No More Invisible Girls

I’ve had many favorite superheroes over the years.  When I was a child, watching the 90s X-Men cartoon, my favorite was Storm.  When I first got into comics, fresh off of the X-Men movies, my favorite was Cyclops.  Jean Grey and the Beast have always been way up there, too.  And my identification with She-Hulk can’t be overstated.  But within months of getting into comics, one particular character stole my heart and hasn’t let go since: Steve Rogers, the man known as Captain America.

There are things I love. These things include 20th century U.S. history, World War II stories, nice guys who are heroes simply because of an inborn sense of justice and duty, awkward guys, physical transformation narratives, and fish out of water.  Steve Rogers?  Embodies each and every one of those tropes and themes.  He’s a truly good man fighting for a dream that might never come true, wracked with guilt and grief over even his smallest failures, and trying to find his way in a world far removed from the one he knew.  He’s principled to the point of stubbornness, kind to everyone he meets, sometimes ignorant but willing to learn, and all in all the best kind of hero I could ever hope for.  And his comics, over the past 70 years, have consistently reflected changing social mores and political upheavals in American society, making them a fascinating cultural study.  During my senior year of college at Princeton University, I wrote my 100-page senior thesis on Cap, and getting the chance to tell Joe Simon about that thesis is my proudest moment as a comics fan so far.  My apartment is full of Captain America memorabilia, and my love — if you’ll pardon the pun — is unflagging.