Captain America: Dark Knight?
Dec. 21st, 2009 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lamashtar posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
scans_dailyOn this world holiday of the Longest Night, I present the time Captain America wore...okay, not BLACK, but dark blue.
Also, he trips over his cape. About 12 scans under the cut.
The time of darkness is not long before the American President Nixon resigned in Real Life, August 9, 1974. The Secret Empire tries to take over America, attacking the White House itself. They made the mistake of using mutants, so the X-men got involved and they got trounced. Captain America had been set up to be disgraced by the Secret Empire, only to be exonerated by the media flurry (strangely, the X-men were still menaces, despite standing right next to Cap). In the confusion, the head of the Secret Empire awakened and fled into the Oval Office.
(1 page from Captain America and the Falcon 175. Written by Steve Englehart, drawn by Sal Buscema, inked by Vince Colleta. Published July 1974. Not sure which volume.)
Cap doesn't reveal what happened inside. Its immediately hushed up by the government. The leader is not named, but the implication is that President Nixon was the head of the Secret Empire (But I like to think the Nixon that resigned was a robot or a clone). I believe this was later retconned to the chief of staff.
Cap enters his own, and Real Life America's, long dark night of the soul. He decides he no longer has faith in the image Captain America represents, and that therefore he must cease to bear the shield.
His friends try to dissuade him, but he can only think of the evil, within him and all around him. (Originally, I scanned this for the passing mention of Cap killing people.)
(3 scans from Captain America and the Falcon 176. Same creative team.)
He is no longer sure which part of America his name stands for.
Their arguments fail. He abandons his identity. There's mourning and bitterness in the media. Several eager types try their hand at wielding a shield. Steve tries to learn how to have a personal life, til Hawkeye convinces him that while Steve can't be America's symbol any longer, he can always be a new superhero.
(5 scans from Captain America and the Falcon 180. Regular creative is joined by Frank Giacoia on inks.)
He always wanted a cape!
Nice cleavage.
Like a Dark Knight!
By an incredible coincidence, he comes upon some old foes engaged in villainy. He moves to stop them..
Steve's whole attitude in the Nomad experiment is impatience. He doesn't want to train to get used to fighting with a cape, he doesn't want to have to start building trust as a new vigilante, he wants everything, right now!
Meanwhile, Falcon has been nursemaiding one of the Captain America wannabe's, who gets killed by the Red Skull. Overcome by the obvious Evil, Steve has a revelation. Possibly, he remembered his old oath of enlistment:
"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic...
(3 scans from Captain America and the Falcon 183. Written by Steve Englehart, drawn by Frank Robbins, inked by Joe Sinnot and Frank Giacoia.)
(Insert Sally Floyd joke here.)
(When I googled to remember that character's name, I found it interesting to note that her creator, Paul Jenkins, has been the writer of many of the recent retro Captain America one-shots.)
I think he puts on the dead guys Cap outfit, which seems wierd, but, oh well..
Also, he trips over his cape. About 12 scans under the cut.
The time of darkness is not long before the American President Nixon resigned in Real Life, August 9, 1974. The Secret Empire tries to take over America, attacking the White House itself. They made the mistake of using mutants, so the X-men got involved and they got trounced. Captain America had been set up to be disgraced by the Secret Empire, only to be exonerated by the media flurry (strangely, the X-men were still menaces, despite standing right next to Cap). In the confusion, the head of the Secret Empire awakened and fled into the Oval Office.
(1 page from Captain America and the Falcon 175. Written by Steve Englehart, drawn by Sal Buscema, inked by Vince Colleta. Published July 1974. Not sure which volume.)
Cap doesn't reveal what happened inside. Its immediately hushed up by the government. The leader is not named, but the implication is that President Nixon was the head of the Secret Empire (But I like to think the Nixon that resigned was a robot or a clone). I believe this was later retconned to the chief of staff.
Cap enters his own, and Real Life America's, long dark night of the soul. He decides he no longer has faith in the image Captain America represents, and that therefore he must cease to bear the shield.
His friends try to dissuade him, but he can only think of the evil, within him and all around him. (Originally, I scanned this for the passing mention of Cap killing people.)
(3 scans from Captain America and the Falcon 176. Same creative team.)
He is no longer sure which part of America his name stands for.
Their arguments fail. He abandons his identity. There's mourning and bitterness in the media. Several eager types try their hand at wielding a shield. Steve tries to learn how to have a personal life, til Hawkeye convinces him that while Steve can't be America's symbol any longer, he can always be a new superhero.
(5 scans from Captain America and the Falcon 180. Regular creative is joined by Frank Giacoia on inks.)
He always wanted a cape!
Nice cleavage.
Like a Dark Knight!
By an incredible coincidence, he comes upon some old foes engaged in villainy. He moves to stop them..
Steve's whole attitude in the Nomad experiment is impatience. He doesn't want to train to get used to fighting with a cape, he doesn't want to have to start building trust as a new vigilante, he wants everything, right now!
Meanwhile, Falcon has been nursemaiding one of the Captain America wannabe's, who gets killed by the Red Skull. Overcome by the obvious Evil, Steve has a revelation. Possibly, he remembered his old oath of enlistment:
"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic...
(3 scans from Captain America and the Falcon 183. Written by Steve Englehart, drawn by Frank Robbins, inked by Joe Sinnot and Frank Giacoia.)
(Insert Sally Floyd joke here.)
(When I googled to remember that character's name, I found it interesting to note that her creator, Paul Jenkins, has been the writer of many of the recent retro Captain America one-shots.)
I think he puts on the dead guys Cap outfit, which seems wierd, but, oh well..
no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 05:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 06:14 am (UTC)*giggle* That scene amuses me so much. It would have been real cool to see Steve take the time to learn to fight in a cape, though. But I do recall seeing one version of his origin where his supervisors in the super soldier program totally vetoed his design ideas with capes. There may also have been one with cleavage like his Nomad costume that they rejected...
no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 05:16 am (UTC)And Batman. (he would have trained to be able to not do that in a cape).
no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 06:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 06:48 am (UTC)Guess how he fixed it.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 06:57 am (UTC)i'm so glad Rikki's Nomad costume is so much better
no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 08:24 am (UTC)"No capes!"
no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 06:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 06:50 am (UTC)Though really, it is a perfect metaphor for what disillusionment did to style in the 70s.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 07:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 03:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 07:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 02:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 06:38 pm (UTC)I love him and all, but he can be pretty ridiculous.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 08:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 07:44 pm (UTC)It's cool to see that Cap and Spidey could actually sew
Date: 2009-12-22 10:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 07:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 01:49 pm (UTC)DOES NOT APPROVE!!!
no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 04:32 pm (UTC)JUST IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING
DO NOT TRY TO LIE OH YES YOU DID
no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 01:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 06:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-30 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 02:22 am (UTC)...but in the southern hemisphere (which is, y'know, half of Planet Earth), it's actually the summer solstice. And it's the longest day and shortest night.
Just for the record.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 02:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 07:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 06:22 pm (UTC)One telling of his origin story had him making a lot of drawings of a superhero called "American Eagle", and once he wrote "Has to have a cape! So boss!" next to one. I liked that touch.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-24 02:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-17 12:38 pm (UTC)Y'know, seriously, that costume is not entirely Steve's fault. It was a trendy look among his friends at the time . . .
no subject
Date: 2010-03-17 04:44 pm (UTC)