Q: The most obvious ongoing theme in American Captain is the fact that Steve is constantly kind of confused and miserable about his life, which was a pretty smart prediction considering the events of the new Captain America movie, in which Steve is a very messed up guy. How much do you plan on having American Captain fit in with the new canon from Winter Soldier?
A: “Damn, is he messed up. Wow. Damn. I think Chris Evans probably looked at a lot of photos of returning servicemen, because he Thousand-Yard Stares his way through that film like a champion.
And he was messed up in The Avengers, too. The Avengers is a weird movie that seems to try very hard to produce some kind of psychological resolution for its characters, but also, Steve is introduced by literally trying to punch away visual flashbacks to the war in which his best friend died and then he did. I’m sure he felt pretty cool after beating up some aliens in New York, but he’s introduced with an explicit visual depiction of his having PTSD, and that unfortunately doesn’t go away just because you had a victory, or because the world really is as dangerous as your instincts are constantly telling you sometimes. In fact, it’s the “sometimes” that’ll really get you.”
"Steve has always been kind of a dark character. AmCap is really not at a massive disjunct with a lot of the earlier comics. It has less super villains, sure, but probably equal amounts of Steve wandering around internalizing angst. (A good Cap, I think, is about 50% punching, 50% angst).
The other thing about Steve is that he looks like a walking Tom of Finland drawing (IRL, I mean. He doesn’t draw himself like that, and that’s deliberate on my part) but inside, he is, and will probably always be, an awkward, bullied geek. I think, personally, that that has always been a part of his character, too. Specifically the part that explains his dorky dad jokes.”
I have been reading this non-stop with my hand over my mouth, quietly rasping ‘my emotionnnns’ to empty rooms, so, y’know, join me.
I just read this entire backlog of comics and then this interview and NOW I’M A HUSK. I’M DEAD. SEND HELP.
Everybody loves MISERY.
If I wasn’t on the floor clutching my Captain America t-shirt to my chest, I would maybe try to say something good here about superheroes being America’s living myths – LIVING myths – and how that is the whole thing the whole everything, but right now I am too deep in feelings because Steeeve
