Yesterday saw the release of Captain America #695 and it is without a doubt the greatest apology comic ever and I just had to tell you about it.
So if you didn’t keep up with Secret Empire then here’s a short synopsis : Marvel gives a writer way too much freedom, Writer makes Cap a Nazi, Writer hints at the idea that we didn’t actually win WWII and then Marvel executives got back from Vacation and had him clean up the ending in a nice little bow when Cap is good again and that writer most likely doesn’t have a job anymore.
That was 14 months of my life that I’ll never get back. So how did Marvel apologize to me and all of the other fans?
BOOM! That’s how you write Captain America!
I wonder if Mark Waid and Chris Samnee have a phone at Marvel that connects directly to their cells and if it has a caption of “In case of emergency call Mark and Chris” I started out with a sour taste in my mouth just because of how angry I was with the company as a whole. Then I started reading this issue and I honestly couldn’t stop smiling. It’s Captain America, in a small town in Nebraska, fighting white supremacists. That’s it. 32 pages of that and wholesome values about standing up for what’s right and protecting those that can’t protect themselves. It’s also a self contained issue which means that instead of a “To Be Continued…” on the last page it simply says “The End” and I think it’s the perfect way to do it. This comic is speaking to us and it says “If you need to know who Captain America is as a person then here’s your book.” Now I’m sure that down the road Smanee and Waid will give something wild and crazy but that wasn’t the point of this issue and that’s why it works. It doesn’t build up some epic crossover or some outlandish story. It’s simple and we might need a bit more simple right about now. Just like we need Captain America.
