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I'm sitting here, trying to think of something to do this month and drawing
a complete blank. An email from one reader regarding the Marvel Comics
series "Truth: Red, White & Black", in which Captain America discovers that
he, Steve Rogers, is not the first Captain America. In the story, the first
super-soldier is a very non-Aryan Isaiah Bradley "the sole Negro American
survivor of the U. S. Army's super soldier program." My reader suggested
that I take a look at the series and I picked up the last two issues. I
admit, it's an interesting concept, though I feel it's severely hampered by
Kyle Baker's use of an extremely cartoonish style, which is so ugly, in
places that it puts me off. Robert Morales' story, as much as I have read,
seems fairly well-conceived and is interesting. I am an admitted fan of
"secret" and "alternative" history stories, especially those centered on
plausible themes. This is one of those.
The idea that the U. S. Army would experiment on Black Americans is as
plausible, as it is repugnant. However, the 20th Century is filled with
examples of people misused by the governments, and officials, purportedly
sworn to protect them. The idea that such a thing would be kept secret is
likewise plausible, given the times in which the story is set (it moves back
and forth from modern times, to various recollections of the Pre-War and
early years of WWII).
In the story, Isaiah stole the Captain America costume and wore it on a
mission into Germany, to destroy Hitler's super soldier project. He was
successful, but was captured while attempting to free some women bound for
the concentration camps. There is an interesting sequence where Hitler and
Goebbels take turns trying to convince Isaiah that if he will work for them,
the Nazis will not make war on "his people", i.e. Black Americans. Of
course, Isaiah refuses.
The concept my reader suggested is that Isaiah Bradley's grandson takes up
the legacy of his grandfather. Interesting idea, this would make him a
fairly young hero, I'm thinking no older than 25. While Isaiah wore what is
virtually the classic Captain America costume, the one from the earliest
issues, without the attached mask. Isaiah seems to have chosen a different
style mask, resembling a do-wrap. Isaiah also went bare-armed, where the
Captain America we've known for so long has white sleeves.
Using the suggestions I received, I decided that an unmasked hero of the
Captain America type, works very well. I decided he'd need the headgear,
though, to make the link with his grandfather, so I gave him the plain blue
do-wrap and mirror shades. I thought about adapting the traditional boots
and gloves, but decided to go with something more modern. Still in red, of
course. My thinking is that he would not have access to an armorer, so his
costume would be more show, than function. This is made easier by the fact
that Captain America shirts are readily available on the market, in the real
world and certainly would, in the Marvel Universe. The description that was
suggested also mentioned a "darker" color scheme, which, fortunately, is no
problem. The official Cap shirt is in flag/navy blue, not the cerulean blue
of the comics. Instead of the tights, I went with dark blue-gray
military-style pants, tough, loose-fitting and lots of pockets. The shield
is his grandfather's, my reference doesn't give me any views of the shield
to show me all the details I needed, so let's call it a "work in progress",
for the guy.
While thinking about this, I decided I'd throw a piece in here, that I did
back in February of this year. The idea struck me that, of all the Avengers
who'd make a good successor to captain America, She Hulk would be fun to try
out.
And so, this got me to thinking about possible Amalgams for Cap. In the
DC/Marvel Amalgam, Superman and Captain America were combined to become
Super-Soldier, which worked well enough. I thougth about other characters,
from later generations who might make good Amalgams with Cap. Batman is too
obvious, of course, also, he's actually a Golden Age character, like
Superman.
Looking at the Silver Age, the obvious choice, for me, was Hal Jordan,
Green Lantern. I imagine Hal as a pilot, testing exotic aircraft and given
the performance enhancing super soldier serum to improve his reflexes and
help fight G-Forces. When the serum works better than expected on him, he
adopts the Captain America identity for a time. While investigating a
reported crashed UFO, Hal (Captain America) Jordan discovers the mortally
wounded Abin Sur, who bequeaths to the hero his power ring.
And, for the younger generation (though technically, still a Silver Age
character), right out of the pages of the new Outsiders, it occurred to me
that Roy Harper, Arsenal (formerly Speedy, Green Arrow's side-kick) might
make a good Amalgam. Roy's an interesting character, famous for being the
first (known) super-hero with a drug problem. Fortunately, he's
rehabilitated himself and has dropped the horrendous nom du guerre
"Speedy", with it's possible drug references, for the stronger-sounding
"Arsenal", and has moved from being a master of one weapon, the bow, to
attaining mastery with all sorts of weapons. Also, from my own personal
viewpoint, he carries guns, now. Sure, they're goofy comic book guns, but
they still look like handguns.
For this project, I used the basic top half of Cap's costume, changing the
wings a bit and coloring the "A" red. Roy seems to like the bare arms, so I
went that way, too. The lower half, I went with the pants from his current
costume, simplified a bit, the boots I tried to go full swashbuckler, like
Hawkeye's old boots. Fitting, since Roy's also an archer. In deciding what
I should draw, I thought about what he might look like, if directed by
Robert Rodriguez.
Well, that's what came into my head, this time around.
See you next month!
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