by Jason Inman
This book will strive to examine the ways in which comic books portray soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors. It strives to shine a light on how some comic book readers may see soldiers through the lens of their funny book pages. It will illuminate how their service can be used in a positive light, a way to enforce and increase a character’s heroic nature. It will prove that these two professions create a kind of simpatico.
Please enjoy this mix-tape of comic book characters who began their heroic or villainous careers as service members. I sincerely hope this examination will affect you and bring clarity to the great sacrifice many service members take on when they enlist in the armed forces. Those men and women are the true heroes, and I find it fascinating that their traits have been used to propel the fictional superheroes on many panels throughout numerous comic pages.
Chapter 1
Captain America
The Perfect Soldier
We know Captain America like we know the American flag. We may not personally know all his stories or his ideals, but we can all see the design of his costume clearly in our minds. The tiny wings that stick out on the side of his mask, the red and white stripes across his perfect abs, and his daring red pirate boots that marched up the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. It’s impossible to forget the pure saturation of America that is Steve Rogers.
Before I began researching the star-spangled Avenger to prepare for this book, I already had some preconceived notions about the man known as Steve Rogers. He was brave, loyal, and true. Beyond his representation in the Marvel films by blonde dynamo Chris Evans, I had come to appreciate the steadfastness Cap embodied in all of his adventures. He was going to do what was right every single time, no matter the cost, and no matter how many people he had to punch to do it! Plus, can anyone explain the physics-defying mechanics of how he throws his shield, bounces it off several buildings, and still manages to catch it? If that’s not 100 percent patriotic magic at work, then I don’t know what is!
It is for this reason that, whenever I think of the good captain, the very first image that pops into my head is the cover to Captain America Comics #1. Released in 1941, this cover features Captain America socking Adolf Hitler in the jaw, as Cap’s good pal and sidekick, Bucky, salutes the camera as if to say, “Job well done!” Even if you think you’ve never seen this image, I’m certain you’ve glimpsed it in a comic book or pop culture store at some point in your lifetime. It’s iconic! The very image of America punching evil right in its stupid face. The cover declares: “Smashing thru Captain America came face-to-face with Hitler”—and he certainly did. I like to think this image has something to do with the lasting legacy of Captain America. With a debut image this striking, how could the comic book reading audience ever forget him?
The cover’s famous artists were Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (the luminary co-creator of many of Marvel’s other famous creations, including Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Hulk). Simon, before his time at Marvel, was a political cartoonist and anti-isolationist. With Kirby, he cooked up the anti-Hitler cover to express their political leanings, and several readers at the time did not think this type of cover belonged on a comic book.
The cover of Captain America Comics #1 is a clear and concise character introduction; however, the story contained inside veers off the rails in some interesting ways. We meet scrawny Steve Rogers, a boy from Brooklyn who volunteers for an insane science experiment that is going to permanently alter his life. Only a non-paranoid American story icon would volunteer to have his body pumped full of dangerous chemicals. In the years to come, when many young Americans were forced into service by the draft, Steve volunteered. Steve could have given up. However, he kept going. Driven by a need to serve his country, he was a hero before he ever became Captain America. The experiment transforms Steve into a new godlike body—he is described as the first of a corps of superagents that the United States will implement. Steve dons his star-spangled costume and does what any young, patriotic man who wanted to save his country in 1941 would have done: He stays stateside and busts up spy rings! Yeah! Wait, what?
There is no exaggeration in my previous paragraph. For the rest of the stories in the very first issue of Captain America, the captain never leaves America. Shocking, I know, as I bet many of you thought he would immediately join the war effort, tying his boots as he leapt into a boat headed for war-torn France. The one problem with that? America didn’t enter World War II until December of 1941, and Cap’s first issue debuted in March of the same year. Nine months early! All notions of Captain America immediately smashing his way into battle must be swept away. Captain America could not fight a war America wasn’t a part of. Even his first encounter with the Red Skull takes place on American soil!
The most interesting thing to note about Steve Rogers in this issue is that he retains his secret identity. Steve joins the Army. He enlists as a lowly private, guarding Army camps around the nation and wearing the biggest-brimmed hat you’ve ever seen this side of basic training. His adventures as Captain America lead him to confront many of the same villain archetypes you would see in any superhero comic of the time. Cap was published during the “Golden Age” of comics, an age kicked off by the creation of Superman in Action Comics #1. The stories back then were simpler; heroes fought gangsters and villains in straightforward tales. One of Captain America’s “Golden Age” stories concerns a man who makes disastrous predictions about the future; another deals with a Nazi assassin known as “The Dictator” with a penchant for chessboards. This Captain America was more superhero than soldier. Soldier was his day job. If you believed everything you read in comic books, you might come to think being a soldier in the US Army consisted of nothing but guard duty. (Which sometimes is true, but not as much as Cap’s early tales would lead you to believe.)
In my entire tour of duty in Iraq, I believe I had “official” guard duty only twice. One time was on the main gate of the Air Force base we resided in, and the other was to guard our specific area of the base, called Camp Sapper. It could get really boring looking out at the sand dunes that surrounded our home base. I think I must have counted every dune at least seventeen times. Sometimes, my brain would pray for an attack—which is that last thing that anyone in a combat zone would want! Despite the hyperbole, I hope you can understand the feeling.
The early Captain America stories having nothing to do with the war shouldn’t be surprising. This was a common tactic employed by many of the comic book publishing companies of the time. Publishers looked at their books as propaganda tools and morale boosters for service members. Timely Comics (the company that would go on to become Marvel Comics) had started to push anti-isolationist politics into their comics. Before Pearl Harbor, they portrayed the Third Reich as the enemy. This was popular among American readers. Many Timely Comics covers also featured Nazis as the villains. Putting provocative images on the covers of their comic books not only worked to sell issues, it also sent a powerful message to the public. The story could have little substance beyond a minor escapade, but a cover image could send shock waves.
Powerful images have always been tied to the military. I can remember, from my pre-deployment days at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma, seeing recruitment posters all over the place—well-drawn pieces of art that were usually obscured by bold block lettering. In one poster, Uncle Sam would tell us to re-enlist for the “good” of America. Another would be a sailor chastising us about “loose lips” and sinking ships. I can remember thinking, “You’ve already got us in. Stop advertising to us!”
I saw Captain America in exactly the same light. Without deeper research, he becomes nothing more than a symbol—a personification of the American flag that can only spout platitudes. Luckily, the character is much deeper than my basic assumptions.
Captain America #332 is an issue simply titled “The Choice.” Steve Rogers is called in to a government council assembled by the President of the United States. These officials request that Captai
n America serve his country again in an official capacity. Reading from Cap’s original Army contract, these slimy bureaucrats state that Captain America even agreed to serve as the nation’s mascot back in the 1940s. Clearly, Steve Rogers needed to do a better job of carefully reading his contract when he signed on the dotted line. The government wants Captain America to work for them again, lock, stock, and barrel. However, Cap pauses. He begins a soliloquy that would bring George Washington to tears. He states that, while the US President represents the government, Captain America represents the American dream, and the American people who believe in that dream. What Captain America represents is intangible, and if he’s tied to the concrete edicts of the government, he will have to violate these principles and ideals constantly.
Yes, you did read the above correctly. Captain America, the perfect soldier, just disobeyed a direct order from the United States government.
It is possible for a service member of the armed forces to refuse an order. If the order is illegal, unethical, or immoral, it is your duty to refuse and to explain why you are refusing for the greater good. You cannot state—like the many former Nazi soldiers at the famous Nuremberg trials—that you “were just following orders.” I, myself, disobeyed an order or two during my time in a combat zone. I won’t go into specific details on those occasions, but let’s say that, if I had followed the orders of my commanding officer, I wouldn’t be writing this book right now. Back to Captain America, true believers!
Captain America was faced with an impossible choice and, instead of backing down, he stood true. The Army has a set of values all new recruits are taught. These words are drilled into any new soldier throughout their Basic Combat Training. Troops are meant to live these values every day and judge every action they take through them. The Army values are loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage.
Steve Rogers took one big step toward selfless service in that particular story. He put the welfare of the nation before his own government. He believed he could serve his country and its people outside the purview of the government. Whether this fact is true or not, Steve grasped the idea of selfless service and did not let go.
His replacement did not do as well when faced with a similar situation. Once Captain America turned his uniform back in to the government and quit the mantle of the sentinel of liberty, the very same presidential council quickly began to search for another man. The man they found was a vigilante by the name of John Walker. John had been seeking fame as a superpowered hero, but immediately put all of that on hold when the government calls on him. He proclaims that any true patriot heeds his country’s call, no matter what. When the council later delivers the news to John that they cannot meet all his conditions for taking on the position of Captain America, John solemnly delivers a “Yes, sir.” No fight, no debate, merely a simple soldier’s acknowledgment.
We can see the ideas of Rogers’ resistance also manifest in the film Captain America: The First Avenger. Abraham Erskine, the scientist who has developed the super soldier serum, asks scrawny Steve Rogers if he wants to kill Nazis. Steve responds,
“I don’t want to kill anyone. I just don’t like bullies.” This answer becomes the reason Steve is chosen. Erskine instructs Steve to be “not a perfect soldier, but a good man.” This is a credo all soldiers should follow. We are all human beings first, soldiers second.
Without Captain America, we would not have a model to judge all soldiers and service members by in storytelling. His legend shines as brightly as his costume. Many times, he is the perfect soldier, a military “deity” if you will, shining down from above, telling soldiers how they should act and how much courage they need to charge the next hill. Other times, he’s Steve Rogers, a simple boy from Brooklyn who’s going to do what’s right every time. He’s a perfect example, a perfect ideal, and a perfect soldier.
Captain America takes a step in the direction of being a better service member, the way I hope and dream all soldiers eventually will. At first, you join for ideals (or maybe you enlist for that sweet sign-on bonus). However you feel when you sign on the dotted line to Uncle Sam, one part of your brain has to be behind the idea of serving your country. I doubt anyone could sign any kind of contract that significant if they didn’t believe in part of it. The text is full of tall orders. Soon, you will take a few steps back from the idea of glorious purpose. The flag will lose some of its luster; the orders and missions may seem vague to you. That’s okay. You know in your heart of hearts what you signed up for. The values of your squadmates can see you through. All the while, you may come face-to-face with an order that you don’t agree with. If the order is just, you follow that order. You’re a soldier. That’s your job. But if the order is unethical, or would compromise one of your values, it is your duty to take a step back. Pause. Do the right thing. Orders are damned if the integrity and selfless service of the United States military is up for grabs.
Chapter 2
Gravedigger
From Shovel to Rifle
“A man soon to become legend.” This quote sits on the text box of the very first story starring Ulysses Hazard, better known to comic book fans as “Gravedigger.” Personally, I think any man with a name like Ulysses Hazard is an instant legend. Ulysses is the name of one of the greatest adventurers of all time, who overcame several mythological obstacles in a journey to return to his family. A hazard is an agent that causes damage to humans. It is implicit in his name that Ulysses Hazard was going to defeat burdens and foes far beyond his fellow soldiers.
We meet Ulysses hunkered down with his squad, enduring bombardment from Nazi forces, clutching their pickaxes and shovels. The first thing any eagle-eyed reader should notice is that his squad is made up entirely of African American soldiers.
I forgot to mention the other important quote from Gravedigger’s introductory caption box: “Just ask Ulysses Hazard, a man who had to fight not only the enemy—but his own country.” This is an important distinction I’m going to examine throughout this chapter; at every turn, Ulysses is a comic book character told not to fight, and in every case, he does so anyway.
During World War II, segregation laws infiltrated every aspect of American society. In the American armed forces, African Americans who were drafted or volunteered were assigned to segregated units as cooks, quartermasters, and gravediggers—just like the unit that Ulysses Hazard is a part of.
Thankfully, my time in the Army was nothing like this. I didn’t enjoy many privileges as an enlisted man, but as a Caucasian soldier, I spotted the differences. One of my best friends in the service was an African American sergeant by the name of Linus Thuston. He was without a doubt one of the smartest men in my unit, and one of the coolest non-commissioned officers in charge of us. Linus understood what it took to lead men. He morphed many of his commands into concepts we could understand. Plus, he was always good for a laugh. If Linus was around, we would make fun of many of the base commanders. Without Linus, our unit would have been worse off. We needed Linus like the DC Comics Army units needed Ulysses Hazard.
Before his grave-digging days, Ulysses grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. As a young boy, he had to overcome polio, which left him half-crippled. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to overcome his illness, pushed himself to walk, run, and do “everything a normal person could do or die trying,” as he says in his first appearance. Ulysses trained hard, working after hours, building up his strength and stamina to be the best soldier the US Army had ever seen. However, all of his accomplishments meant nothing. In the end, he still had to suffer the indignities of his time. As a result of his skin color, he was assigned to latrine duty.
Many other men would have folded in light of this setback, but not our hero Ulysses Hazard! He took his duties seriously. Ulysses endeavored to do every job so well that someone would take notice. After scrubbing toilets for years, he was promoted to sergeant and put in charge of a grave-digging de
tail. Ulysses remarked that he only hated the blind attitude behind his unfair treatment. Ulysses knew he was the best soldier out there—and soon he would get the chance to prove it.
In his first issue, deep in the European front of World War II, Ulysses and his unit heard the screams of a woman. Shells were flying left and right, pinning his grave-digging unit down. Even though his group was supposed to be non-combatant, Ulysses flew toward the farmhouse, the source of the screams. Next, when one of his fellow soldiers bellowed, “Let the real soldiers do the work,” Ulysses charged toward danger. He charged toward his destiny. In spite of the Army at the time classifying him as a gravedigger, at that moment, Ulysses was a real soldier. Then he launched himself through a window, shovel first, to take down several Nazi soldiers and save the woman. It is a powerful moment. A Black man with only a basic tool in hand was able to defeat soldiers of an empire dedicated to destroying anyone outside the scope of their perfect Aryan ideal.
He was a hero, certainly, but Ulysses did not achieve victory all by his lonesome. Behind his back, a luger was raised, ready to take the kill shot on the astounding Ulysses Hazard. Thankfully, Andy, a fellow gravedigger soldier, followed him into the farmhouse and walloped that Nazi with his own shovel. Andy saved Ulysses’ life.
These two American heroes would get little chance to celebrate their victory, sadly. This was their first chance in the war to make a real difference and fight like real soldiers. No, their moment was interrupted by bigotry personified, their commanding officer, Lt. Gage. Gage strutted into the room, bellowed that the civilians must have saved themselves from the Nazis. He was utterly unwilling to listen to Andy, who attempted to correct Gage about who actually saved the day. Lt. Gage’s feeble mind was incapable of accepting two Black men as heroes, so he put Andy and Ulysses on report.