Elsewhere/Snow Day

It's been more than a month since I've done one of these Elsewhere posts, mostly because of the holidays affecting my schedule and those of the sites I write for. Since last time, I've had two 1987 And All That posts go up on CSBG, one on Captain America #325-336 and another on Little Shop of Horrors. Most recently, I had a piece go up at PopMatters discussing how I like but mistrust the entire cast of Hinterkind.

I live in Massachusetts, so today is officially a snow day, as Juno has the whole state pretty much buried. The last two days have been spent preparing for this storm, both at work and at home, so I haven't had time yet for what should've been this weeks Weekly Action Comics Weekly Reviews. Once again, that post will be late. I doubt if it'l be today, even though I technically have the time, because I am enjoying doing nothing in the midst of the blizzard, and will most likely let inertia rule my time. Even writing this tiny post is starting to take it out of me.

Something I Failed to Mention
The Captain America issues I discussed work on one level which I did not explore in my column, as a commentary on the current state of comics and the industry's handling of its more popular, well-established characters. Steve Rogers struggles with feeling like he's outgrown his original identity and purpose, which creates conflict when the government demands he go back to fighting who they say and being their obedient soldier. It's easy to map this onto the idea of the character of Captain America getting to big and complex and modern to fir into his original concept, and the fear his creators understandably have that fans might not enjoy seeing that much growth or change. Similarly, when the government brings in John Walker, a more focused, violent, show-boaty kind of guy, the comic itself presents the readers with a choice: do we want Steve Rogers the fully-realized human or John Walker and his violent spectacle? Obviously the book favors Rogers, but part of how it does so is by giving us Walker as a comparison, a watered-down and obnoxious version of the Captain America idea that isn't enough to satisfy.