[politicomics] "Righting wrongs and being righteous in your life"

[glossing]

One of the few unmitigatedly good things about yesterday (the 4th) is that it's Steve Rogers's birthday. And I was going to write up my thoughts about just how awesome he is as a character—I know, from the outside, he can seem terribly corny (Ny, I think you once described him & Barry Allen as being "not part of your America"? I was going to

Comments

[jubilancy]

Steve Rogers is so poor that he had to live out of Sam Wilson's office.

Steve Rogers is so poor that his mother died in front of him while explaining that she was saving her medicine for her sickly boy.

Anyway, substance of the post: I think it's fairly obvious that there's a wonderful escapist element in seeing America associated with a liberal humanist who really wants to do good, but the escapism in that is kept on a very tight leash: Steve isn't invincible, just stubborn, and he's frequently beaten down by hateful fucking reality of America.

[glossing]

Steve isn't invincible, just stubborn, and he's frequently beaten down by hateful fucking reality of America.
*nod nod* That tight leash - like Truth:RW&B in particular - is a *big* part of what makes the character so compelling. Negative space, or something? The dark underbelly CONTEXT that makes his stubbornness even more admirable.

[jubilancy]

Absolutely. Who cares about a guy whose battles are easy, who doesn't suffer for his beliefs, who always wins, who isn't thoughtful about the role he plays in the world?

[glossing]

Steve Rogers is so poor he had to sew the first Nomad costume?

[liz_marcs]

Do you know what fascinated me about the death of Captain America?

When the news first broke, North American-based Captain America fans were upset (goes without saying), but the reaction was somewhat mixed among more general North American-based comic fans.

The people who were really pissed, the ones who were waving the bloody flag, seemed to be the Captain America fans outside of North America. The most eloquent argument about what Captain America really means came from someone who was born and bred in India (it was in comments on scans_daily and fuck me if that comment didn't make me cry).

So anyway, here's this guy from India (and no, I can't stress this enough), telling me what Captain America means. Despite all the shit this country has done over the years (especially in the last six), this one guy from India saw Captain America for what he was: the thing we should try to be, even if we tend to miss the goal more often than reach it

[glossing]

this one guy from India saw Captain America for what he was: the thing we should try to be, even if we tend to miss the goal more often than reach it.
Oh, *wow*. That, right there, makes me beam. (And tear up all over again.) Also, it's one of the best things about the Internet, which I tend to forget in my usual grumpiness: that you & he got to communicate like that. So simple and *wonderful*.

My comic reading days are kind of *cough cough* a few years gone by.
*pets* But if I do write the "Xander Gets to Meet Nick Fury and Promptly Wets His Pants" ficlet, will you read? :D

[oneangrykate]

Steve Rogers is so poor that he had to rely on the WPA!

We're totally going to have a Steve Rogers Vegetarian Barbecue tonight due to one of my whims. All hail Cap'n Dreamy!

[glossing]

The WPA-gig is probably my very favorite canon fact about him pre-Cap. It's just so, *so* right.

Steve Rogers Vegetarian Barbecue
Awesome! (Is he like Clark and also a vegetarian? Because if he's not, he *should* be.)

[jubilancy]

My favorite moment with Sharon in vol 5 is when she's talking about what constitutes a proper cheeseburger. He may eat meat, but he is not as red-blooded as Sharon!

[caiusmajor]

...he spent much of the seventies living in Falcon's office!

[caiusmajor]

...jubilancy beat me to this one, damnit.

Uh. He actually came into a fair amount of money in the Gruenwald era, but then spent it all on the Captain America Hotline and then the U.S. was all "NO! It's not your money after all!" so he wound up owing 40-odd years of back-pay?

[jubilancy]

It's one of my favorite facts!

[caiusmajor]

Anything that leads to Steve sleeping in Sam's welfare office is WIN.

[rubynye]

This is why I love fandom generally and you in specific. *grins at you*

(Ny, I think you once described him & Barry Allen as being "not part of your America"

I said, or meant to say, that I didn't feel like I was part of his America, that the America he represented was the small town all-White heterosexual Christian Heartland that I am not from in so many ways. But do I ever love you for proving me wrong.

[glossing]

I suspected I'd gotten your phrasing totally bass-ackwards, and I'm sorry for that, but hearing that you're coming around fills me with so much glee that I want to hug you. Even more than usual, I mean.