Marvel Comics adds twist to iconic ``Captain America'' series
By MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press Writer
November 22, 2002, 7:26 PM EST
PHILADELPHIA -- Marvel Comics is shaking up one of its iconic superheroes, and some fans, with a series that imagines the original "Captain America" as a black Army recruit.
Since 1941, the series has followed the escapades of Steve Rogers, the scrawny, white Army reject who gained supernatural powers after drinking super-soldier serum.
In the new prequel, called "Truth: Red, White & Black," which Marvel Comics feted at a launch event in Philadelphia on Friday, the Army first tests the serum on three black recruits.
"(The concept) is that basically these guys were sacrificed to create and shore up the whole 'Captain America' myth," said writer Robert Morales, a former editor at Vibe magazine who is crafting the series with illustrator Kyle Baker.
The story echoes the government's infamous Tuskegee Experiment, when the U.S. Public Health Service tested the effects of syphilis on unsuspecting black sharecroppers in Alabama.
About 100,000 copies of "Truth" are being printed, Morales said. That's about 10,000 more than the usual run for "Captain America," which is the 10th-best selling comic, according to a Marvel spokesman.
"We sold out of it the same day, about 200 copies," said Martin King, who co-owns Atomic City Comics on South Street in Philadelphia, where local illustrators and comic fans gathered for Marvel's celebration Friday.
King's shop was chosen because it is one of the country's largest black-owned comic book stores.
"This is saying he (Captain America) owes his origins to a group of people who may have died being tested before he even put the costume on," said King, 42, who has worked as an illustrator at Marvel and DC Comics.
"After 9-11, Captain America represented so much, the American flag, standing up for things, and then to bring the African-American struggle into it makes it very, very exciting and very powerful," King said.
Marvel executives first floated the idea of giving their superhero black roots, sensing that it offered both shock value and creative potential.
"What we deliver, really, is a tribute to black soldiers. The key is to get past the metaphor and down to historical facts, which is that black soldiers had a role as real heroes in World War II," said Marvel President Bill Jemas.
The reaction, before the book debuted, was decidedly mixed. While some fans, especially minorities, cheered the concept, others rebelled against the publisher for changing their character, not to mention his race.
"My understanding of things is that now that the book is actually out, the reaction is bizarrely positive," said Morales, who's at work on the fourth segment in the series, which will run for six or seven monthly issues. "I think, much to their horror, they think that actually it's a pretty good book."
Morales, 44, and Baker, 36, have been collaborating for more than a decade. They're both from New York and both biracial, and they share similar cultural interests, he said.
While black superheroes have been around since as at least the 1940s, they more often have been seen in comics printed by independent publishers, or relegated to the role of sidekick.
At a recent event at Bloomingdale's in New York City, Morales watched as a group of young black men read a section of his story.
"One said, 'Wow, I've never seen so many black people in a comic book before.' It really shook me," Morales said.
By MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press Writer
November 22, 2002, 7:26 PM EST
PHILADELPHIA -- Marvel Comics is shaking up one of its iconic superheroes, and some fans, with a series that imagines the original "Captain America" as a black Army recruit.
Since 1941, the series has followed the escapades of Steve Rogers, the scrawny, white Army reject who gained supernatural powers after drinking super-soldier serum.
In the new prequel, called "Truth: Red, White & Black," which Marvel Comics feted at a launch event in Philadelphia on Friday, the Army first tests the serum on three black recruits.
"(The concept) is that basically these guys were sacrificed to create and shore up the whole 'Captain America' myth," said writer Robert Morales, a former editor at Vibe magazine who is crafting the series with illustrator Kyle Baker.
The story echoes the government's infamous Tuskegee Experiment, when the U.S. Public Health Service tested the effects of syphilis on unsuspecting black sharecroppers in Alabama.
About 100,000 copies of "Truth" are being printed, Morales said. That's about 10,000 more than the usual run for "Captain America," which is the 10th-best selling comic, according to a Marvel spokesman.
"We sold out of it the same day, about 200 copies," said Martin King, who co-owns Atomic City Comics on South Street in Philadelphia, where local illustrators and comic fans gathered for Marvel's celebration Friday.
King's shop was chosen because it is one of the country's largest black-owned comic book stores.
"This is saying he (Captain America) owes his origins to a group of people who may have died being tested before he even put the costume on," said King, 42, who has worked as an illustrator at Marvel and DC Comics.
"After 9-11, Captain America represented so much, the American flag, standing up for things, and then to bring the African-American struggle into it makes it very, very exciting and very powerful," King said.
Marvel executives first floated the idea of giving their superhero black roots, sensing that it offered both shock value and creative potential.
"What we deliver, really, is a tribute to black soldiers. The key is to get past the metaphor and down to historical facts, which is that black soldiers had a role as real heroes in World War II," said Marvel President Bill Jemas.
The reaction, before the book debuted, was decidedly mixed. While some fans, especially minorities, cheered the concept, others rebelled against the publisher for changing their character, not to mention his race.
"My understanding of things is that now that the book is actually out, the reaction is bizarrely positive," said Morales, who's at work on the fourth segment in the series, which will run for six or seven monthly issues. "I think, much to their horror, they think that actually it's a pretty good book."
Morales, 44, and Baker, 36, have been collaborating for more than a decade. They're both from New York and both biracial, and they share similar cultural interests, he said.
While black superheroes have been around since as at least the 1940s, they more often have been seen in comics printed by independent publishers, or relegated to the role of sidekick.
At a recent event at Bloomingdale's in New York City, Morales watched as a group of young black men read a section of his story.
"One said, 'Wow, I've never seen so many black people in a comic book before.' It really shook me," Morales said.