Captain America #1: Winter in America, Part I

[superboyprime]

"But one reason that I chose the practice of opinion journalism—which is to say a mix of reporting and opinion—is because understanding how those opinions fit in with the perspectives of others has always been more interesting to me than repeatedly restating my own. Writing, for me, is about questions—not answers. And Captain America, the embodiment of a kind of Lincolnesque optimism, poses a direct question for me: Why would anyone believe in The Dream? What is exciting here is not some didactic act of putting my words in Captain America’s head, but attempting to put Captain America’s words in my head. What is exciting is the possibility of exploration, of avoiding the repetition of a voice I’ve tired of." - Ta-Nehisi Coates

Comments

[lucean]

I do think that it was a pretty good, and almost brave, choice to have Coates have a run on Captain America and I'm inherently interested in seeing what he will do with the character and the world to be honest.

[starwolf_oakley]

My fanboy brain has imagined Selene as a potentially interesting Captain America villain. She could even be "revealed" as that "young woman disguised as an old woman" in Cap's origin story. (Is Selene still supposed to be Amara/Magma's mother? I was never clear on that.)

I don't mind "Steve Rogers isn't perfect" stories. CIVIL WAR was a good example. Steve was right eventually, but he never offered an alternative to Superhero Registration (keeping things as is was NOT going to work) or what his end goal was (punching George W. Bush in the jaw would be cathartic, but not a solution).

[kore]

I'm still very interested in what Coates does with Cap, but sort of disappointed with this first issue. It seems sort of....timid. I hope he's working up to something big. Was not that thrilled to see either Nuke or Selene. And it's still the first issue so I'm not going to make a big fuss, but....Sharon is way too weepy and passive here. When Hydra Cap tried to mess with her, she stabbed him! She resisted him all the way! And why do the artists always draw post-Zolaworld Sharon like she's in her sixties? She would be in her mid forties, maybe late forties at most, wouldn't she? Meanwhile Steve, who has been deserumed, aged, magically de-aged, and then magically Cube-ified, looks about thirty-five. Marvel's artists never drew him consistently either -- he was an old head with a young body, or sort of old but fit, or old and ridiculously fit -- but Sharon always looks like a sixty-year-old head on a typical superheroine body.

But it's definitely interesting, and I like it a lot more than the Iron Man (eh), Thor (no), and Hulk (hell no) Fresh Start #1s, so I'm hopeful.

[kore]

CBR had an interesting idea that if Selene's going after Hydra, Steve may have to either join forces with her to wipe them out (no good) or try to defend Hydra from her (also no good). And what is that task force on faith-based initiatives anyway?

[icon_uk]

Claremont wrote Selene as a many times removed ancestor of Amara, never her mother AFAIK.

[icon_uk]

There's a fun Captain America story from the 1980's where Cap is on a case in the sewers, and accidentally runs into Selene and some Hellfire Club goons who were going about a completely different plan.

Given the sheer density of heroes and villains in the Manhattan area, it was nice to see two completely unrelated ones run into each other by pure chance.

[rzerox21xx]

Did Coates said this which was pretty messed up which makes not support the book

he described 9/11 first responders as being "not human" for their playing a part in the oppressive system he envisions.

"They were not human to me," Coates wrote. "Black, white, or whatever, they were menaces of nature; they were the fire, the comet, the storm, which could — with no justification — shatter my body."

If theres anything that refute that idea, I welcome to hear it but yeah I dont think I want to support his books after saying this, maybe its out of context but I doubt it I dont know.

[rzerox21xx]

it was from his 152-page autobiography, "Between the World and Me,

[sadoeuphemist]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/bs-ae-coates-author-20150718-story.html

During the event, Coates, 39, read a chapter about his meeting with Mable Jones, a Philadelphia radiologist whose son, Prince, was fatally shot in 2000 by an undercover Princes George's County police officer. The officer claimed that the unarmed man — the author's friend and former classmate at Howard University — had tried to run him over.

"My son was a month old at that point, and I couldn't distance myself from what Prince had done," Coates said. "If I'd been followed through three jurisdictions by someone who didn't identify himself as a police officer, by someone who was dressed as a criminal and by someone who pointed a gun at me, I might have done just what he did. It's very, very easy for me to see how I could have been killed that day."

[...]

The following passage in the book gave me pause, and I'm wondering if you wished you'd softened it. You were living in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, and you write:

"I could see no difference between the officer who killed Prince Jones and the police who died, or the firefighters who died. They were not human to me. Black, white or whatever; they were the menaces of nature; they were the fire, the comet, the storm, which could, with no justification, shatter my body."

No, I wouldn't soften it. That was a state of my raw emotion at that time. Later, I came to grips with the fact that each of the folks who died were individual humans with likes, dislikes, hates, loves, etc., and I was able to grieve for them.

[nyadnar17]

Selene Gallio is the head of the faith based initiative task force.


Oh wow look, religion and religious types are gullible and evil. Hadn't seen you in like....5mins.

[cyberghostface]

Jesus...

[rzerox21xx]

Oh okay, Thanks for clearing that up

[jmacq1]

I do enjoy atypical encounters for heroes, so this has that going for it, at least.

Who's that with Selene? Darkstar (though she seems awfully villain-y)? Emma Frost?

[thanekos]

It's looking like, in this run, she's representing ' God ' alongside ' defense ', ' science ', and ' commerce ' in an alliance to cleanse and re-strengthen America.

[mizerous]

Unless she sucks up the life of every single HYDRA zealot they will never quit.