Steve Rogers: Captain America Appreciation 2020

[Hcmarvel]

Secret Empire ran into some really bad luck. The series was written when the whole world assumed Hilary Clinton would win the 2016 election. When Trump won, a lot of people were just not into the idea of Steve Rogers being portrayed as a Fascist. I mean, I can certainly say that at the time I would have prefered to be reading about a Steve Rogers that stood against everything that Trumpism represented, but then again, that's what Sam Wilson's book was supposed to be doing. Unfortunately, though I think Spencer's heart was in the right place, there are some really cringe moments in the Sam Wilson series that Spencer probably should not have attempted.

That's not to say the event, even when read now, is flawless. The build up to the event took too long, the event itself was bloated (it's a six issue story told over 9 or 10 issues) and the art is not very consistent. I liked how Spencer had Hawkeye step forward as the leader with Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers out of the picture, Sorrentino's art is fantastic, and there is an issue with Hank Pym that most agreed was the standout from the event, but a lot of the mechanics of how Steve Rogers comes back were fuzzy and not very compelling.

The whole thing was just sort of sad. The way certain fans attacked Nick Spencer was totally over the top and uncalled for and the idea that making Captain America a Hydra Agent was somehow disrespecting Jack Kirby and Joe Simon was just sort of ridiculous and pearl clutching at its worst. Then Marvel made the strange decision to release a statement half-way through the event that people didn't have to worry, Steve Rogers would return as a hero by the end of the event, which was obvious to anyone who has ever read comic books before but was still a strange move on Marvel's part. It showed a lack of faith in Spencer's story telling and showed they were really feeling the heat of all the angry fans.

I honestly believe had it been released in 2014 or something, people would reflect much more kindly on Spencer's run and Secret Empire in particular. But 2016 was a bitch all around and Secret Empire ran into a political buzzsaw that year.

I'd say it's worth reading, especially now that we have some distance from that highly charged time (not that things are much better now in a wider sense but it doesn't feel quite as fraught perhaps)

The issue with the run is, by nature of the story its telling, is that it is not a very good Steve Rogers event. It's a good Sam Wilson as Captain America event, and YMMV in terms of whether that's something you care about or if the payoffs feel earned and followed through

[Mike_Murdock]

FWIW, the story makes more sense as a Trump allegory anyway. Although, in fairness, the allegory would work regardless of whether he won or lost because he still would have received a significant amount of votes.

[Ragu]

That spoiler I mentioned in the preview? Confirmed.
spoilers:

We see Peggy spying on Hydra Cap in a flashback.

end of spoilers

Which panel was that?

[Snoop Dogg]

all secret empire discourse from 2017 ignored sam, the POC main character of the entire run, to discuss steve, who is overall an inactive supporting character, and stevil, the villain, it was embarassing

[Geralt of Rivia]

Secret Empire ran into some really bad luck. The series was written when the whole world assumed Hilary Clinton would win the 2016 election. When Trump won, a lot of people were just not into the idea of Steve Rogers being portrayed as a Fascist. I mean, I can certainly say that at the time I would have prefered to be reading about a Steve Rogers that stood against everything that Trumpism represented, but then again, that's what Sam Wilson's book was supposed to be doing. Unfortunately, though I think Spencer's heart was in the right place, there are some really cringe moments in the Sam Wilson series that Spencer probably should not have attempted.

That's not to say the event, even when read now, is flawless. The build up to the event took too long, the event itself was bloated (it's a six issue story told over 9 or 10 issues) and the art is not very consistent. I liked how Spencer had Hawkeye step forward as the leader with Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers out of the picture, Sorrentino's art is fantastic, and there is an issue with Hank Pym that most agreed was the standout from the event, but a lot of the mechanics of how Steve Rogers comes back were fuzzy and not very compelling.

The whole thing was just sort of sad. The way certain fans attacked Nick Spencer was totally over the top and uncalled for and the idea that making Captain America a Hydra Agent was somehow disrespecting Jack Kirby and Joe Simon was just sort of ridiculous and pearl clutching at its worst. Then Marvel made the strange decision to release a statement half-way through the event that people didn't have to worry, Steve Rogers would return as a hero by the end of the event, which was obvious to anyone who has ever read comic books before but was still a strange move on Marvel's part. It showed a lack of faith in Spencer's story telling and showed they were really feeling the heat of all the angry fans.

I honestly believe had it been released in 2014 or something, people would reflect much more kindly on Spencer's run and Secret Empire in particular. But 2016 was a bitch all around and Secret Empire ran into a political buzzsaw that year.

I'd say it's worth reading, especially now that we have some distance from that highly charged time (not that things are much better now in a wider sense but it doesn't feel quite as fraught perhaps)

The issue with the run is, by nature of the story its telling, is that it is not a very good Steve Rogers event. It's a good Sam Wilson as Captain America event, and YMMV in terms of whether that's something you care about or if the payoffs feel earned and followed through

Thanks for all your input guys, personally speaking as a non-U.S. affiliated fan I only care about reading good stories with great art; so yeah I do get what you are saying about a long buildup followed by a stretched-out event with inconsistent art. The non-primary character beats do sound awesome though.

It does sound like Marvel dropped the ball PR wise, which is never good. Nick Spencer's writing has never impressed me but I figured they just couldn't give such a big profile character to him if he didn't have a half decent pitch.

[Geralt of Rivia]

it's the only good/very good cap run of the 2010's

Agree to disagree, there was the tail end of Brubaker's awesome extended run and then I quite enjoyed Remender's tenure; but then again I'm a big fan of his zany SciFi style a la Fear Agent.

[Huntsman Spider]

all secret empire discourse from 2017 ignored sam, the POC main character of the entire run, to discuss steve, who is overall an inactive supporting character, and stevil, the villain, it was embarassing

What did you expect? To most people, Steve Rogers was and is Captain America and anyone else in that role would at best just be keeping the shield warm, so to speak. Sam Wilson did get some excellent and/or interesting character development in his time as Cap, but the sad thing was that most of the readership and fandom were just waiting for Steve to come back, so it just pissed them off when the "Steve" that came back (at first) turned out to be HYDRA. From my recollection, that only soured them even more on Sam because some of them felt HYDRA-Cap was merely a ploy to make Sam look better at Steve's expense or something like that, and that was on top of the controversy, such as it was, over Spencer using Sam's book to explicitly call out the racists and nativists --- if not flat-out white supremacists --- gaining influence and authority in the American political mainstream. Those were the headwinds Sam was up against as the protagonist of Nick Spencer's Captain America, unfortunately.

Thanks for all your input guys, personally speaking as a non-U.S. affiliated fan I only care about reading good stories with great art; so yeah I do get what you are saying about a long buildup followed by a stretched-out event with inconsistent art. The non-primary character beats do sound awesome though.

It does sound like Marvel dropped the ball PR wise, which is never good. Nick Spencer's writing has never impressed me but I figured they just couldn't give such a big profile character to him if he didn't have a half decent pitch.

If you're a Spider-Man fan, you might have better luck jiving with Spencer's writing on the current ASM, but even there, some people are getting fairly disenchanted, as the big event he's been building towards since issue one . . . has left some feeling "whelmed," to quote Young Justice's Dick Grayson in the first season.

[charliehustle415]

all secret empire discourse from 2017 ignored sam, the POC main character of the entire run, to discuss steve, who is overall an inactive supporting character, and stevil, the villain, it was embarassing

Oh, it wasn't ignored it was something far more uglier.. sigh

[Huntsman Spider]

Oh, it wasn't ignored it was something far more uglier.. sigh

Yeah, that's also true, sadly.

[Frontier]

all secret empire discourse from 2017 ignored sam, the POC main character of the entire run, to discuss steve, who is overall an inactive supporting character, and stevil, the villain, it was embarassing

I think part of the problem was how ineffectual Sam was for most of his run no matter how hard he tried and that the story was setup that Steve had to come in and be the one to beat HydraCap.

[Huntsman Spider]

I think part of the problem was how ineffectual Sam was for most of his run no matter how hard he tried and that the story was setup that Steve had to come in and be the one to beat HydraCap.

In retrospect, that was also disappointing, and for all that went into trying to make Sam viable as the protagonist of Captain America, no less.

[Frontier]

In retrospect, that was also disappointing, and for all that went into trying to make Sam viable as the protagonist of Captain America, no less.

I mean, I feel like Spencer wrote himself into a situation with HydraCap where the plot kind of had to be resolved the way it did, but with a lot of ANAD there really wasn't an easy out for creative decisions.

[H-E-D]

all secret empire discourse from 2017 ignored sam, the POC main character of the entire run, to discuss steve, who is overall an inactive supporting character, and stevil, the villain, it was embarassing

To be fair, that's how Marvel marketed the story.

[Huntsman Spider]

I mean, I feel like Spencer wrote himself into a situation with HydraCap where the plot kind of had to be resolved the way it did, but with a lot of ANAD there really wasn't an easy out for creative decisions.

Fair enough.

To be fair, that's how Marvel marketed the story.

True enough, which gives the impression that Marvel as a whole or a company wasn't that interested or invested in Sam-Cap, or "Captain Falcon," after the videogame character of the same name.

[Snoop Dogg]

To be fair, that's how Marvel marketed the story.

you're right fucc them binches too