Cap: A Hero for Our Times?

I came across an interesting article on Captain America in a recent post from the LA Times and after reading a friend's recent blog on heroes and their importance in our lives, thought it may be worth re-blogging. The LA Times have a site labelled "Hero Complex" and an entry from March has an article by Scottish comics writer Mark Millar:


“Actually America’s economic decline makes Captain America more attractive to people in a strange way,” said Millar, one of the top names writing for Marvel Comics and a creator who has watched his anti-heroes hit the Hollywood screen in the films “Wanted” and “Kick-Ass.”



“Like Superman, he was created in a difficult time to give the country a little hope and the U.S.A. could use some good news right now with a nice, straightforward hero making everyone feel a little better,” Millar said. “James Bond performed the same function for post-imperial Britain after World War II. We’d lost our empire, but here was a hero who represented the best of being British and made us feel good about ourselves. As Brazil, Russia, India and China threaten the American empire in these difficult times, it’s nice to have a hero out there kicking ass and wearing a flag we all feel comfortable with.”

The new Marvel film “Captain America: First Avenger” is set in the 1940s & war-torn Europe. Under the guiding hand of director Joe Johnston, the movie melds the boys-own spirit of “The Rocketeer” (directed by Johnston) and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (Johnston was key art & concepts) with current expectations of masked-man moviemaking.


Burn brightly, Pete