Captain America, Masculinity, and Violence ─ The Evolution of a National Icon

Stevens offers this critical analysis of the Captain America comics, with chapters discussing sequential eras of the character in its response to current events. The preface introduces some general themes of Captain America and comic books as texts. Seven chapters then analyze the way that Captain America relates to patriotism, nationalism, and discourses of masculinity in roughly decadal chunks in which the character donned different personas: an anti-Hitler, anti-communist, man out of time, liberal crusader, commercialized leader, image-heavy icon, and commentator on terrorism. The final chapter discusses the death of Captain America in 2007 and the meaning of various attempts to resurrect him. Annotation c2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

J. Richard Stevens is assistant professor in media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder.