Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artists: Steve Epting and Mike Perkins
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” – Thomas Paine
THE WAY IT WAS
Why does Captain America appeal to me? I’m not sure. Since I first started reading comics on cross-country road trips many years ago, something drew me to the patriotic character, Steve Rogers, and his adventures. The costume certainly had something to do with it. Even as a Canadian, it is hard not to be fired up by that clever combination of red, white, and blue. And he throws a shield! This poses a personal question. What came first: my love of Frisbee, or my love of Captain America?
I think the appeal of the shield is what it represents. It represents a hero who clearly does not choose violence as a first course of action. It represents a hero whose sole weapon is designed for protection and defense. It represents a hero who stands for something important when everyone else chooses to forget. This is the ultimate tragedy of Captain America. He is an old ideal, a legend living in a world that cannot appreciate him as a mortal man. He knows it. He doesn’t fight it, but he does fight for the same things that have always been important to him. He would, and does, die for this ideal because it is the only world he understands; it is the world he has sworn to protect. Steve Rogers is a man out of time.
I hadn’t looked at a comic for at least a decade before I got an urge to catch up on the happenings of my favorite character. I had heard in the news that Captain America had died, and so I looked through the available books to find the one that featured this story arc; it seemed important. What I found is the best graphic novel I have ever read. It is called Captain America Omnibus: an omnibus because it collects the first 25 issues of Ed Brubaker’s award-winning run on the character. It opens with a bold new take on Steve Rogers and his world, and ends with his tragic death. It doesn’t feel like an episodic collection of comic book issues: it reads like a complete work. It is a reinvention of the character, with more of an espionage-tale feel than a superhero-tale feel, but it remains nostalgic and familiar to those of us who have loved the character from the beginning. The writing and characterizations are really what sets this book apart from the rest, and it has some breathtaking artwork to back it up. The dialogue is witty and thought-provoking; much of it foreshadows Cap’s final hours. It is a real testament to Ed Brubaker’s talent as a character writer that he has been able to continue the series minus its main character for the last year and still maintained such a high level of critical acclaim and success. As for the art: I’ve never seen the Red Skull drawn as creepy as Steve Epting draws him. Cap’s arch nemesis looks terrifyingly great. And Epting gives Cap’s world a real graceful, vivid, gritty look that conveys motion and action, as well as subtle, emotional stillness.
REINVENTING THE LEGEND
The first issue opens in Russia with a scene that ominously mirrors the final events of the volume. Two of the most evil men on the planet, The Red Skull and Aleksander Lukin, converse while the body of a defeated hero lies at their feet. The hero wears Russian red, but carries a white star on his chest evocative of Captain America’s own costume. Lukin asks the fallen hero, “So even after the fall, The Red Room still produces men such as yourself? I would have thought that time was long passed.” Lukin could have just as easily been talking to Steve Rogers, for America’s most famous hero finds himself in a very dark time in his life. The time of Captain America, too, has passed. Is there a place for the World War II legend in modern America?
Over the past few months, many of Steve Rogers’ close friends have died. The Avengers have disbanded. With all this tragedy and no prominent team to lead, Captain America is trying to make a new name for himself, while keeping the growing emotional strain at bay. His ex-girlfriend, Sharon Carter, is assigned to keep an eye on him by S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage Logistics Directorate). S.H.I.E.L.D. feels that Rogers has become dangerous and unstable after the break-up of his legendary team, and may require some babysitting. Sharon confronts Rogers and they talk awkwardly about his troubles. It is very rare to see Captain America so fragile and these moments are limited, almost entirely, to private dialogues with Sharon. It is through these moments that we get a sense of how bad things really are. There are subtleties in the art that offer clues as well. During this first conversation, Rogers is wearing a shirt with one single word scrawled across the front: ARMY. This signifies Rogers’ last remaining loyalty: his patriotism toward defending his country. No longer an avenger, no longer infallible: Rogers is merely a soldier.
Captain America has a lot to recover from. Brubaker’s story arc builds subtly from this point, as the crafty writer plants the seeds of resistance in Rogers’ character. Rogers is lost in this modern world, and Captain America is predestined to take a fall. We know it’s happening, even though we don’t really know where it’s going yet. The tragedy is preordained in the characters and their journeys; the pleasure is in watching it unfold. The Red Skull offers some final thoughts about Rogers at the end of this first issue: “You’re at your lowest point, and that’s why you’ll never see me coming this time.” What happens next is nearly as shocking as the final event of issue #25.
The most appealing theme of the Brubaker’s book for me is the demythologized man; that is, the man out of time. Steve Rogers exists in our world carrying the shadow of his former World War II legend. This legend grew over many years, depending on which account you accept for the timeline resulting in Rogers being found in the ice. Now he has a lot to live up to. His glory days are always on his mind, and Rogers is plainly very haunted by his time in the war. He has dreams and flashbacks; he tells Sharon, “In my dreams it’s still 1944.” As soon as he dons his costume and leaves to protect the free world, these concerns are put away. Duty comes first. Captain America, however, cannot seem to shake these disturbing thoughts from his mind. By reflecting so conflictingly upon the past, we become further convinced of a bleak outlook for Rogers’ future. When Captain America is at his most fragile, Nick Fury uncovers a revelation so shocking, it is sure to crush whatever is left of the hero’s spirit. Nick Fury: “I want to be one hundred percent sure about this before I destroy his world.”
There have always been some lingering weaknesses in the Captain America history book, but Brubaker addresses them in this volume admirably. The first is how Captain America, who is almost never drawn holding a firearm, somehow fought in World War II with only a shield. The second is Cap’s pubescent side-kick during the war years, Bucky Barnes, who was originally created in response to the Hitler Youth movement. I have never been a Bucky fan, but Brubaker completely reinvents the Bucky character in such a way that it compliments my first problem. When an American colonel first introduces Cap to Bucky in a military training camp, Rogers immediately dismisses him as a talented but unseasoned youth. The colonel explains, “Just like Captain America has symbolic value, an American teenager fighting alongside him…that’s a powerful symbol too. And if he gets his hands a little dirtier than most soldiers when no one is looking…well, that’ll be our secret, right?” This is a terrific solution. Captain America, who certainly doles out his fair share of violence under Brubaker, possesses too much symbolic value to be seen as a violent, machine gun-toting soldier; therefore, Bucky becomes the figure who sneaks up behind the Nazi to slit his throat, while Captain America, with relatively clean hands, gleans the media’s attention.
THE DEATH OF THE DREAM
I do hesitate to ruin the conclusion of this excellent volume, but considering that the final spoiler was aired all over the national news, I don’t feel so bad. And I am compelled to put the event into the context of the story and its main character, if only for my own analysis.
Civil War is the final straw. Sharon asks, “If Captain America doesn’t follow the law, then who does?” Steve Rogers replies, “That’s why I can’t. The issue isn’t black and white, and those are the only colors the law can see.” The problem is that those are also the only colors Captain America can see. The Civil War truly devastates his conception of right and wrong, when he must fight a futile battle against one of his most enduring friends.
The final issue of this volume opens with a reflection upon the birth of Captain America. The captions read: “The experiment that created Captain America left one man to carry on in the place of all others that might have been. One man to carry that burden. He made it look easy. Even though it never was. And he never stopped fighting for what he believed in, or for what he believed his country should be.” After an entire volume devoted Steve Rogers’ memories, in this final issue we are offered the memories of others. The life and meaning of Captain America are reduced down to newsreels and the quiet thoughts of old ladies watching black and white televisions. This, and flashbacks to World War II, are juxtaposed with Steve having tomatoes thrown at his face by a crowd who has forgotten everything he’s done for them. This scene possesses more power than just the stark irony of feeble public opinion: it also shows the contrast of the old world and the new, the more simple, heroic war years, and the malignly complicated present.
The ultimate conflict for Rogers is how to reconcile his fight for what he believes is right with the innocent casualties that suffer collaterally. In the end, he realizes that in fighting for his beliefs and in upholding his values, he has threatened the same people he has sworn to protect. This is inexcusable. Rogers surrenders himself, the only hero to do this, to the proper authorities. His mask is removed and he is taken to a public court, but he never makes it up the steps.
Writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epting do something very interesting in these final frames. Steve Rogers appears to acknowledge the location of the sniper. Rogers, however, doesn’t move. He simply calls out for the people around him to look out, as he takes a round in the back. He has accepted his fate. It is too much for this man - who is supposed to represent all that is good in an ideal America – to live with the disgrace he now feels. He realizes that the great symbol that was Captain America is already dead; it no longer fits a purpose in modern America. The symbol was burned up in the bonfire of destructive bipartisan conflict and nuclear weapons and modern warfare and inescapable media coverage. What good is the symbol in a world where good and evil are no longer so clearly defined? Perhaps in death Captain America can rally the world and remind it what is truly worth fighting for. In death his legend is preserved.
If you’ve never read Captain America, that’s okay; this is a grand introduction to the character. If you have, you’ll enjoy this book for its nostalgia as much for its new espionage-focused take on the legendary character. It is a big impressive hardcover book and so it comes with a large price tag, but you can find it on Amazon for 40% off. It is worth every penny. You will come back to this story and its unforgettable artwork time and time again to experience one of the most important and impressive runs on Captain America of all time.
Professor P
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