TRUTH? I’m not faded at all regarding the power-move by Marvel that BY NOW EVERYONE KNOWS, BUT IN CASE YOU DON’T — Captain America is dead. My man Kevin Church has a solid post regarding his opinions on the issue (and a link to a news article regarding the event) that you should get down with. I think he’s got a pretty fair stance on the whole hustle and I think like most cats, he is taking it in good stride. I’d like to take it to the next-level and posit that Marvel should let fallen heroes stay dead.

Don’t hit us upside the head a year later with a resurrection of Steve Rogers as Captain America. We’ve all seen the end of Civil War, where Rogers surrenders, removes his mask and leaves it on the ground. Who scoops it up? but none other than Frank Castle, a.k.a., The Punisher. The true nature of an icon relies heavily on the mettle of the man. Does Castle really rock with the courage and fortitude that is required to stand as the symbol backed by an entire nation? I’m going to lay it out there and claim that he’s not even representative of that iconic stature.

Captain America is an ideal that was created with the blood of men who died for their country. Only one survived, and this black man was truly the first symbol that would become the icon we acknowledge today. Isaiah Bradley was the first Captain American, but he wasn’t the last. With Frank Castle holding the mantle of freedom, it’s time for a more qualified hero to step up. Logic dictates that The Falcon, a close friend of the late Rogers who fought alongside him, be the new face of freedom, and I’m down with that. BRING BACK TRUTH! — Red, White, and Black.

Can anyone argue that my man DOOM! is the not tightest villian ever created? To think you can get down and challenge him is madness!!! Anytime I’ve read DOOM!, I’m secretly hoping that he’s able to get over with schematics he’s cooked up in the depths of his Latverian stronghold. His twisted mad-villian for the people type hustle is strangely intoxicating. Never have I wanted any force on the black hand side to prevail as much as the original evil genius.

You can’t turn a corner in Comics without reading a writer whose hustle usually resides in writing novels, or scripting television or film. One such creator is novelist/screenwriter, John Ridley (who wrote the original format for Three Kings). Ridley is a novelist seven times over and it’s clear he is no stranger to masterminding Comics as he steps correct in a new graphic novel titled The American Way.

It’s the early 60’s and the era of “super-heroes” and “super-villians” is on the rise. The american superhero favorites, The Civil Defense Corps (CDC), are charged by the government with protecting the hustle of the american dream. There are so many themes going on in this story that I don’t want to break it all down for you and ruin the flavor. If the Marvel Civil War was actually worth reading, it could have played out like The American Way. Many of the sentiments in the story resonate well with the format of the 60’s. All the relevant -isms boom loudly as everything unfolds. You also can’t sleep on the rise of a Black man as the reluctant but possibly ultimate hero.

History becomes fiction as fiction flows to history in The American Way. The verbiage of the time is evident (i.e. the brutha got it right), and true to the hustle you are moved to feel with every word. Anytime you read a panel and feel like you need to hold yourself back, it’s clear the writer has got you. The artistic stylings of Georges Jeanty really bring the story to the next-level with tight, clean lines as well. Challenge your comfort levels and get down with The American Way. It can make you angry. It can make you ashamed. It can make you redefine your definition of a hero. It’s worth the stretch. Bahlactus has spoken.