The Four Color Media Monitor

If Coates had no intention of keeping his politics in check before, he most certainly doesn't now. In his latest abuse of Steve Rogers, he's turned him "captain of nothing":

Captain America is no more… again.

In the latest issue of Marvel’s current Captain America comic book, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and illustrated by Adam Kubert, the first chapter of a storyline titled “Captain of Nothing,” Steve Rogers surrenders to authorities after becoming the prime suspect in the death of long-running Marvel Comics supporting character Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, in the process seemingly leaving behind his costumed identity.

All of this is, as it turns out, part of a plan on behalf of the storyline’s primary villains to destabilize the very idea of Captain America that has been slowly unfolding since the series launched last year. As Steve Rogers explains his actions in the current issue, however, the possibility is raised that such a plan may be more successful than many would have expected.

“How can I claim to serve my country when I constantly oppose it? How can I carry this shield and fight the government that entrusted me with it?” he asks, as he prepares to surrender. “Freedom. Democracy. The right of people to choose. This is the world they’ve chosen. This is the world they wanted.” In subsequent narration, Rogers notes that “charlatans had claimed the dream.”

Unfortunately, those charlatans are the very people who crafted this latest story, which is bound to be far less subtle than the 1974 story about the original secret empire. On which note:

That issue was written in response to the then-unfolding Watergate scandal. That Rogers again appears to resign as an American icon, bemoaning the democratic choice of the country, in an echo of that storyline during the era of Donald Trump is unlikely to be a coincidence, especially given the many comparisons made between the two presidents. It’s also a surprisingly bold move from a company whose CEO Ike Perlmutter is a well-known Trump supporter and ally.

The ongoing storyline follows 2017’s Secret Empire storyline, in which Captain America’s history was rewritten, leaving him an agent of the Nazi-adjacent organization Hydra. The story drew a lot of criticism from fandom, leading to Marvel taking the unusual step of asking for patience to let the storyline end as intended before commenting, with the resolution — which returned the classic incarnation of Captain America, punching his evil self — being unveiled days before release by Marvel via a New York Times story.

Well how about that? Proof editor C.B. Cebulski doesn't have a problem with such embarrassingly bad elements, and to make matters worse, they even turned the guy who was Bruce Banner's rival and father-in-law into a sacrifice for the sake of this atrocity. Something tells me they've got no interest in even reviving Ross, as Peter David did in the latter half of his Hulk run (though he later screwed up by putting Betty Banner in the coffin in his stead, its reversal in turn notwithstanding, all because of some personal issue he once said he had at the time).

Just look how the trade journal even has the gall to downplay how atrocious the story is (I'm sure they're doing the same with Heroes in Crisis, no matter the outcome), and even if Marvel did seemingly reverse what was seen later on, does that make it any less offensive? Of course not. The Big Two have already long had quite a modern tradition of irritating fans they no longer want with elements that are played up for revolting sensationalism, and they way they drag it all out in multiple issues of an ongoing or a miniseries only underscores the insults they heap on their fanbases. Padded storytelling's become one of the major downfalls of comicdom in pamphlet formats, much like company wide crossovers, and it's served as an excuse in which to foist these controversy-baiting messes onto the market. And the paper even has the gall to call the current direction "bold", proving they're no Cap fans.

The Daily Wire says:

"Secret Empire" was part of the grand experiment where Marvel Comics forced ‘intersectionality’ story arcs onto the fans. This was part of a social justice drive in comic book plots which included replacing beloved characters like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America with more "diverse" characters, many of which were written by Coates. The fans reacted extremely poorly, causing sales to nosedive.

After this negative response, the popular comic book company vowed to remove the political content from their issues and restored many of the original characters, but it would seem that they have returned to their SJW promotion.

To do a second story arc that completely rewrites one of their iconic characters for clearly political reasons shows that Marvel has clearly not learned their lesson.

This is a far cry from the Steven Rogers who, when he confronted the villainous Frank "Nuke" Simpson in "Ultimate Captain America," said, "Peace and security don’t come easy, Simpson. And wars are never pretty, no matter the era. But we do what we can. For the greater good."

The thing is, as I'd once found out, Mark Millar didn't actually intend to portray patriots positively, and in any event, there were still quite a few elements in the Ultimate line that were alienating. And while Coates may have written a few of those costume-replacement tales, he didn't do them all. Some were also written by Jason Aaron, Brian Bendis, and even G. Willow Wilson, since she was the one who replaced Carol Danvers with a Muslim teenager as Ms. Marvel, something that, unlike some of the other PC panderings, still hasn't been reversed.

The "intersectionality" narrative is not only affecting Marvel Comics. DC Comics is also dabbling with these storylines. In 2017, "Batman: White Knight" was released, which showed a "cured" version of The Joker using community activism to fight the Dark Knight in Gotham City. Also, "Heroes in Crisis" shows the aftermath of several Justice League members being killed in a mass shooting after a mysterious villain sneaks into a superhero sanctuary and the subsequent aftermath.

This ought to present an opportunity for the conservative movement to embrace the comic book-reading community, as the Left continues to alienate by aggressively forcing their ideology upon readers. With its own creators, the Right could potentially draw in a vast audience of people who simply want to read dynamic stories and enjoy stunning illustrations.

I'm glad to see they realize DC is just as guilty, and even if they may cloak their steps in metaphors more than Marvel actually does, it still doesn't make the stories any more readable, and they still remain as alienating as ever.

As for rightists embracing the comics community, there is of course Comicsgate serving that purpose in a way, and if the DW wants, they can promote some of the creator-owned projects of artists supporting the movement.

For now, it's clear Captain America, much like the rest of Marvel, remains buried in rampant, rabid leftism and cannot recover under the ownership of the Disney Corp, let alone Ike Perlmutter, who clearly doesn't have what it takes to use his influence for good causes, and demand they stop stuffing the books they publish with all these publicity stunts, line-wide crossovers and other elements that only serve to devastate the quality of the products, discouraging any new audience from bothering. Perlmutter may be a Trump supporter, but that alone doesn't make him admirable as an entertainment mogul. That said, if he's still got any stake in Marvel, it may be less now, presumably because he's moving away from business with it, and his influence is less, but if he is still with them, then again, he's proven he doesn't have what it takes to run them as a business.

Labels: bad editors, Captain America, golden calf of death, marvel comics, moonbat artists, moonbat writers, politics