MYTHOS: CAPTAIN AMERICA.
September 7th 2008 22:24
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Captain America created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby.
Publisher: Marvel Publishing Inc.
Production Team: Paul Jenkins – writer & Paolo Rivera – artist.
Cost: AU $7.95/US $3.99.
It came as something of a surprise to me that Captain America was initially created way back when in 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour and the Germans declared war on the United States of America a few days later on down the track. Still given the good Captain’s heroic background it kind of makes sense that he can trace his origins back to those halcyon days. He would have to be to Marvel what Superman and Batman are to DC, a truly iconic character who has to some extent stood the test of time in more ways than one. When I picked up this comic in my local newsagents it was with some degree of curiosity, curiosity because in the light of recent events in the Marvel universe I was interested to see precisely what this particular comic was all about. According to the fine print it is a one shot, which means there is no continuation of this story it is apparently self contained although I ponder why it has a number one on the front cover. Perhaps other iconic Marvel super heroes are due to get the Mythos treatment?
The nature of Captain America shows how Marvel’s iconic superheroes are of a decidedly different ilk from those of the rival company DC. Superman is heir to the science and traditions of an alien world long since destroyed by epic cataclysms, Batman is a multi billionaire who on the one hand mixes with socialites and celebrities and on the other fights crime in his grim Dark Knight guise whilst Wonder Woman is the scion of the gods and the Amazon race, a culture of warrior women who have little use for the world of man. In contrast Spiderman and Captain America come from fairly humble backgrounds. Peter Parker is the nerdy high school kid who gets a job as a photographer for a newspaper whilst Steve Rogers is a humble delivery boy whose life is changed by the traumatic events affecting the world in the post depression era. It seems that Marvel has opted to go for an everyman angle with these two iconic characters and certainly in both cases its works well.
So getting back to the crux of the matter what precisely is Mythos: Captain America all about, the use of the word mythos gives us a hint in that it is something to do with mythology, the myth associated with Captain American and his career. At least that is how it would seem from the get go looking at the cover and its subject matter, and in a way it is something like that though rather than being simply a glorification of Captain American and the so called American ideal it is instead more of a reconstruction of the myth of the good Captain than a glorification of his exploits both during World War II and the future.
You see the narrator of this particular tale is the Captain himself, we are seeing this story from his perspective, from his humble beginnings to his status as major league world superhero, not just to America and Americans but the entire world. The charm in this iconic character is not so much the fact that he believes in truth, justice and the American way but the fact that he believes in liberty, fairness, justice and honesty and does not feel that these are solely his purview or that of the US, instead he sees them as virtues to be admired by all and to be given to all. In this regard he is an American ideal and represents and ideal American society that in the cold harsh light of the post war world traded these values for the morass of superpower status and geopolitics.
The interesting thing about Captain America was that in the light of the US involvement in World War II his thoughts were not on glory, super hero status or influence but on joining the regiment his father had served in during the Great War and serving his country as an able bodied soldier. Nothing would please him more than to be a soldier in the 1st Battalion 26th Infantry, the Blue Spaders but unfortunately he is too unfit and weak to be considered as a soldier, on attempting to enlist he is classified as 4F, unfit for military duty. Enter General Phillips, a US army staff officer involved in a secret project called Operation: Rebirth headed up by a brilliant geneticist called Erskine. This is the super soldier project, the means by which a ten pound weakling becomes Captain America.
Captain America is the only alumnus of Operation Rebirth as a Nazi infiltrator manages to kill Erskine and with it the entire project as he is the only man capable of performing the procedure and creating the necessary serum with which the whole process can bear fruit. Still even though Rebirth only produces a single super soldier it swiftly proves to be more than enough. Soon the Captain is on the front lines in the war against the Nazi’s, against their infiltrators in continental US, against their soldiers on the front lines and against their own super operatives such as the Red Skull.
There is an interesting line in this tale where Steve Rogers, the nascent Captain America and ten pound weakling is sitting beside his dying mother trying desperately to cheer her in her final moments when she says to him “Always be proud of who you are and where you come from. Never forget the people who helped you get to where you’re going”. It is pretty much what this story is about succinctly said and as you reach the final page of the comic you come to realise that this isn’t so much a homage of the iconic superhero but in fact his homage to all the people who have helped him down through the years of his existence as well as homage to the ideals that he and others like him felt were worth fighting and dying for. In his mind he does not view himself as a hero, he has been in the company of heroes and here he is thinking of those whom he fought alongside in the Second World War in the struggle against the Third Reich, the fellow members of the 1st Battalion 26th Infantry as well as his mother and father.
Mythos: Captain America is a finely crafted work allowing us the reader a glimpse into the mind of a super hero and a fairly iconic one, revealing that this individual is not some distant figure but a human being with human feelings and qualities. In fact if Captain American can be defined as super hero his status comes not so much from the fact of his abilities or the super soldier serum but his nobility of spirit and his ability to see a similar nobility of spirit in others. It is this aspect of his character that makes him as much a relevant character in comics today as he was back in the nineteen forties, look past the stars and stripes and instead recognise and individual striving towards a better world not only for America but for all and that is Captain America, the legend, the hero, the man. Paul Jenkins and Paolo Rivera have created a masterpiece with this particular comic and its well worth getting a hold of and taking the time out to read.
Publisher: Marvel Publishing Inc.
Production Team: Paul Jenkins – writer & Paolo Rivera – artist.
Cost: AU $7.95/US $3.99.
It came as something of a surprise to me that Captain America was initially created way back when in 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour and the Germans declared war on the United States of America a few days later on down the track. Still given the good Captain’s heroic background it kind of makes sense that he can trace his origins back to those halcyon days. He would have to be to Marvel what Superman and Batman are to DC, a truly iconic character who has to some extent stood the test of time in more ways than one. When I picked up this comic in my local newsagents it was with some degree of curiosity, curiosity because in the light of recent events in the Marvel universe I was interested to see precisely what this particular comic was all about. According to the fine print it is a one shot, which means there is no continuation of this story it is apparently self contained although I ponder why it has a number one on the front cover. Perhaps other iconic Marvel super heroes are due to get the Mythos treatment?
You see the narrator of this particular tale is the Captain himself, we are seeing this story from his perspective, from his humble beginnings to his status as major league world superhero, not just to America and Americans but the entire world. The charm in this iconic character is not so much the fact that he believes in truth, justice and the American way but the fact that he believes in liberty, fairness, justice and honesty and does not feel that these are solely his purview or that of the US, instead he sees them as virtues to be admired by all and to be given to all. In this regard he is an American ideal and represents and ideal American society that in the cold harsh light of the post war world traded these values for the morass of superpower status and geopolitics.
The interesting thing about Captain America was that in the light of the US involvement in World War II his thoughts were not on glory, super hero status or influence but on joining the regiment his father had served in during the Great War and serving his country as an able bodied soldier. Nothing would please him more than to be a soldier in the 1st Battalion 26th Infantry, the Blue Spaders but unfortunately he is too unfit and weak to be considered as a soldier, on attempting to enlist he is classified as 4F, unfit for military duty. Enter General Phillips, a US army staff officer involved in a secret project called Operation: Rebirth headed up by a brilliant geneticist called Erskine. This is the super soldier project, the means by which a ten pound weakling becomes Captain America.
Captain America is the only alumnus of Operation Rebirth as a Nazi infiltrator manages to kill Erskine and with it the entire project as he is the only man capable of performing the procedure and creating the necessary serum with which the whole process can bear fruit. Still even though Rebirth only produces a single super soldier it swiftly proves to be more than enough. Soon the Captain is on the front lines in the war against the Nazi’s, against their infiltrators in continental US, against their soldiers on the front lines and against their own super operatives such as the Red Skull.
There is an interesting line in this tale where Steve Rogers, the nascent Captain America and ten pound weakling is sitting beside his dying mother trying desperately to cheer her in her final moments when she says to him “Always be proud of who you are and where you come from. Never forget the people who helped you get to where you’re going”. It is pretty much what this story is about succinctly said and as you reach the final page of the comic you come to realise that this isn’t so much a homage of the iconic superhero but in fact his homage to all the people who have helped him down through the years of his existence as well as homage to the ideals that he and others like him felt were worth fighting and dying for. In his mind he does not view himself as a hero, he has been in the company of heroes and here he is thinking of those whom he fought alongside in the Second World War in the struggle against the Third Reich, the fellow members of the 1st Battalion 26th Infantry as well as his mother and father.
Mythos: Captain America is a finely crafted work allowing us the reader a glimpse into the mind of a super hero and a fairly iconic one, revealing that this individual is not some distant figure but a human being with human feelings and qualities. In fact if Captain American can be defined as super hero his status comes not so much from the fact of his abilities or the super soldier serum but his nobility of spirit and his ability to see a similar nobility of spirit in others. It is this aspect of his character that makes him as much a relevant character in comics today as he was back in the nineteen forties, look past the stars and stripes and instead recognise and individual striving towards a better world not only for America but for all and that is Captain America, the legend, the hero, the man. Paul Jenkins and Paolo Rivera have created a masterpiece with this particular comic and its well worth getting a hold of and taking the time out to read.
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