The difference for me is that Falcon is Falcon, and he's not a super soldier so he can't replace Captain America. He still feels like Falcon to me. Thor (the current Thor) has not been established as anyone else for years and years so she is able to take on the name (deal with it) without her previous identity to overcome (unless it's not Rosalind Solomon). There also isn't a drop-off in power and ability to make her a physically inferior stand-in. The biggest factors for me is that I read more female led books than anything else and that I'm genuinely interested in seeing where the story goes.
The character is clearly involved in the new Avengers series-- for the first arc at least-- so hopefully Sam's tenure will continue that much longer as Cap. By the time "civil war" rolls around, who knows what the situation will be, but hopefully at least several good TPBs can come out of this.
Seems like pretty selective analysis. I mean, it could be worse, Sam Wilson could have gotten the Tony Stark treatment (have you seen sales of Superior Iron Man?)
Besides Immonen being yanked from an top-selling X-Men book and artists don't tend to stick around long anyway, it is not apples and oranges to compare marketing to female readers and marketing to black readers. One of those markets is over half the population and that does not exclude black readers either. A comic book company makes that connection to that market and the existence of other minority representation will be noticed, hopefully.
I wish i cared about female Thor. I'm being held hostage by the mystery of what made Thor unworthy. The two books cant be compared.
"Dedra Meero is not just a woman in a men’s world, but a fascist in a world of fascists.” - Denise Gough
The problem with LADY THOR is that it doesn't make any sense in terms of the history of the character. Picking up Mjolnir does not transform a person into Thor -- it gives them a Thor-like costume and the powers of Thor, but they keep their own identity. For example, when Wonder Woman picked up the hammer, she did not become Thor. Her costume changed and she got Thor's powers, but remained Diana. Same thing with Beta Ray Bill. Same thing with Captain America.She is not Thor. She is some other character who has mjolnir and Thor's powers, but she is not Thor. Thor Odinson,I don't understand why she's using the name Thor. It's not a mantle like Captain America, or Spiderman. Thor is his given name! I don't see anything wrong with her taking up the hammer and using it's powers, but couldn't she find some other themed name to call herself?
I don't agree with this idea that Sam's done nothing except been saved at all.
He still held his own against Batroc and Crossbones, and later KO'd the latter in one strike. He still utterly defeated Sin. He still got through to Armadillo and convinced him to turn against HYDRA. He still pummelled Zemo several times. He still stopped Zemo from sterilizing a lot of people using nothing but his own superpowers.
He isn't just letting others "take charge" at all.
Here is my thing and why I dropped cap after collecting since 1982. The idea that falcon can't stand on his own that they have to tag him with the name Captain America so he will sell is insulting to the charter. I would have loved a solo falcon comic, but not this.
Thank you. And it's not like Bucky wasn't constantly trying to live up to expectations either. How many times did Sam or Widow bail him out?
And especially when you're facing all of HYDRA, I'm sure a bit of help is warranted. And it's like his speech with Armadillo means nothing. Being Cap is more about just punching faces and kicking teeth and I feel like Sam is doing a pretty good job in his solo title carrying the mantle.
As a liberal, I am aware of the importance of more positive representation of women and minorities in heroic fiction. But as an old timey comic fan, I confess that I never liked temporary replacements of popular superheroes. It still has the smell of a gimmick, ever since I first encountered this practice in the 1980s and 1990s.
I don't consider Carol Danvers in this light, though. The Kree Mar-Vell has been dead for ages. Carol Danvers always should have been the inheritor to the title. That it took Marvel so long to do it can only be attribute to sexism and how much they've messed Carol up in the 1980s.
I know Sam's experienced at being a hero, I'm actually a big fan of his, that's the only reason why I'm mostly okay (I say mostly because, I'm not really a big fan of him losing the SSS and becoming 90 years old) with him replacing my favorite hero in Steve Rogers, because I was hoping it would do the same for him as it did for the Winter Soldier, in giving him his own solo as Falcon, when Steve eventually regains his shield.
I totally agree with you in that Sam has earned his shot at being Captain America, but having experience as one hero doesn't mean he should be able to take over being another hero and using a weapon, that he's never, to my knowledge used before, from a guy who is, quite frankly, better than him in all regards (I'm talking about physically and experience, not on a personal or character level) and not be shown to be at a little disadvantage, or struggle a bit when it's his first outing as Captain America, I just don't think it should be to this extent. If Sam came out and was just as good at being Cap as Steve is/was then that would be a disservice to Steve Rogers (and all the other Caps), literally saying that it's easy being Cap and anyone could be able to do it, and as history shows us, that is not the case.
I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.
- George Washington