The Mighty Avengers #2

I try to keep caught up with Marvel's Captain America; written by Rick Remender, the title offers insight into how the global hyper-power is coping with its own collapse. Riven by inequality and long-term unemployment, ruled by an arrogant elite, the United States has lost the confidence of its citizens. So how does the living embodiment of Old Glory, the superhero with an 'A' plastered on his forehead (and it does not stand for "Asshole"), walk the talk when all the talk is that America is lost?

The answer to that, based on the recent issues of the comic book, is that Captain America walks the talk feebly: the super-soldier serum has been sapped from his DNA by the fascinating Iron Nail super-villain, and now Steve Rogers is an old man of the age of someone who fought in World War Two; he has handed off his shield to his friend and partner, Sam Wilson, a.k.a., The Falcon.

I think it is interesting, coming fast on the heels of Obama's broadly acknowledged failure as POTUS, that Marvel would hand Captain America's stained mantle to a black former sidekick. Something important is being said here, and this page will follow the title to let you know what that message is.

There are actually two titles to follow. All-New Captain America and Captain America and the Mighty Avengers. Captain America and the Mighty Avengers takes over from The Mighty Avengers (2nd Series), issues of which I have (at least most of them) but which I have not read. So after reading Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #1, I decided to go back and read the 2nd Series of The Mighty Avengers.

The title begins in the middle of the Infinity crossover event. Thanos has sent his minions to conquer New York City while the Avengers are off in deep space trying to save the universe. Luke Cage, with an assist from the Manhattan masses, dukes it out with the dastardly but fetching Proxima Midnight.

Note the old lady's use of "¡No pasarán!" as a rallying cry against Proxima Midnight. Meaning "They shall not pass," "¡No pasarán!" is a communist slogan from the Spanish Civil War. The Mighty Avengers #2 is written by Al Ewing; the art is by Greg Land.

Iron Man #6 + Hawkeye #6

Seeing how this is the opening weekend of Iron Man 3 in North America, a few words on the latest Marvel Iron Man title, Iron Man Vol. 5. Below are two scanned pages from Iron Man #6, written by Kieron Gillen with pencils by Greg Land and inking by Jay Leisten:

Gillen is a capable writer. I enjoyed his recent boy-Loki run in Journey Into Mystery. And Land is a journeyman; his work on Uncanny X-Men, also written by Gillen, was solid. But the current Iron Man narrative, which casts Tony Stark as an intergalactic traveler in service of a huge Disney Star Warsesque production coming to a theater near you in the not-too-distant future, pales compared to the Zeitgeist-defining Invincible Iron Man, written by Matt Fraction with art by Salvador Larocca. (Hopefully when historians study the United States from the 2008 McCain-Obama presidential election campaign to the 2012 Romney-Obama presidential election campaign they will consult the amazing, consistently excellent, four-year Fraction and Larocca run in Invincible Iron Man. A lot would be revealed.)

Working with masterful artist David Aja and colorist Matt Hollingsworth, Fraction once again has one of the best superhero comic books around, Hawkeye. It is at once both forward and backward looking. It taps into that sunny Stan Lee optimism of the middle-1960s but maintains a stylistic edge; afterall, Clint Barton (a.k.a. Hawkeye) lives in Brooklyn! Below are scans of the first four pages of Hawkeye #6: