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Truth: Red, White & Black #1-7
Captain America: Truth - Red, White & Black
In 1940, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Captain America, a frail patriot who was transformed by a "super-soldier serum" into a physically perfect specimen to champion freedom, an American alternative to the Nazi uebermensch. Now, writer Morales pursues this idea and also draws inspiration from U.S. government experiments in the 1930s that left unwitting African-Americans infected with syphilis, leading to many deaths.
Beginning his story in 1940, Morales incisively depicts the racism his various African-American characters confront both in civilian life and in the military. These black soldiers are compelled to act as test subjects for the super-soldier serum; some die, while others become deformed. Ultimately only one survives, Isaiah Bradley. Substituting for Captain America on a mission, Bradley discovers Jewish concentration camp inmates subjected to experiments.
Ranging from heroic figures to pointed caricatures, artist Baker makes his varied styles gel. Drawing on copious research, Morales dramatizes how racism corrupted American history, yet verges close to asserting moral equivalency between America and Nazi Germany. Roosevelt was ultimately in charge of the super-soldier program: would he have approved these human experiments? Besides, how can one talk about "truth" regarding a fictional creation? Simon and Kirby devised a fable about an American everyman tapping his inner strength to combat genocidal fascism; Kirby helped pioneer positive depictions of blacks in comics. By adding Morales's backstory to Captain America's origin, Marvel has turned the character into a white superman who owes his powers to the deaths and exploitation of African-Americans.
Beginning his story in 1940, Morales incisively depicts the racism his various African-American characters confront both in civilian life and in the military. These black soldiers are compelled to act as test subjects for the super-soldier serum; some die, while others become deformed. Ultimately only one survives, Isaiah Bradley. Substituting for Captain America on a mission, Bradley discovers Jewish concentration camp inmates subjected to experiments.
Ranging from heroic figures to pointed caricatures, artist Baker makes his varied styles gel. Drawing on copious research, Morales dramatizes how racism corrupted American history, yet verges close to asserting moral equivalency between America and Nazi Germany. Roosevelt was ultimately in charge of the super-soldier program: would he have approved these human experiments? Besides, how can one talk about "truth" regarding a fictional creation? Simon and Kirby devised a fable about an American everyman tapping his inner strength to combat genocidal fascism; Kirby helped pioneer positive depictions of blacks in comics. By adding Morales's backstory to Captain America's origin, Marvel has turned the character into a white superman who owes his powers to the deaths and exploitation of African-Americans.
168 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2004
About the author
Robert Morales
54 books4 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 170 reviews
March 8, 2021
What a radical story, made during an experimental time at Marvel. It's even canon in the "Marvel Universe" now. It's kind of incredible Robert Morales got away with writing such a comic.
This graphic novel confronts some very uncomfortable truths about American history, utilizing real-life stories of the government treatment of African American soldiers during WWII and creating a metaphor for this in the superhero genre. This is precisely the best of what superhero comics can be.
Nothing is sugarcoated; the criticism is harsh and as ugly as necessary. No happy ending for most of these characters coming from 1940s segregated America who are then shipped off to witness the comparable Nazi horrors.
The mainstream Steve Rogers Captain America is still a compelling character, whose legacy is not detracted by these revelations from his origin story. In fact, the best Cap stories are about just that: the contrast between America's lofty ideals and gruesome reality.
As for the art, Kyle Baker is a cartooning genius however this is not a style that will appeal to everyone. His exaggerated cartoony figures work excellent in the era of "Looney Tunes," and make no mistake this is very different from the regular superhero stories casual fans would be used to.
Even though it's a Marvel title about a flagship franchise (now a billion-dollar movie series btw), this is in essence a literary underground comic. Judge accordingly and appreciate all the more.
This graphic novel confronts some very uncomfortable truths about American history, utilizing real-life stories of the government treatment of African American soldiers during WWII and creating a metaphor for this in the superhero genre. This is precisely the best of what superhero comics can be.
Nothing is sugarcoated; the criticism is harsh and as ugly as necessary. No happy ending for most of these characters coming from 1940s segregated America who are then shipped off to witness the comparable Nazi horrors.
The mainstream Steve Rogers Captain America is still a compelling character, whose legacy is not detracted by these revelations from his origin story. In fact, the best Cap stories are about just that: the contrast between America's lofty ideals and gruesome reality.
As for the art, Kyle Baker is a cartooning genius however this is not a style that will appeal to everyone. His exaggerated cartoony figures work excellent in the era of "Looney Tunes," and make no mistake this is very different from the regular superhero stories casual fans would be used to.
Even though it's a Marvel title about a flagship franchise (now a billion-dollar movie series btw), this is in essence a literary underground comic. Judge accordingly and appreciate all the more.
September 23, 2017
So this is a perfect example of where comics can have downfalls. Comics are 50/50 to most people. Good art work + good storytelling = Key to an amazing comic. However, when one is vastly better than the other, we in trouble.
So Truth: Red, White, and Black is taking true events with a fictional world. What if, back in WW2, we took black soldiers and tested them? Now that actually HAPPENED. Now say we did that in Marvel universe with the Captain America formula? This is really a character piece and period on a dark side of America. Watching these people treated like test animals and viewed as nothing as experiments to create more super soldiers is what it's about and ot great results the storytelling pulls though.
Good: The storytelling is really well done. Gives you multiple characters you can attach to and gasp once you see what happens to them. The ending hits pretty hard to and you really get to know what people went through and the symbol of Captain America meant to be people.
Bad: The art...is really not my style. The faces are goofy, the way they move feels weird, I just kept thinking of a saturday morning cartoon and not in a good way. It was a sharp contrast to the story being told.
Overall I liked the story a lot in this just not the actual art. WHich is a shame, I really wanted this story to have a stronger art style to show the horrors of it all. A 3 out of 5!
So Truth: Red, White, and Black is taking true events with a fictional world. What if, back in WW2, we took black soldiers and tested them? Now that actually HAPPENED. Now say we did that in Marvel universe with the Captain America formula? This is really a character piece and period on a dark side of America. Watching these people treated like test animals and viewed as nothing as experiments to create more super soldiers is what it's about and ot great results the storytelling pulls though.
Good: The storytelling is really well done. Gives you multiple characters you can attach to and gasp once you see what happens to them. The ending hits pretty hard to and you really get to know what people went through and the symbol of Captain America meant to be people.
Bad: The art...is really not my style. The faces are goofy, the way they move feels weird, I just kept thinking of a saturday morning cartoon and not in a good way. It was a sharp contrast to the story being told.
Overall I liked the story a lot in this just not the actual art. WHich is a shame, I really wanted this story to have a stronger art style to show the horrors of it all. A 3 out of 5!
April 4, 2021
3.25 stars. Ok so this was an excellent concept for a story. I’m glad Marvel decided to do a story on the fucked up way people who look like me were treated way back then during the war. They really were treated like shit and experimented on. So it was dope that Marvel did a book touching on those topics and putting their own spin on it by creating the character Isiah Bradley. However, the writing felt disjointed. It didn’t flow that great. Basically a bunch of cool sequences that were missing that connective tissue and it felt rushed. Plus that art had this old 40s-50s cartoon feel that didn’t fit the seriousness of this tale. Plus it wasn’t drawn that well. So yeah, great idea, glad we have this book but could have been written better and been given better art.
August 4, 2008
The book is about the secret origin of Captain America. His powers come from an experiment applied to him during World War 2, and it only worked perfectly on Steve Rogers. Of course, there had to be lab rats before it was used on him. In comes Robert Morales' tale of the African-American test subjects that went through experiments before Steve benefitted from them.
While the concept is absolutely brilliant, the execution left a lot to wish for. There's a whole lot of filler, and a whole lot of nothing in the middle. But the ending is still touching and poignant. As for the art, while I respect Kyle Baker, the seriousness of the subject doesn't really go well with his cartoony style.
While the concept is absolutely brilliant, the execution left a lot to wish for. There's a whole lot of filler, and a whole lot of nothing in the middle. But the ending is still touching and poignant. As for the art, while I respect Kyle Baker, the seriousness of the subject doesn't really go well with his cartoony style.
April 4, 2021
This book has been on my list, but I wanted to read as soon as I watched The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Truth is, as its name suggests, unsettling and hugely important. Morales and Baker reveal the first Black Captain America, Isaiah Baker, and his fellow Black soldiers were experimented on without their consent, unlike Steve Rogers. It redefines Captain America’s legacy, as it should. Morales based the story on the Tuskugee Study, a horrific medical experiment on Black men which ran for 40 years.
Morales’ story is straightforward, heartbreaking, and quickly fills seven issues – it easily could have gone on twice as long. Even though it ends in a dark and tragic place, there is still some hope, and it’s powerful to see Steve’s revelations and reactions to what has been hidden from him for literal decades.
A lot of folks didn’t like the art, calling it “cartoony.” I feel the need to push back here, because this is clearly very intentional. Truth’s art is not meant to look like other superhero comics. It’s deconstructing superhero comics – not just by redefining Cap’s legacy, but causing us to ask ourselves – are our heroes really the heroes? At whose expense, and whose erasure? And then, we arrive at deconstructing what (Captain) America stands for,
In my opinion, anyone who dismisses the art isn’t looking closely enough – as uncomfortable as it may be – at what Morales and Baker are trying to say.
Truth is a must-read for comic book fans, and I hope we see more of Isaiah’s story in the MCU adaptation.
Morales’ story is straightforward, heartbreaking, and quickly fills seven issues – it easily could have gone on twice as long. Even though it ends in a dark and tragic place, there is still some hope, and it’s powerful to see Steve’s revelations and reactions to what has been hidden from him for literal decades.
A lot of folks didn’t like the art, calling it “cartoony.” I feel the need to push back here, because this is clearly very intentional. Truth’s art is not meant to look like other superhero comics. It’s deconstructing superhero comics – not just by redefining Cap’s legacy, but causing us to ask ourselves – are our heroes really the heroes? At whose expense, and whose erasure? And then, we arrive at deconstructing what (Captain) America stands for,
In my opinion, anyone who dismisses the art isn’t looking closely enough – as uncomfortable as it may be – at what Morales and Baker are trying to say.
Truth is a must-read for comic book fans, and I hope we see more of Isaiah’s story in the MCU adaptation.
August 30, 2015
Robert Morales' powerful story of the Army experimenting on African American soldiers to (re?)create the perfect soldier - with disatrous results - is mitigated by the incongruous art by Kyle Baker. Now I don't know Kyle Baker as an artist, but I seem to understand that he varies his style from one story to the next (am I wrong?). What I can't get my head around is why he chose this particular style for this project. The serious subject matter doesn't fit with the cartoony art, but not at all. This could've been a five-star book, if the art had been on the same level as the story.
Five stars for the story, and three for the art, averaged to four stars overall.
Five stars for the story, and three for the art, averaged to four stars overall.
March 31, 2021
This story does a fantastic job of introducing us to some real, flawed men and women, just trying to love a life as good as they deserve.
And the book pulls no punches when it comes to telling the stories that rarely get told, of the second tier - the back room - the urinal behind and outside the officer’s club - that black folks have had to endure just to live their lives.
And honestly? Of *course* this is how the US Army would’ve treated black soldiers - cannon fodder, experimental subjects, dime a dozen, why not work out the kinks on the expendables?
So what if this knocks Steve Rogers down a peg or two into an also-ran? Isn’t that pretty much the history of white men - walk in after the trouble and hardship, take all the glory? Makes perfect sense, not even a little stretched.
Hell, a company of deformed test subjects sound way more believable to me than a skinny white boy turned into Mr Universe by a Nazi desperation science project.
Morales twists the story of the Super-Soldier program into something more mundane and sinister - originating out of eugenics programs. And while I’m sure a lot of supremacists bristle at the tainting of the Cap fable, I found nothing about the retcon in any way shocking or far-fetched.
As a primer for the new Disney+ series Falcon and the Winter Soldier, this is great stuff - plenty of deep history to plumb for the racial concerns they’re bringing front and Center for the series, good background on the character of Isaiah Bradley, and makes me feel a little less white-shielded from the less than savoury history of this country after which Stan named a blond Boy Scout.
And the book pulls no punches when it comes to telling the stories that rarely get told, of the second tier - the back room - the urinal behind and outside the officer’s club - that black folks have had to endure just to live their lives.
And honestly? Of *course* this is how the US Army would’ve treated black soldiers - cannon fodder, experimental subjects, dime a dozen, why not work out the kinks on the expendables?
So what if this knocks Steve Rogers down a peg or two into an also-ran? Isn’t that pretty much the history of white men - walk in after the trouble and hardship, take all the glory? Makes perfect sense, not even a little stretched.
Hell, a company of deformed test subjects sound way more believable to me than a skinny white boy turned into Mr Universe by a Nazi desperation science project.
Morales twists the story of the Super-Soldier program into something more mundane and sinister - originating out of eugenics programs. And while I’m sure a lot of supremacists bristle at the tainting of the Cap fable, I found nothing about the retcon in any way shocking or far-fetched.
As a primer for the new Disney+ series Falcon and the Winter Soldier, this is great stuff - plenty of deep history to plumb for the racial concerns they’re bringing front and Center for the series, good background on the character of Isaiah Bradley, and makes me feel a little less white-shielded from the less than savoury history of this country after which Stan named a blond Boy Scout.
October 14, 2021
Que quadrinho lindo e necessário, bem escrito e criticamente consciente! Ainda mais usando um "símbolo pátrio" estadunidense como o Capitão América para criticar exatamente os "símbolos pátrios" daquele país, sua construção, seu uso e a hipocrisia envolvendo esses movimentos. Confesso que de início estranhei um tanto o traço catunesco de Kyle Barker em uma história em quadrinhos supostamente de super-heróis. Mas o fato é que Verdade é bem mais que uma simples história de super-heróis, ela coloca em destaque o racismo encalacrado nos Estados Unidos desde sempre e que em dias de #BlackLivesMatter é uma discussão ainda mais necessária e potente. Simplesmente, numa narrativa retcon, coloca que o primeiro (ou os primeiros) Capitão América eram negros, cadetes do exército submetidos à experiências desumanas por serem negros e considerados inferiores pelo governo dos EUA. O mesmo governo que foi responsável pelo estopim da Segunda Guerra Mundial, aliado aos nazistas em experimentos eugenistas, com o propósito de higienizar e melhorar a humanidade. Conforme o quadrinho avança em suas páginas, a soma das críticas ao cidadão médio estadunidense e à própria instituição dos EUA se proliferam e se acumulam, deixando o próprio Steve Rogers, o Capitão América oficial, espantado. A série saiu em 2003 pelo selo adulto MAX lá nos Estados Unidos, e só foi aportar no Brasil por causa da ligação com a série Falcão & Soldado Universal. Se não fosse isso, a Panini Brasil nunca teria trazido essa série, afinal, ela é famosa por replicar o preconceito, não trazendo para nosso país séries com protagonistas negros e LGBTQIA+, e até pouco tempo, mulheres, com o discurso que é um material que não vende e é rejeitado pelos leitores. Não sei se é verdade. Mas a HQ Verdade é um potente instrumento de empoderamento e transformação social, que traz uma crítica extremamente necessária em todos os tempos da humanidade: as consquências de tratar quem é diferente por inferior. Por favor, vão atrás e leiam esse quadrinho disruptor!
April 26, 2015
I wanted to like this more than I did. The plotting and dialogue were fine but I kept getting pulled out of the story by the art.
The character design leaned towards caricature; the inking was sloppy; the coloring looked slapdash; and in many places the posing was bafflingly melodramatic (in one panel the white Captain America hears something which surprises him; he seems to be twisting away from the other person with his left arm pulled back, and his head is tilted in a way which looks equally unlikely and deeply uncomfortable. He looks like he's trying to dodge a bullet while preparing to land a punch. Instead he's merely surprised).
On the whole I got the impression that Baker wanted a paycheck more than a chance to turn in something awesome. At any rate, I thought that what he did here wasn't even close to the level of quality of what he's done elsewhere (for instance on Why I Hate Saturn).
None of which is to say that the story needed photorealistic art, but I think the story would have worked better with art which looked like it had had more time spent on it and which also called less attention to itself.
The character design leaned towards caricature; the inking was sloppy; the coloring looked slapdash; and in many places the posing was bafflingly melodramatic (in one panel the white Captain America hears something which surprises him; he seems to be twisting away from the other person with his left arm pulled back, and his head is tilted in a way which looks equally unlikely and deeply uncomfortable. He looks like he's trying to dodge a bullet while preparing to land a punch. Instead he's merely surprised).
On the whole I got the impression that Baker wanted a paycheck more than a chance to turn in something awesome. At any rate, I thought that what he did here wasn't even close to the level of quality of what he's done elsewhere (for instance on Why I Hate Saturn).
None of which is to say that the story needed photorealistic art, but I think the story would have worked better with art which looked like it had had more time spent on it and which also called less attention to itself.
Read
May 31, 2016This is a powerful take on Captain America, Black erasure, and the parts of American history white people don't like to talk about. Noah Berlatsky recommended it to me in the wake of the Captain America Hydra plot twist (I got it from the library - apparently I got lucky because many libraries don't have it) and I was very surprised and pleased to find that it was part of the Marvel canon.
I really appreciated the afterword with historical resources, and I liked the dynamic artwork style. The only thing that didn't work for me was the coloring, which seemed rather slapdash and inconsistent at times.
I had some minor issues with the plot (and at one point the Nazis didn't really ring true to me), but overall I am really glad this comic exists and I would like to see more explorations along these lines in the Marvel continuity.
I really appreciated the afterword with historical resources, and I liked the dynamic artwork style. The only thing that didn't work for me was the coloring, which seemed rather slapdash and inconsistent at times.
I had some minor issues with the plot (and at one point the Nazis didn't really ring true to me), but overall I am really glad this comic exists and I would like to see more explorations along these lines in the Marvel continuity.
May 3, 2013
I'm sad that I only came across this as a consequence of Robert Morales' recent passing. It's an incredible and harrowing book that provides a crucial context to Captain America as a character and as an entity in comics.
To go from seeing THE IRON PATRIOT in Iron Man 3 to seeing Isaiah Bradley was to be reminded (if one can be reminded of something so constant) of how the abuse of black people in America is barely even history at this point in at least two respects: it is not history because it is rarely acknowledged or spoken of in its particulars, and it is not history because it is pervasive, ongoing, and insidious.
Kyle Baker's cartoonish art style made for an astonishing counterpoint to the content and storytelling. It's really just tremendous.
To go from seeing THE IRON PATRIOT in Iron Man 3 to seeing Isaiah Bradley was to be reminded (if one can be reminded of something so constant) of how the abuse of black people in America is barely even history at this point in at least two respects: it is not history because it is rarely acknowledged or spoken of in its particulars, and it is not history because it is pervasive, ongoing, and insidious.
Kyle Baker's cartoonish art style made for an astonishing counterpoint to the content and storytelling. It's really just tremendous.
December 9, 2021
The Marvel universe has been trying for some time to introduce more diversity into their heroes. Unfortunately, a lot of this has been in the form of taking existing characters and making female, gay, black, etc versions of them. This has however, worked more often than it should. Truth: Red, White, and Black demonstrates how an adept writer can make a trite premise work.
I was previously introduced to the idea of the original Captain America when I read Young Avengers. This is the full story.
To continue to the full review please visit https://amanjareads.com/2021/12/07/tr...
I was previously introduced to the idea of the original Captain America when I read Young Avengers. This is the full story.
To continue to the full review please visit https://amanjareads.com/2021/12/07/tr...
September 3, 2010
Powerful and moving story of the origins of the super soldier program that produced Captain America. A story that draws inspiration from the sad story of the Tuskegee experiments. The sad truth is, if there really were a super soldier program it probably would have been handled like this. This book brings questions of race and equality into the Captain America mythos. Excellent writing and superb artwork!
April 22, 2021
Was interested in this after Isaiah showed up on Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
This was interesting. I wasn’t sure what to expect. It defied even those expectations. At first I didn’t love the art, but it grew on me. I really liked it by the end.
It’s different, but it’s ultimately really good.
This was interesting. I wasn’t sure what to expect. It defied even those expectations. At first I didn’t love the art, but it grew on me. I really liked it by the end.
It’s different, but it’s ultimately really good.
May 16, 2021
This was a powerful read! The second half in particular was excellent, once it started focusing more on Isaiah. Worth a read, for sure! 4/5 stars.
February 22, 2023
Diving into 1940s when racism was rampant, Robert Morales pulls no punches in writing one of the darkest, ugliest, but truest stories Marvel has ever published. It shows his prowess as an adept writer, as he delivers a powerful story, without being too preachy, but being impactful at the same time.
December 9, 2020
I wish we had more Marvel books like this, that recontextualize their grand superhero mythology as it stands side by side with a more honest perspective of history. Everyone knows the story of Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, but Robert Morales and Kyle Baker take the Super Soldier Serum experiments and parallel them with the actual experiments performed on Black soldiers. As the brutal serum transforms the soldiers, killing many of them, and leaving them discarded by clandestine operations that do not "officially" exist, the story is a testament to how ingrained racism is in the core of American history. How the experiments, and the lives of the Black soldiers, can be erased and lost to history. So often is WWII depicted as a very morally black and white, good vs evil thing, you of course have the evils of the Nazis and then you can point to America as the heroes who stopped them. Captain America literally punches Hitler in the face! But here, that story is more questionable.
Captain America is still a hero. But he's not the only one, and his success is owed to the terrible exploitation of Black lives. Kyle Baker's art has a lot of expression and movement to it, though at times it edges a bit too close to being cartoony and sily. But especially towards the end the exaggerated features, in particular the terrible military members, provide a terrible sick contrast with their intents. The treasonous men conducting experiments and back-alley deals look downright giddy with joy, as if they were small children, celebrating their hate-based philosophy, while the innocent men are transformed into these unhuman and misshapen people that barely resemble who they were.
It's a hard-hitting book and I hope Marvel finds opportunity to explore these styles of stories more.
Captain America is still a hero. But he's not the only one, and his success is owed to the terrible exploitation of Black lives. Kyle Baker's art has a lot of expression and movement to it, though at times it edges a bit too close to being cartoony and sily. But especially towards the end the exaggerated features, in particular the terrible military members, provide a terrible sick contrast with their intents. The treasonous men conducting experiments and back-alley deals look downright giddy with joy, as if they were small children, celebrating their hate-based philosophy, while the innocent men are transformed into these unhuman and misshapen people that barely resemble who they were.
It's a hard-hitting book and I hope Marvel finds opportunity to explore these styles of stories more.
July 14, 2022
I own this book.
If you know me, you know I was a massive simp for the Falcon and the Winter Soldier series and ever since I've wanted to read more about Isaiah's story. This was only made more urgent by the mention of Isaiah in the United States of Captain America.
When I discovered this was being reprinted, I had to get my hands on it. This story obviously deals very heavily with racism in the United States and the effects of racism and segregation in the US Army during World War 2. Steve Rogers had "died" and the US Army decided that they need to test their serum to see if it works, and they chose to experiment on black soldiers whose families have been told that they have died in an unfortunate explosion. This is the beginning of Isaiah's story. We see him pick up the shield and fight for the US and when we get to the end of the story, we find this story is being told to Steve for the first time upon his return. Of course, he is outraged at the treatment these soldiers and Isaiah faced, and decides to visit him for himself.
This story is hard hitting. It's difficult to read in parts because despite it being a fictional superhero comic, the back of the book actually tracks some real life events that inspired the story. I think this is a vital part of the Captain America universe that needs to be promoted more, and it adds so much more depth to the current Cap runs.
If you know me, you know I was a massive simp for the Falcon and the Winter Soldier series and ever since I've wanted to read more about Isaiah's story. This was only made more urgent by the mention of Isaiah in the United States of Captain America.
When I discovered this was being reprinted, I had to get my hands on it. This story obviously deals very heavily with racism in the United States and the effects of racism and segregation in the US Army during World War 2. Steve Rogers had "died" and the US Army decided that they need to test their serum to see if it works, and they chose to experiment on black soldiers whose families have been told that they have died in an unfortunate explosion. This is the beginning of Isaiah's story. We see him pick up the shield and fight for the US and when we get to the end of the story, we find this story is being told to Steve for the first time upon his return. Of course, he is outraged at the treatment these soldiers and Isaiah faced, and decides to visit him for himself.
This story is hard hitting. It's difficult to read in parts because despite it being a fictional superhero comic, the back of the book actually tracks some real life events that inspired the story. I think this is a vital part of the Captain America universe that needs to be promoted more, and it adds so much more depth to the current Cap runs.
August 15, 2020
Note - I read this as the seven issues instead of the combined volume. This series was one of the Marvel free books after the lynching of George Floyd. If you can read it, you can see that there were multiple reasons for this.
Truth: Red, White & Black is a story where Captain America is not the only American who had super serum. What Morales and company do, is look at not only why African-American men would join the army to fight for a country that treated (and still treats) them as second class citizens (at best), but also at what would have happened with the super serum, considering the U.S. government's use of Black bodies for medical experimentation.
The story is compelling and, for the most part, believable. Captain America does appear in more than one issue but, for the most part, his appearance is kept to a minimum. Because of the setting, WW II, women are not very present, but the center woman is worthy of her own super hero comic book.
A quick note about the art - on one hand, the artwork is not to my taste. But I should note that it both suits and does not suit the story. There are some panels where the art and story mesh so extremely well.
This is the type of comic book that should be held up when people go on about comics being simple superhero stories.
I wish MCU would do this.
Truth: Red, White & Black is a story where Captain America is not the only American who had super serum. What Morales and company do, is look at not only why African-American men would join the army to fight for a country that treated (and still treats) them as second class citizens (at best), but also at what would have happened with the super serum, considering the U.S. government's use of Black bodies for medical experimentation.
The story is compelling and, for the most part, believable. Captain America does appear in more than one issue but, for the most part, his appearance is kept to a minimum. Because of the setting, WW II, women are not very present, but the center woman is worthy of her own super hero comic book.
A quick note about the art - on one hand, the artwork is not to my taste. But I should note that it both suits and does not suit the story. There are some panels where the art and story mesh so extremely well.
This is the type of comic book that should be held up when people go on about comics being simple superhero stories.
I wish MCU would do this.
August 16, 2011
It doesn't get a full five stars because I feel like the art was too cartoony for such a serious story, which is heartbreaking, and I think, a painful but necessary revision of the Catpain America mythos. I love the retcon of Captain America's origins, as obscene and awful as the story is, of the government experimenting on Black soldiers to create the super soldier serum, killing off the soldiers they didn't need and watching as the serum destroyed the soldiers they tested it on one by one.
Isaiah Bradley is the final, successful candidate, and he steals the Captain America uniform to go on a mission and the government treats him poorly for it, though he was doing a necessary job. I especially liked how Faith, his wife, calls Steve out on not knowing the story, because being frozen in a glacier is no excuse for not knowing, not when he'd been back for a couple of years at that point.
Isaiah Bradley is the final, successful candidate, and he steals the Captain America uniform to go on a mission and the government treats him poorly for it, though he was doing a necessary job. I especially liked how Faith, his wife, calls Steve out on not knowing the story, because being frozen in a glacier is no excuse for not knowing, not when he'd been back for a couple of years at that point.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 15, 2013
The premise and the story are excellent.
The subject matter, black men being experimented on during WWII is completely believable.
Sadly, Kyle Baker`s art is completely innapropriate for this sort of story.
Don`t get me wrong Baker has done some great stuff, his Cowboy Wally Show and Why I Hate Saturn is some of the best comedy out there, and had he used the sort of art used in these books for this one, it might even have been more fitting. But the sketchy-cartoony style used here is completely not what was called for.
Just goes to show, you can have a great story, but if the art don`t match, it just won`t fly.
This was a fellow Goodreads member giveaway - Thanks Martin
The subject matter, black men being experimented on during WWII is completely believable.
Sadly, Kyle Baker`s art is completely innapropriate for this sort of story.
Don`t get me wrong Baker has done some great stuff, his Cowboy Wally Show and Why I Hate Saturn is some of the best comedy out there, and had he used the sort of art used in these books for this one, it might even have been more fitting. But the sketchy-cartoony style used here is completely not what was called for.
Just goes to show, you can have a great story, but if the art don`t match, it just won`t fly.
This was a fellow Goodreads member giveaway - Thanks Martin
August 4, 2015
absolutely brilliant story. morales retcons the captain america story to say that the government conducted tuskegee style experimentation on black soldiers to perfect the formula that empowers steve rogers. it's extremely plausible and a smart truthful commentary on us race relations
as literally everyone has mentioned, the art doesn't live up to the writing but what can you do. american comics are always a grab bag that way
4 stars
as literally everyone has mentioned, the art doesn't live up to the writing but what can you do. american comics are always a grab bag that way
4 stars
June 17, 2021
During World War II, the United States experiments on an African American army regiment to try and recreate the Super Soldier serum.
The fiction in the book draws from a lot of real-world atrocities; experimentation on African Americans and/or military personnel and/or the general public without their knowledge or consent, eugenics programs, racism in the military.
The story is oddly paced. If I'm understanding the note in the back correctly, this was originally intended to be outside of Marvel Comics continuity, but then the decision to incorporate it was made while the book was being published. The first issue introduces the characters in their normal lives, the second issue shows them interacting after they've joined the military, and the third shows them being experimented on. But then we jump to a framing story where Steve Rogers is trying to find out more about Isaiah Bradley, the black man who briefly donned the Captain America uniform during WWII.
I'm familiar with Kyle Baker's art, so I didn't find it as off-putting as some. The art looks more like Sergio Aragonés than standard superhero. I don't mind the character design, but what's with the green highlights?
This book came out in a transition point when superhero comics were trying to mature (actual mature, not immature "mature content" mature) so it's a bit experimental. Also, it's an #ownvoices book before #ownvoices was a thing.
The fiction in the book draws from a lot of real-world atrocities; experimentation on African Americans and/or military personnel and/or the general public without their knowledge or consent, eugenics programs, racism in the military.
The story is oddly paced. If I'm understanding the note in the back correctly, this was originally intended to be outside of Marvel Comics continuity, but then the decision to incorporate it was made while the book was being published. The first issue introduces the characters in their normal lives, the second issue shows them interacting after they've joined the military, and the third shows them being experimented on. But then we jump to a framing story where Steve Rogers is trying to find out more about Isaiah Bradley, the black man who briefly donned the Captain America uniform during WWII.
I'm familiar with Kyle Baker's art, so I didn't find it as off-putting as some. The art looks more like Sergio Aragonés than standard superhero. I don't mind the character design, but what's with the green highlights?
This book came out in a transition point when superhero comics were trying to mature (actual mature, not immature "mature content" mature) so it's a bit experimental. Also, it's an #ownvoices book before #ownvoices was a thing.
Read
August 1, 2009One of the best things I've read in a couple of years is the seven-issue Marvel series Truth: Red, White, And Black by Robert Morales (art, which is nowhere near as good as the writing, by Kyle Baker). It's the story of the Black Captain America -- or rather, the Black soldiers who served as test subjects for the super-soldier serum that created Captain America, and it's horrifying and fascinating and heartbreaking and all too realistic, given how America has treated its people of color over the years. The fact that we have real-life situations that are quite analogous to what happens in the series makes it seem that much more real and instantly believable in a way that most comics aren't. I'm so glad Marvel decided to make it canon, even though people howled about that. (Big shock.)
March 19, 2021
This is such a subversive story that's hard to believe Marvel would have published. It's also incredibly intriguing that this was discussed internally when plotting the Falcon and Winter Soldier show.
This story takes inspiration from the real life testing on African-American soldiers in WW2 and revolved it around the super soldier serum that created Captain America. For seven issues these men are treated inhumanely and used as fodder for the war effort, and the happiest ending it can give is that their existence is acknowledged. Again, radical and powerful stuff for a Marvel comic.
I just wish the art was more realistic or dramatic looking, as that would have more closely aligned with the tone of the story. But a haunting read nonetheless.
This story takes inspiration from the real life testing on African-American soldiers in WW2 and revolved it around the super soldier serum that created Captain America. For seven issues these men are treated inhumanely and used as fodder for the war effort, and the happiest ending it can give is that their existence is acknowledged. Again, radical and powerful stuff for a Marvel comic.
I just wish the art was more realistic or dramatic looking, as that would have more closely aligned with the tone of the story. But a haunting read nonetheless.
March 29, 2021
I knew nothing about this story but thankfully due to the Disney+ series 'Falcon and the Winter Soldier' I became very interested in the story of Isaiah Bradley. This comic book is phenomenal and the writing is really top notch only downside, if there is one, was the cartoonish art may be a bit much. On a side note I must say I was a bit surprised by how much of a bleak and emotional read this was with a rather heart wrenching ending, which is also one of the best I've read in a long time. Essential stuff!
April 25, 2021
Very powerful - everything in narrative is well done, but a little ugly and confusing in artwork. It certainly has it moments, but on the most part I was having to read the issue summary to have a good idea of what was happening.
June 8, 2021
Marvel did a great job of illustrating some of the horrors that black World War II soldiers experienced, as well as examples of the United States’ long and complicated history of institutional and scientific racism. A gripping story, at times hard to stomach. And I loved the artwork!
February 16, 2022
Last minute decision to teach this in my Anth&SciFi class today because I am the professor and they wanted to talk about Marvel and Captain America so we're going to talk. About. Captain. Fucking. America.
Also Eugenics.
Also Eugenics.
February 18, 2018
Does Marvel even realize what it actually suggests when writing such comics?
This comic series had a good basic premise with its topic of human experiments to create the Marvel Universe's iconic hero, but the execution is really lacking and I cannot take this thing seriously or regard it as anything but a failure.
Plus like so many stories about this time in fiction this here feels hollow to me. Not least due to the fact that Captain America basically looks exactly like Hitler would have wanted a new super-human to look like.
First there is the artwork: For such a dark story, in theory at least, the artwork is way too cartoonish and overtly dramatic with overblown physiques. At best it is something you need to get used to, but even when the drawing style is not enough, the expressions and poses are often so overtly expressive that the characters come along as overacting stage performers. This makes it hard to take the comic seriously from the start.
The other problem with the artwork is the stereotypical depiction of Whites and African Americans. For once, brown eyes do not exist here, the eyes are either (when more than small black dots), pitch black, bright blue or bright green. And considered that brown is the most common eye color among humans and that there is only one African American with blue eyes and no white person with "black eyes" (they all have blue or green eyes) this choice of eye colors stinks of stereotyping. And in fact it does not end there. As you see, among the white people there are only 3 characters with dark hair: Dr. Reinstein (who according to other sources is also Jewish… of course a guy with the word "stein" in it would be Jewish in an American comic), Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. And the last two are historic figures so the artists could hardly change them and give them other hair colors. Albeit it does not seem to bother them in another case: skin color. You see, here there is only one skin color for white people (pink) and one for "black" people (medium brown). I put "black" in quotation marks because the stereotypical color assignment is especially obvious in one Afro-German guy who should most likely be a lot lighter than depicted here, but also that at the end of the comic we see a picture of Colin Powell (more on that later) and the guy was just as brown as all the other "black" people in this comic and everyone knows that Powell does not usually look that way, he is far paler than that.
Apart from the problem with the artwork, the whole story and its execution has huge problems, so many that I wonder why this was never called out for, well to a degree, since this seems to be written by people that don't seem to know much about World War II.
It started pretty early when the comic tried to raise awareness of racism in 1940s USA in a way so blunt you would think it aims it at people who have no idea what that is (the exposition throughout is equally childish). Not to mention that since that one Dr. Reinstein is Jewish (not that you would know that from this comic unless you apply name stereotyping) they at least did not go with "Nazis worked for us" albeit it’s still basically using the myth of eugenics coming from the outside, as if the USA would not have had plenty of eugenicists at the time as well. Even the rampant propaganda and racism towards the Japanese (or any enemy for that matter) is almost entirely ignored except for one comment equating them and African Americans to monkeys and that was just a racist comment. You see nothing like this here:
This seems like the typical white washing of US history that you see so often in Marvel stories, no matter whether comic, show or film.
Btw. here they mention some sort of underground word to mouth network among "Negros" called "Blackvine" that is never mentioned afterwards. So why bring it up? The same with the character Jack seeing those half-naked "African ghosts" since there was never anything shown that he had any interest in it or any sort of religious beliefs. But hey I have no idea either how Isaiah’s wife was able to tell that the corpse was of a white man when it was stated to be burned beyond recognition. But even if it wasn’t, am I really supposed to belief that they would make such a mistake in a cover-up?
Furthermore, while I have no problems believing that the doctors would use African Americans as test subjects, it does sound unrealistic that they would not first test the serum (btw. how does eugenics lead to a drug-powered super hero like Captain America?) on apes and so on if they have only 300 test subjects and they have already killed most of them (by explosion, I am not kidding). Maybe it's part of the comic series’ clumsy story, full of holes and stereotypes. I mean of course the fight in Germany is in the Black Forest because why would it be anywhere else, right? And to complement the stereotyping: All the Germans are pale and bright blonds with blue eyes, except for the three previously mentioned exceptions of course.
But trust me, it doesn’t stop there, we have idiotic soldiers insulting two meter tall muscle-mountains (who are apparently not used efficiently) with racist remarks and further aggravating him with the death of his parents as if this was written by a preschooler.
That they would have a fictional concentration camp in 1942 Germany with a name that only sounds German to someone who doesn't know the language did not surprise me (that is pretty common for American comics apparently). You would think someone writing about a severe topic like this one would get the history at least partially right, but it has a pretty severe historic inaccuracy: In 1942 German Jews were deported to the east into ghettos and concentration camps. And the camps didn't just have Jewish prisoners unlike what this comic here suggests, but I guess like so often everyone else doesn't count. I mean most of the others were just gypsies, fags, communists and general political and war prisoners, who cares about them right?
As you can probably guess, this comic was starting to really piss me off at this point and it got even worse: Evil Nazi cliché scientists or not, no one stacks dozens of corpses in one room for vivisection or general autopsy, this is Central Europe and not the arctic!!!, these corpses would rot and lead to disease and fly infestations. This doesn't make the whole thing more gruesome for me, it makes it silly and leads me to thinking the author never attempted to treat the topic with the respect it deserves. And if that gas chamber here was supposed to be part of the whole Final Solution than someone either didn't do their homework on the topic or didn't care. Even here the best I could say about this series is that the makers meant well.
And boy did it not get any better later, they even gave Hitler dark shadows under the eyes and his and Goebbels's performance here is rather like that of parrot and trainer. These two are portrayed as way more harmless than they actually were. Furthermore they even have Hitler say that Mengele asked for Isiah… give me a second:
That scene plays in 1942!!!! Mengele was still a physician at the Eastern Front at this time, didn’t go to Auschwitz-Birkenau until May1943 and for all we know Hitler had no idea who the guy was!!!!!
And the reason the Nazis didn't just inject others with Isaiah's blood and thereby creating super soldiers is Hitler’s racism... yeah sure, as if I would believe that after the Blitzkrieg and the battle for England already having failed. Sure the battle for Stalingrad had only just started but they did not take Moscow or Leningrad and yet this here wants me to believe they would waste such a perfect opportunity to get super soldiers? Even if Hitler was against it, you really want me to believe all the other high-ranking Nazis would let such an opportunity slip? These here are cartoon villains and not to powerful dictators. And it’s possible that other comics had them with other weapons or so, but I don’t care, nothing like this is mentioned here.
And from one thing that doesn’t make sense, to another one: that lucky escape via German resistance fighters does not explain how Isaiah got back to the USA or what else he did afterwards.
The only somewhat spot of light here was how the comic got it right that the Nazis did take inspiration from the eugenics programs of the USA, but missed that at least Hitler also admired their efficacy in wiping out the Natives or their inspiration from American race laws. And that "they were not the Nazis back then but just the German government" here is complete and utter bullshit. They were the Nazis already so here the two governments worked together unlike what this here claims when it states that they were "just the German government." In fact they mention that Captain America was in the Pacific war and I doubt anyone writing that comic would be very truthful about that war. Also they once again propagated the myth that landing in Europe was about "saving those people". I know enough to doubt it. Stalin and Churchill were more concerned with their own territories and the US was not much better in my mind or otherwise the Western Front would have opened in 1942 already and not in 1944, 1.5 years after the original declaration by Roosevelt.
And to top the ignorance and bullshit messages of this comic we get a tolerance message for Burkas, never mind how many Muslim women refuse to wear them and what these burkas actually represent and are based on. They do not simply deemphasize femininity (btw. this here partially blames people rejecting them as the true prejudiced ones), but rather turn women into objects because they are part of an ideology that sees men as constant potential rapists.
I could feel at this point that this comic will not end well. And boy did it shot itself in the foot. I was all "You've got to be kidding me!!!! The story of how Isaiah got out of Nazi Germany and was sentenced for life was odd enough but according to this wall of pictures depicted here plenty of high-ranking and famous people knew of him, and yet no one said anything? Isaiah is just a rumor for most people, a conspiracy theory. This wants me to believe that people like Bowie, Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X did not tell anyone? How is it possible that Captain America never, ever heard of Isaiah Bradley, the "Black Captain America?"
This was just such a bad comic series, sure the last pictures of Isaiah getting his old uniform back and taking a picture with Captain America was good, but the rest.... I can appreciate the intention but the result is severely lacking in my eyes.
This comic series had a good basic premise with its topic of human experiments to create the Marvel Universe's iconic hero, but the execution is really lacking and I cannot take this thing seriously or regard it as anything but a failure.
Plus like so many stories about this time in fiction this here feels hollow to me. Not least due to the fact that Captain America basically looks exactly like Hitler would have wanted a new super-human to look like.
First there is the artwork: For such a dark story, in theory at least, the artwork is way too cartoonish and overtly dramatic with overblown physiques. At best it is something you need to get used to, but even when the drawing style is not enough, the expressions and poses are often so overtly expressive that the characters come along as overacting stage performers. This makes it hard to take the comic seriously from the start.
The other problem with the artwork is the stereotypical depiction of Whites and African Americans. For once, brown eyes do not exist here, the eyes are either (when more than small black dots), pitch black, bright blue or bright green. And considered that brown is the most common eye color among humans and that there is only one African American with blue eyes and no white person with "black eyes" (they all have blue or green eyes) this choice of eye colors stinks of stereotyping. And in fact it does not end there. As you see, among the white people there are only 3 characters with dark hair: Dr. Reinstein (who according to other sources is also Jewish… of course a guy with the word "stein" in it would be Jewish in an American comic), Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. And the last two are historic figures so the artists could hardly change them and give them other hair colors. Albeit it does not seem to bother them in another case: skin color. You see, here there is only one skin color for white people (pink) and one for "black" people (medium brown). I put "black" in quotation marks because the stereotypical color assignment is especially obvious in one Afro-German guy who should most likely be a lot lighter than depicted here, but also that at the end of the comic we see a picture of Colin Powell (more on that later) and the guy was just as brown as all the other "black" people in this comic and everyone knows that Powell does not usually look that way, he is far paler than that.
Apart from the problem with the artwork, the whole story and its execution has huge problems, so many that I wonder why this was never called out for, well to a degree, since this seems to be written by people that don't seem to know much about World War II.
It started pretty early when the comic tried to raise awareness of racism in 1940s USA in a way so blunt you would think it aims it at people who have no idea what that is (the exposition throughout is equally childish). Not to mention that since that one Dr. Reinstein is Jewish (not that you would know that from this comic unless you apply name stereotyping) they at least did not go with "Nazis worked for us" albeit it’s still basically using the myth of eugenics coming from the outside, as if the USA would not have had plenty of eugenicists at the time as well. Even the rampant propaganda and racism towards the Japanese (or any enemy for that matter) is almost entirely ignored except for one comment equating them and African Americans to monkeys and that was just a racist comment. You see nothing like this here:
This seems like the typical white washing of US history that you see so often in Marvel stories, no matter whether comic, show or film.
Btw. here they mention some sort of underground word to mouth network among "Negros" called "Blackvine" that is never mentioned afterwards. So why bring it up? The same with the character Jack seeing those half-naked "African ghosts" since there was never anything shown that he had any interest in it or any sort of religious beliefs. But hey I have no idea either how Isaiah’s wife was able to tell that the corpse was of a white man when it was stated to be burned beyond recognition. But even if it wasn’t, am I really supposed to belief that they would make such a mistake in a cover-up?
Furthermore, while I have no problems believing that the doctors would use African Americans as test subjects, it does sound unrealistic that they would not first test the serum (btw. how does eugenics lead to a drug-powered super hero like Captain America?) on apes and so on if they have only 300 test subjects and they have already killed most of them (by explosion, I am not kidding). Maybe it's part of the comic series’ clumsy story, full of holes and stereotypes. I mean of course the fight in Germany is in the Black Forest because why would it be anywhere else, right? And to complement the stereotyping: All the Germans are pale and bright blonds with blue eyes, except for the three previously mentioned exceptions of course.
But trust me, it doesn’t stop there, we have idiotic soldiers insulting two meter tall muscle-mountains (who are apparently not used efficiently) with racist remarks and further aggravating him with the death of his parents as if this was written by a preschooler.
That they would have a fictional concentration camp in 1942 Germany with a name that only sounds German to someone who doesn't know the language did not surprise me (that is pretty common for American comics apparently). You would think someone writing about a severe topic like this one would get the history at least partially right, but it has a pretty severe historic inaccuracy: In 1942 German Jews were deported to the east into ghettos and concentration camps. And the camps didn't just have Jewish prisoners unlike what this comic here suggests, but I guess like so often everyone else doesn't count. I mean most of the others were just gypsies, fags, communists and general political and war prisoners, who cares about them right?
As you can probably guess, this comic was starting to really piss me off at this point and it got even worse: Evil Nazi cliché scientists or not, no one stacks dozens of corpses in one room for vivisection or general autopsy, this is Central Europe and not the arctic!!!, these corpses would rot and lead to disease and fly infestations. This doesn't make the whole thing more gruesome for me, it makes it silly and leads me to thinking the author never attempted to treat the topic with the respect it deserves. And if that gas chamber here was supposed to be part of the whole Final Solution than someone either didn't do their homework on the topic or didn't care. Even here the best I could say about this series is that the makers meant well.
And boy did it not get any better later, they even gave Hitler dark shadows under the eyes and his and Goebbels's performance here is rather like that of parrot and trainer. These two are portrayed as way more harmless than they actually were. Furthermore they even have Hitler say that Mengele asked for Isiah… give me a second:
That scene plays in 1942!!!! Mengele was still a physician at the Eastern Front at this time, didn’t go to Auschwitz-Birkenau until May1943 and for all we know Hitler had no idea who the guy was!!!!!
And the reason the Nazis didn't just inject others with Isaiah's blood and thereby creating super soldiers is Hitler’s racism... yeah sure, as if I would believe that after the Blitzkrieg and the battle for England already having failed. Sure the battle for Stalingrad had only just started but they did not take Moscow or Leningrad and yet this here wants me to believe they would waste such a perfect opportunity to get super soldiers? Even if Hitler was against it, you really want me to believe all the other high-ranking Nazis would let such an opportunity slip? These here are cartoon villains and not to powerful dictators. And it’s possible that other comics had them with other weapons or so, but I don’t care, nothing like this is mentioned here.
And from one thing that doesn’t make sense, to another one: that lucky escape via German resistance fighters does not explain how Isaiah got back to the USA or what else he did afterwards.
The only somewhat spot of light here was how the comic got it right that the Nazis did take inspiration from the eugenics programs of the USA, but missed that at least Hitler also admired their efficacy in wiping out the Natives or their inspiration from American race laws. And that "they were not the Nazis back then but just the German government" here is complete and utter bullshit. They were the Nazis already so here the two governments worked together unlike what this here claims when it states that they were "just the German government." In fact they mention that Captain America was in the Pacific war and I doubt anyone writing that comic would be very truthful about that war. Also they once again propagated the myth that landing in Europe was about "saving those people". I know enough to doubt it. Stalin and Churchill were more concerned with their own territories and the US was not much better in my mind or otherwise the Western Front would have opened in 1942 already and not in 1944, 1.5 years after the original declaration by Roosevelt.
And to top the ignorance and bullshit messages of this comic we get a tolerance message for Burkas, never mind how many Muslim women refuse to wear them and what these burkas actually represent and are based on. They do not simply deemphasize femininity (btw. this here partially blames people rejecting them as the true prejudiced ones), but rather turn women into objects because they are part of an ideology that sees men as constant potential rapists.
I could feel at this point that this comic will not end well. And boy did it shot itself in the foot. I was all "You've got to be kidding me!!!! The story of how Isaiah got out of Nazi Germany and was sentenced for life was odd enough but according to this wall of pictures depicted here plenty of high-ranking and famous people knew of him, and yet no one said anything? Isaiah is just a rumor for most people, a conspiracy theory. This wants me to believe that people like Bowie, Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X did not tell anyone? How is it possible that Captain America never, ever heard of Isaiah Bradley, the "Black Captain America?"
This was just such a bad comic series, sure the last pictures of Isaiah getting his old uniform back and taking a picture with Captain America was good, but the rest.... I can appreciate the intention but the result is severely lacking in my eyes.
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