill the beans of the secret wars finale if they come out before the finale.

“What other options did they have?”

Well, there was always “behave like a professional publishing company, don’t indulge in editorially-mandated mid-series rewrites, and schedule enough lead time to produce the comics on the solicited dates”, of course. But that would imply a level of competence and planning that seems sadly lacking in the modern comics industry. I imagine that Sol Brodsky and John Verpoorten are turning in their graves…

Any thoughts on the Perlmutting of Squirrel Girl into a non-mutant?

I didn’t pick up New Avengers due to the cost for the week piling up; glad to hear some of these titles were hits. I like a jokey Avengers book to a certain extent. Secret Avengers went a little far for me, but Bendis’ Avengers struck the right tone.

Secret Avengers with Kot sort of developed further as it progressed — there were some real dramatic moments peppered in with that really interesting Modok subplot that was just absurd.

’embracing the fullest possible range of potential customers simply makes good business sense.’

except there not, as a long time comic reader I’ve given up buying any from the big two. None of the new books are aimed at me and all the white male characters I liked have been replaced by so called minorities (eg captain america, hulk, iceman, Thor, antman, nick fury, wolverine, starlord and probably spiderman to name just a few).

whereas it’s not ok for minorities to have no representation it seems ok for white males to have none.

Every book now has to have gay characters , I’ve no problem with having books with gay characters for those who want but not in every fucking book, what about those who don’t. Sorry but I’m just not interested in seeing gay love scenes.

I would buy books with minorities if they could get past blaming every thing bad on white males, I don’t pay $4 to be told I’m an asshole because I’m male and white.

And I bet for daring I’d like to see the odd white male superhero I’m sure the posters will write me of some homophobic, kkk arsehole. Well F*** you comics. I’ll spend the $400 a month I used to spend on comics on something other activity that doesn’t take me for granted and actually welcomes me.

Good riddance.

Dave, I don’t see this as an either-or proposition — statistically there are still a fair number of straight white male superheroes, even a majority. Meanwhile, as attendance at comic-cons demonstrates, the audience for comics and other nerd-culture material has visibly diversified. The time when a dirty-blonde white male embodied America is long past.

Sorry, the above comment was me, Jeff Trexler, addressing Dave Allen.

I was hugely disappointed, and the shield figured into the reasons why.

http://addblog.tumblr.com/post/128704443935/colberts-late-show-debut-fails-the-mission

always wondered what happen to this project. glad to see it finally come to fruition. maybe after this series comes and goes, marvel could collect the blue, grey, yellow , and white into one volume, unless of course they’re planning a gold (iron man), brown (wolverine), orange (the thing), red (thor), periwinkle (aunt may), then who knows, maybe an omnibus is in order. : )

[…] (via The Beat) […]

THANK YOU. I was just speaking about this last night (!) to comics writer Katy Rex: I was surprisingly taken aback about how all the feedback/comments I would see were along the lines of “So is Agent Carter TONY STARK’S MOM” and “does she end up with Jarvis” even when Jarvis was shown being devoted and in love with his unseen wife. It showed the complete limited scope and grasp for people to see this character as fully realized and as an individual- it was all about match-making and hooking up. For me, the worst and most disappointing comment came from the mostly reliable AV Club whose reviewer’s observation was that Atwell suggested she “wouldn’t mind taking a ride on the red mustache” of Dum-Dum Dugan- staggering in it’s insensitivity. I thought the camaraderie between Peggy and The Howling Commandos was fantastic; it was an affection between FRIENDS who were equals and who had shared experiences. We often say characters have some way to go when it comes to female characters; Agent Carter is the first who does everything a man can do and better *without* needing to see close-ups of her cleavage- but the talk is always about whose arm she ends up with. Maddening stuff but sadly not TOO surprising.

Thanks to you! And yes, I agree – really loved the ease and natural feeling of the howling commandos camaraderie

The amazing part of Agent Carter is that it does the unexpected.
It’s a show that I Love to watch with my 12-year old daughter, simply because it breaks her expectations. She came into the show asking me if Agent Carter was Captain America’s girl-friend, and she was at the start, but she lives up to everything that she can be. As I told my daughter, Agent Carter is an agent, a spy…like James Bond is a spy.
And that’s what makes her exciting to watch, that she her own woman!