#41 Captain America
This was actually a giveaway sample issue that I tossed in. The lead article is on American Flagg. I’ve never read this comic, but was interested in it. (I couldn’t afford to buy everything I was interested in at the time.) The commentary was fascinating, if somewhat bizarre.
The series is set in the year 2031. In the years since 1996 (the Year of the Domino), the world has fallen into chaos—economic collapse, nuclear war, and social upheaval have resulted in a dramatic shift in world power. The American government has relocated to Mars (“Temporarily, of course”), leaving what remains of the United States to be governed by the Plex, a corporate entity that, like the Roman Empire, appeases the populace with a steady diet of drugs, sex, and entertainment.
That’s quite a premise and just gets weirder as the series goes on. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find some back issues of this someday.
Contest of Champions was a comic I’d heard about, but never saw. Interesting to find out that it was supposed to be Marvel superheroes at the 1980 Olympics, which the US boycotted, thus necessitating the rewrite. There are two articles on Wonder Woman, along with two articles on Captain America and another on the Red Skull. They’re kind of interesting and kind of disturbing. Let’s just say Captain America’s writers mostly saw him as a political tool for their own beliefs.
The Quality turned DC superheroes, Uncle Sam and Freedom Fighters, have a tragic tale that is told in a retrospective article. It’s torturous. That happened to the characters in the comic.
For Team America, the motorcycle-riding heroes of the 80’s, it was the behind-the-scenes problems that did them in. It was an interesting article for an odd concept. However, I remember a guest appearance by Team America in the New Mutants, where it was postulated that the group were mutants. This appearance wasn’t mentioned in the article, so I’m disappointed.
#43 Shanna
What a cover by Frank Cho! Shanna’s origin is explored in a lengthy article. It’s a harsh one, too. From there, it’s a retrospective on Ka-Zar, Shanna’s love interest. The article focused on the 80’s series, which was way more intellectual and psychological than you’d expect from characters running around a jungle in loincloths. I’ve read a few of those and reviewed them (7-27-20).
There’s a thankfully short article asking the question, “Was Conan a racist?” The correct answer is, “Who cares? He’s a fictional character.” There’s a long article on Rima the Jungle Girl. She has a surprising literary background for a character that I only knew from the Superfriends cartoon.
Next, we are confronted with another dumb question: “Is Red Sonja a Feminist Icon or Warrior Woman?” Apparently, her iconic chain mail bikini upsets some sensitive people. I’ll let Elfquest creator, Wendy Pini, answer that question in a practical manner. Rounding out the issue are articles on some little known (for a reason) fantasy characters: Korg, Claw, and Beowulf.
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