Stan Lee presents Oh Captain my Captain and Tennille

     Hello and welcome back folks to another thrilling installment of The Shadow Knows. What true believers does The Shadow know today? Well for one never blow dry your hair in the shower. According to the label this can be bad, real bad. You might come out with a hair style that is either absolutely hideous or FABULOUS!!! Ahhh but what can you do I ask? So this week at podbean.com, on How I Geek with Greg and the gang we discuss the 20th anniversary of that timeless classic The Crow. It is hard for me to believe that it has been 20 years since we lost the great up-in-coming actor Brandon Lee. He was of course the son of the late and great Bruce Lee. I mean great doesn't really cover it with Bruce. He was after all the Michael Jordan of kung fu, the Wayne freaking Gretzky of kung fu. At 4 movies, just shy of his fathers 5 Brandon was well on his way in becoming the Hollywood sensation his father was and his loss is still felt today. Alas I digress. We will discuss this and more Sunday. Come on over and stop by for a cup of coffee. We will leave the light on for you.

     So true believers what topic will The Shadow pull from the darkness and into the light this day. Well I just recently went to see Captain American 2 the Winter Soldier. So I thought I would give Cap a spin in what I hope to be a month of comic reviews. I dunno we shall see how that goes. You never know the sky could fall any minute and that would be the end. So who is Captain America you say? I am so glad you asked secret voices in my head. Cap hit the shelves December 20th 1940, with a cover date of March 10th, 1941. It stars Steve Rogers a young man who wants to give his all for his country. The only problem is he is a tiny, sickly frame of a man. So when he is offered a chance to take part in an experiment to create the worlds first super soldier he jumps at the chance. The experiment is a success and Captain America was born. The only thing is that no other soldiers could be made since the original creator of the process was killed by Nazi spy Heinz Kruger (though Nick Fury also goes through this process in later years). Like D.C. Comic heroes of the time Cap had a teenage sidekick James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes. He had no super powers and fought The Third Reich alongside Cap during it's first run. During his tenure with Cap it was thought that Bucky was just an average teenage kid. It was later written though that this was not the case. As it turns out Bucky was recruited to be an assassin for the U.S. government. This is of course all unknown to Cap and right under his nose. I am surprised he couldn't smell what was going on (I know waaa waaa). This comic was a raging success during its near decade run, with the first cover featuring Cap slugging Hitler. This was due in part to the Second World War. Once peace returned to the world alas, like all other soldiers Caps time had come and the series ended. This original series was created by brain children Joe Simon and the infamous Jack Kirby, during Marvels predecessor companies years under Timely Comics. Issue 3 of this series has the unique distinction as to being the first comic worked on by Stan "The Man" Lee. This is a issue I would love to find and get signed by this remaining legend of the comic world. I don't even care if it is a reader copy... sighs. 

     In 1964 Cap comes back to us in the pages Avengers #4. We discover that Bucky and Cap had gone MIA towards the end of the war and that a great cover-up was perpetrated to keep up American morale. Then President Thurman enlisted William Burnside to assume the mantle of Cap and Jeffrey Mace the mantle of Bucky. Both were given an imperfect version of the super soldier serum and as a result became mentally unstable They were both placed into cold storage until a cure could be found. For Burnside a cure was found and he later adopted the mantle of Nomad. Alas still no word on young Mr. Mace. Any who in issue 4 of the Avengers they find Cap frozen in an iceberg and still very much alive. They discover that Bucky is dead due to their final fight with Baron Zemo. Cap then joined The Avengers and has never left us since. From discovering Bucky is still alive, to dying, and not really dying Cap has captivated us in the pages of Marvel Comics (no pun intended, no really I mean it). He has lead The Avengers, lost his title as Captain America and forced to be Nomad, and U.S. Soldier. Yes Captain America is a must read true believers. So then where does he go from here?

     Where does he go from here, well the big screen of course. In 1944 Cap had the distinction of being the first Marvel Comics character to appear on the big screen in his own series. In the 60's Cap was featured in his own animated series featuring his stories from Tales of Suspense and Avengers as well. I know not big screen, but little screens can be fun too. In the 1970's we get Cap in two movies starring Reb Brown (no relation to the best of my knowledge). In these adaptations Cap's origin is changed to fit the times. He is a former marine who was given the nickname Captain America for being so patriotic. During an accident, in which he is nearly killed this Steve Rogers is given the FLAG serum. FLAG which stands for Full Latent Ability Gain turns him into the super soldier we all know and love. Though neither movie had any Cap villains he does get cool gadgets like a rockin motorcycle. In the 1990's we get a Cap movie that though low budget stays true to his story. Though it might not be as good as the say present incarnation I still like it. Of course Cap has made guest appearances in several Marvel titled cartoons between the 80's and 2000's. I will not really go into them and only say some appearances were better then others. In the 2010's we have gotten the best of all incarnations out there to date true believers. With Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes we had an awesome Cap who made you not only cheer, but believe. Alas Joe Quesada in his narrow minded, short sightedness elected to cancel this show of awesomeness for a far inferior version. I truly do not understand this dim wit of Marvel and hope he retires soon. So finally we have arrived at Chris Evans and his 3 portrayals of Cap. What can I say this man was born for the role. I am sad to see him go after only 6 movies and hope he decides to do at least a couple more. The first movie was a great back-story engine that drove us to The Avengers. In the Avengers his character helped drive the movie and hold the team together in true Cap fashion. Finally The Winter Soldier paid true homage to the original story (which I really like). It truly ticks me off when folks take a perfectly good story and instead of merely tweaking it for a more modern audience decide that they can make it better in a whole different direction. To me this is not a homage, but rather arrogance in its truest form and shame on them! I love Black Widow and Falcons incarnations in this movie as well. They really help drive this movie home for me. I also like the blooming romance between Cap and Widow. Will they expand on this... who knows? What I do know is the movie rocks. What are you waiting for go see it.

     Well folks what do you think this week. Is Cap safe in the hands of Chris Evans? Do you think Joe Quesada can do anything right? What do you think of the future of the franchise? Do you know where I put my car keys? These are the important questions people! I really need to buy some milk. So any who till next time Shadow fans keep an eye to the darkness. You may just catch a glimpse of me there and if it is not me call the police. Really stranger danger, stranger danger!!! What an odd super villain name. Help Cap can you save us? My gosh villian what do you call yourself. You can call me "Stranger Danger" and when you see the Stranger you're in danger muwahahaha...