wm lopez

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/201002...s/ynews_ts1129

Thu Feb 11, 3:21 pm ET

Since 1941, Captain America has been one of the most popular comic book characters around. The fictional super-patriot fought Nazis during World War II, took on those who burned the American flag during the Vietnam era, and raked in hundreds of millions of dollars for Marvel Comics along the way. Now, the appearance that he is taking on the Tea Party Movement in a storyline about investigating white supremacists has forced Marvel to apologize for the comic hero.

Issue 602 of the comic features Captain America investigating a right-wing anti-government militia group called "the Watchdogs". Hoping to infiltrate the group, Captain America and his African-American sidekick The Falcon observe an anti-tax protest from a rooftop. The protestors depicted are all white and carry signs adorned with slogans almost identical to those seen today in Tea Party rallies like "tea bag libs before they tea bag you" and "stop the socialists."

Lemmy

Good ol' Marvel, I've always loved that they were pretty progressive politically with their character's political beliefs (Marvel did begin to gain huge ground in their bid to be at the top of the comics industry heap in around 1962, after all....and they grew all through the 60's and 70's).

DGibFen

I was hoping this was a "we fired Quesada and plan to fix Spider-man" apology.

Solid Snake

Aren't they about to do that? I keep seeing ads in the recent comics showing Spidey reaching out to grab MJ (wearing a wedding dress) w/ some characters and strewn about in the background.

Eric F

Hehehe. They must be lovin' this. They probably can't keep that issue of Cap' on the stands.

Lemmy

Yeah, this kind of thing makes proud to be a FOOM (Friend Of Ol' Marvel, for those aged comic fans amongst us, lol). Even though I no longer read new stuff (just can't stand the continuity problems), these characters will always be close to my heart.

davidh777

I used to get the FOOM magazine

fujishig

I don't understand why people are proud of Marvel over this. Because they apologized, or because they included some modern day headlines in the comic?

While I like Bru's cap, I can see why the people complained about this, and Marvel's excuse (that they were at a deadline and pulled whatever signs they could from the internet) doesn't seem to ring true to me. Of course, I haven't read the issue, has anyone here?

Lemmy

To answer, in order:

It's because they ran a story with negative depictions of right-wingers (yay! for that).

Marvel's excuse doesn't ring true to you because it wasn't sincere. It was simply an attention-getter for them to sell more copies of this book. Marvel is, primarily, a left-wing publisher (not too far left, but left nonetheless, thank goodness). They don't give two sh!ts about the Tea (Bag) Party, other than to display them as the (relatively minor, for now) threat they may become to the current administration.

No, I haven't read the entire issue, just a few of the main pages in question.

brayzie

I would feel the same way if they depicted anti-war protesters as terrorist sympathizers.
Generalizations and the subsequent cheerleading doesn't help any.
One more reason not to buy Marvel.

wm lopez

What Marvel should have done was have Cap side with the Tea Baggers and the Falcon against them.
Fair & balanced .

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

tea party =! right wing republican. tea party = independant conservative

dx23

Marvel doesn't have to be fair and balanced and they wouldn't put Cap, who is a true symbol of Americana, with the bunch of racist nutjobs that make the Tea Party.

Lemmy

Very true. All the way around.

maingon

I would add slightly misinformed slightly wacky independent conservative.

Eric F

Who cares? This is all about business. They say what they want, then apologize and get more publicity drumming up even more sales in the process. Lame. If they had any balls at all they wouldn't need to apologize.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

Yes. The race card. Quite eloquent.

Cathepsin

Actually, they kinda already did that.

http://everydayislikewednesday.blogspot.com/

Page down to the post of February 11 talking about Marvel's Secret Invasion #6, which includes scenes of activists supporting Skrull-provided "change".

dx23

What?

Rockmjd23

Not sure why they feel the need to apologize. The entertainment industry has been left-wing for as along as it's been around. Why is this anything different?

Zbu

Signs that the Teabaggers use? So they're misspelled badly, show no signs of actual grammar, and use thinly veiled racist slurs?

I'm not sure why Marvel is apologizing. It sounds like a good basis for a Cap story, really.

Rockmjd23

wm lopez

Cap is for abortion, gay marriage and changing Christmas holiday to Winter Break too,right?

lattethunder

As much as any fictional frigging character can be.

And don't forget, Cap spent WW2 hanging around with an underage boy to whom he wasn't related, has been having premarital sex for the better part of a century, and keeps letting the bad guys go.

dx23

When Tom Tancredo, an openly racist asshole, opens as a keynote speaker for the OFFICIAL Tea Party convention, talking about how the literacy test (a law during the segretation era to prevent blacks from voting) should be brought back, then I can see and say that the party endorses a racist, exclusive agenda.

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Cap is for equal rights for all, including homosexuals. He is also a true believer in civil rights, so I don't doubt that he endorses pro-choice. As for the Christmas thing, that is just ridiculous.