Podcast Review – Who is Captain America?

This week Tony is joined by his Awesome Comics Podcast brother to talk about Captain America Volume 1 – issue 333-350. When Captain America refuses to become a tool of the US Government he steps down. His place is taken by a military veteran who has gained powers from the shady Power Broker, one John Walker. Whilst Walker finds his feet and takes an altogether different path as the flag wearing superhuman Steve Rogers takes the name of The Captain and teams up with other heroes to get to the bottom of what is going on in America.

Written by Mark Gruenwald with art by Tom Morgan, Mark D. Bright and Kieron Dwyer this is a fun-paced read. It is also available as part of the Epic Collection series from Marvel and on ComiXology.

You can listen through the site above or visit Spotify here, Apple Podcasts here and Podbean here. Let us know what you think and if you have any future subjects you fancy covering.

This is a story that plays out over a number of years and examines through comics the politics of the late eighties. We see that the US President has been transformed into a human lizard (paging David Icke!) And yes, that is Ronald Reagan on the cover (and interiors) of issue #344. This is a story that does indeed also reflect the times we now find ourselves in with a rise of polarised politics, popular/unpopular politicians, a rise of the Right side of the political spectrum and questions of whether politicians (and Superhuman Commissions) have the right to affect our everyday decisions and lives.

How does the addressing of this situation and a changing of the central character compare to changes made these days? Tony and Dan also discuss the character switches that went on at the time elsewhere at Marvel and DC Comics and compare and contrast to what we are seeing in the Big Two currently.

You can also hear about Team Cap with his regular travelling companions of The Falcon, Nomad, D-Man, Diamondback and even the somewhat underused and ever-so slightly useless Vagabond. Trust me, some of these legacy characters have a complicated back story.

Walker is at first the villain of the piece and clearly written as a product of the times, but as the story unfolds he reveals a vulnerability through his uncertainty. This develops in a number of different ways and is also layered in a naturalistic style that may surprise you.

Highly recommended as a holiday read.

We also catch up on the comics that Dan is making. If you haven’t been reading his web comic Vanguard then you are missing out. Part of an ongoing fifteen year project we are into the last act and it goes from creative strength to strength every week! You can jump in at the start or just keep current here.

You can also find Dan here on Twitter and follow him, me and Vince Hunt on our weekly podcast The Awesome Comics Podcast right here.

Many thanks for listening.