Captain America: Man of God.

[proteus_lives]

Greetings True believers!

If there is one thing that Steve Rogers does well, it's inspire people to be better. He even does it when he's frozen in a chunk of ice.

These scans are from Age of Heroes #4. This tale reaches back to a piece of Marvel history. Remember those natives that worshiped Cap when he was an ice-cube? One them remembers Cap.



Fairbanks, Alaska:

Cap has returned from the dead.



Auckaneck and his great-granddaughter go for a walk.



He begins his tale:

"When I was a boy, we worshipped the sea. The sea gave food and beauty. And once, a miracle."

Auckaneck is a young man out fishing with his crew, including Tikaani, a real dick. They find Cap's iceberg and take him back to their village.

The elder decides Cap is a god and everyone is suitably impressed. Auckaneck goes to tell Sura, the girl he loves, about it but she's filled in by Tikaani. They both love Sura but Auckaneck doesn't think he stands a chance because Tikaani is the big man on campus. So one night he goes to Cap...



Later Tikaani is giving Auckaneck shit and Auck challenges him to go out on the rough seas. While out there Tikaani decides to kill him to get Sura. They struggle and Tikaani falls out of the boat. Auck considers letting him drown.



Auckaneck dives in to save him. But the seas pull them both down. But they are saved by Namor! The Avenging Son! Namor then pulls a dick move, trashes the village and throws Cap back in the sea to found by the Avengers.

Auckaneck gets Sura but the tribe considers the land cursed after Namor's attack and most of them move to the city.

Tiffany's dad shows up again and has another argument with Auckaneck.



Hell, I'd worship Steve! Come one, who wants to join the First Reformed Church of Capism? Makes more sense then the Mormon Church!

Comments

[starwolf_oakley]

For HEROES REBORN, Rob Liefeld wanted to remove the whole "man in a block of ice worshiped by Inuit" part of the origin. I can see why.

How did Cap find out about the whole "worshipped by Inuit" part? I think a flashback had Cap narrate that one of the Inuit went to an Air Force base and explain what had happened when Namor attacked.

[bradhanon]

The basic issue of natives-worshipping-Mighty-Whitey is still there and still problematic, but honestly, if we're stuck with it in continuity, it's nice to see it being treated with a little more sensitivity and complexity.

And yes, I will totally join the First Reformed Church of Capism. I preach a good sermon after a couple whiskies, I should tell you.

[proteus_lives]

The original version is very Tarzan but I like this one better.

The dude doesn't outright worship Cap, kinda reminds me of respecting a guardian spirit or your ancestors.

[valtyr]

The basic issue of natives-worshipping-Mighty-Whitey is still there and still problematic, but honestly, if we're stuck with it in continuity, it's nice to see it being treated with a little more sensitivity and complexity.

Yeah, I kind of feel like this about it.

[halloweenjack]

Think of it as a cargo cult variation.

[sir_razorback]

Frozen Foods division?

[comicoz]

As long as he's ok that I also worship Banjo, God of Puppets, I'm game.

[morgana006]

All hail Banjo!

[cypherfdp]

Oh, Namor, you so crazy.

[valtyr]

I am totally jonesing for Cap to get his own evangelical cult. He's come back from the dead again, and he was recently spotting flying about in Children's Crusade. I need him to have his own cult, and be totally embarrassed by it.

[shadowpsykie]

i'm not sure how i feel about this.

its not so much the worship

i mean they basically worshiped him not because he white, well only partially. it has to do more with cap being totally different from them. not just white and blonde hair, i mean he is stuck in an ice cube. The Aztecs felt the same way about the spanish. they so closely resembled the gods they worshiped that they believed that they were gods. they had hair on thier face, pale and shiny skin and so on.

the bigger issue i have is with him still worshiping Cap after finding out he was as his son put it, a frozen super-hero. logic would dictate, "Maybe the real god was listening, maybe it was just the spirit, the presense of this great man i felt. maybe it was my OWN conscience working"


something... i admire the IDEA of this story. giving faith to those who need it. in a way its what cap is, they dont look to him as a god (we, the comic book denizens) but we do see him as the embodiement of what is good in others.... its just the execution that seems... off to me.

am i making ANY sense?

[proteus_lives]

Sure you are.

I took it as much the same way as you did but I don't think we actually worships Cap but honors in him like an ancestor spirit or guardian deity. In lots of religions, noble humans can become minor detities after death.

They worshipped him because of the what point you made and they started to prosper after they found him. People will believe in crazy things if they are in need.

It could be totally my fault, maybe my scans collections wasn't top-notch.

I like Cap stories in this vein because he's the only character in the MU that has the level of adultration and admiration that Supes or WW have in the DCU for example.

One of my favorite ones is from Ross's MARVELS. It's re-telling of the Marvel Silver Age from a normal man/photographer's POV. He's watching the FF fight Galactus for the first time. (Another part of this series is it shows how the normal people react to these super-events. Like a giant alien space-god coming to earth.)

He's standing next to a group of old war vets and they're watching this epic battle of cosmic awesomeness and one the old man says, "They need to find Captain America. He'd take care of it. I saw the man fight. Just find him!"

[bjornwilde]

Even frozen and nearly dead Steve inspires the best in us.

[halloweenjack]

I'm reminded of several of my friends who also worship action figures.

[colonel_green]

Steve and Prince Philip should talk about what it's like to be at the centre of a cult.

[psychopathicus_rex]

I like the idea of a lingering cult of worship remaining around Cap long after he's been unfrozen. After all, if Superman can attract them, why not Cap? He's roughly the MU's equivalent of Supes in terms of being the one who sets a moral example for the rest, after all, and like every other major superhero, he's saved the world multiple times - what more could you ask for in a god? (Besides answering prayers and stuff, I mean. But then, you could always try writing him a letter.)
What I don't like is them simply calling him 'God'. That's a Christian term, and this is not a Christian, or even a monotheist, belief system we're dealing with here. Sure, the Inuit have belief systems that involve gods, plural, and powerful spirits and whatnot - but they all have NAMES; they aren't just called 'God' or 'Spirit'. I mean, I don't see the old man implying that Cap is the ruler of the universe or anything - it's more like he's the god of his tribe, their totem spirit and spiritual protector. If that's the case, he should have a name - 'Frozen Man' or 'Man in Ice' or something; I don't know. Anything but 'God'. 'THE god', perhaps, but not just 'God'.

[kirke_novak]

The last panel, the one with Cap action-figure made me smile.

[jlroberson]

Brendan does a great job here. I'm so glad to see so much of him again. Marvel, this is how to get me to buy your comics: not events, but letting talented creators do what they do best and letting a hundred flowers bloom. This is how they kept me buying Epic and NEW MUTANTS(Bill S. in the latter case) in the 80s even after I X-puked up the rest.

The willingness to let artists experiment, too, is one of the things Marvel's always had over the more logocentric orientation of DC.