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muccamukkPart I
Warnings! homophobia, anti-Semitism, fatphobia, mind control, humiliation, sexual assault by a zombie, lingering illness and death of a gay character. The first five aren't condoned by the narrative. It's basically Nazis being awful, but it's pretty hard to read.
After Michael's funeral, we don't see too much of Arnie for a while. He shows up at Steve's a couple times for Christmas parties and such, but otherwise we don't see him much ten issues. When he does show up again, he's not doing well.
The lady in the naughty nun outfit is Mother Superior, she seems generally associated with Red Skull, and has a gang of "Sisters" who all have evil magic powers and attack people via groping. It's possible that J. M. DeMatteis has Issues with the Catholic Church.
The guy to the left in the porn star costume (designed by Steve!) is Jack Munroe; he's Steve's side kick for the run and has a massive case of hero worship. Sam, for the most part, seems to have better things to do with his time these days.
I think it's super sweet of Steve to randomly drop in at all hours and drag his friends along to play cards.
The nightmare thing goes around for five more issues, until finally Zemo and Mother Superior show up to carry poor Arnie off. I'm not actually sure why they bothered with the nightmares other than to prove they're big meanies. In the meantime, they've been driving someone Steve's other friends over the edge, making them take up super villain costumes and attack him and Jack.
They replace Arnie with a Robot!Arnie, which tells Steve to show up at a specific time and place if he wants to see his friend again. Up until the point where it disintegrates into component parts, Steve does not realise he's not talking to his friend. Steve and Jack head off to that time and place and promptly get run around a maze, attacked by naughty nuns, confused and bewildered. Steve then finds "Baron Zemo" who he then proceeds to beat the snot out of. He does not realise until he pulls the mask off that he was actually beating up Arnie. But wait, as he holds his bleeding friend in his arms, it disintegrates into component parts. Another robot! (Steve is still surprised.valtyr has suggested that I make a post just about Steve and his inability to tell robots from humans.) After a bunch more running about, they hear music.
Steve finally seems to be figuring out the robot thing. Unfortunately it doesn't last. Jack also gets sucked into a hole in the floor and dropped into the dungeon at this point. He'll spend the rest of the arc dressed as Bucky and chained to things.
Wonderful It's Okay To Be Gay speech, and you had to go ruin it, didn't you Steve? In the meantime, the Naughty Nuns have captured Bernie and Sam and tossed them in the dungeon.
Arnie spends the rest of the arc unconscious. Steve puts up with another recreation of his last moments in WWII, with Jack standing in for Bucky, then fights Red Skull until Skull dies of old age. Meanwhile, Jack, Sam and Bernie bust themselves out of the dungeon, taking Arnie with them. The Avengers show up just as they get out (Good timing, guys!), and J. M. DeMatteis leaves the title.
Mike Carlin picks it up for all of six issues, with no Arnie in evidence until his last issue. At which point he realises that someone probably ought to tie up DeMatteis' loose ends, and includes this page:
Arnie never does find Steve because Steve is currently chained up in a dungeon in London, England.
Mark Gruenwald takes over Captain America, and that's the last we see of Arnie in that title for ten years. He does, however, make a mention in a list of Avengers' support staff in Avengers 300. We never actually see him in that comic though.
Fast forward to the '90s and the tail end of Gruenwald's run on Cap. Bernie has left Steve to go to law school, and he's now dating a sometime super villain named Diamondback. He's also trying to set up a Captain America Hotline behind the offices of an old costume shop, and he calls a friend for help. Being that this is the Marvel universe, Arnie has aged ten years in the three years since Steve has seen him.
He kind of just hovers in the background getting no real story,
and keeping the shop running at a loss until Steve reveals that the super soldier serum is wearing off, and it's taking his body with it. Tony makes Steve armour so he can fight until the bitter end, and he's spent the last few issues franticly trying to track down and nail all of his old enemies.
Arnie's disintegrating health mirror's Cap's, in a moderately heavy handed, but also kind of touching way. Here are the two boys who grew up together in the streets of Prohibition New York, going out together.
Steve's underlings in that are Free Spirit, who was a Balls Kicking Evil Feminist and is now a Balls Kicking Feminist For America (I like her), and Jack Flag, who has a really silly costume.
I never get tired of listening to Steve talk about radio plays of his youth. Though I'm mentally changing the show in question from The Whistler to The Midnight Racer. In the next issue, the last of Gruenwald's run and of Cap's life, Steve tries to say goodbye to everyone he ever loved. Only he's on out's with Sam, and Bernie seems too busy, so he goes to Arnie's bedside.
Then Steve goes home, curls up and dies.
Then Sharon Carter comes back from the dead, teams up with Red Skull, resurrects Steve and takes him on a snarky road trip across Europe. Which is what happens if you're an A-list superhero. Sadly, it's not generally what happens if you're a boyhood best friend. I keep hoping that he'll show up in back story issues, but nothing so far.
Warnings! homophobia, anti-Semitism, fatphobia, mind control, humiliation, sexual assault by a zombie, lingering illness and death of a gay character. The first five aren't condoned by the narrative. It's basically Nazis being awful, but it's pretty hard to read.
After Michael's funeral, we don't see too much of Arnie for a while. He shows up at Steve's a couple times for Christmas parties and such, but otherwise we don't see him much ten issues. When he does show up again, he's not doing well.
The lady in the naughty nun outfit is Mother Superior, she seems generally associated with Red Skull, and has a gang of "Sisters" who all have evil magic powers and attack people via groping. It's possible that J. M. DeMatteis has Issues with the Catholic Church.
The guy to the left in the porn star costume (designed by Steve!) is Jack Munroe; he's Steve's side kick for the run and has a massive case of hero worship. Sam, for the most part, seems to have better things to do with his time these days.
I think it's super sweet of Steve to randomly drop in at all hours and drag his friends along to play cards.
The nightmare thing goes around for five more issues, until finally Zemo and Mother Superior show up to carry poor Arnie off. I'm not actually sure why they bothered with the nightmares other than to prove they're big meanies. In the meantime, they've been driving someone Steve's other friends over the edge, making them take up super villain costumes and attack him and Jack.
They replace Arnie with a Robot!Arnie, which tells Steve to show up at a specific time and place if he wants to see his friend again. Up until the point where it disintegrates into component parts, Steve does not realise he's not talking to his friend. Steve and Jack head off to that time and place and promptly get run around a maze, attacked by naughty nuns, confused and bewildered. Steve then finds "Baron Zemo" who he then proceeds to beat the snot out of. He does not realise until he pulls the mask off that he was actually beating up Arnie. But wait, as he holds his bleeding friend in his arms, it disintegrates into component parts. Another robot! (Steve is still surprised.
valtyr has suggested that I make a post just about Steve and his inability to tell robots from humans.) After a bunch more running about, they hear music.Steve finally seems to be figuring out the robot thing. Unfortunately it doesn't last. Jack also gets sucked into a hole in the floor and dropped into the dungeon at this point. He'll spend the rest of the arc dressed as Bucky and chained to things.
Wonderful It's Okay To Be Gay speech, and you had to go ruin it, didn't you Steve? In the meantime, the Naughty Nuns have captured Bernie and Sam and tossed them in the dungeon.
Arnie spends the rest of the arc unconscious. Steve puts up with another recreation of his last moments in WWII, with Jack standing in for Bucky, then fights Red Skull until Skull dies of old age. Meanwhile, Jack, Sam and Bernie bust themselves out of the dungeon, taking Arnie with them. The Avengers show up just as they get out (Good timing, guys!), and J. M. DeMatteis leaves the title.
Mike Carlin picks it up for all of six issues, with no Arnie in evidence until his last issue. At which point he realises that someone probably ought to tie up DeMatteis' loose ends, and includes this page:
Arnie never does find Steve because Steve is currently chained up in a dungeon in London, England.
Mark Gruenwald takes over Captain America, and that's the last we see of Arnie in that title for ten years. He does, however, make a mention in a list of Avengers' support staff in Avengers 300. We never actually see him in that comic though.
Fast forward to the '90s and the tail end of Gruenwald's run on Cap. Bernie has left Steve to go to law school, and he's now dating a sometime super villain named Diamondback. He's also trying to set up a Captain America Hotline behind the offices of an old costume shop, and he calls a friend for help. Being that this is the Marvel universe, Arnie has aged ten years in the three years since Steve has seen him.
He kind of just hovers in the background getting no real story,
and keeping the shop running at a loss until Steve reveals that the super soldier serum is wearing off, and it's taking his body with it. Tony makes Steve armour so he can fight until the bitter end, and he's spent the last few issues franticly trying to track down and nail all of his old enemies.
Arnie's disintegrating health mirror's Cap's, in a moderately heavy handed, but also kind of touching way. Here are the two boys who grew up together in the streets of Prohibition New York, going out together.
Steve's underlings in that are Free Spirit, who was a Balls Kicking Evil Feminist and is now a Balls Kicking Feminist For America (I like her), and Jack Flag, who has a really silly costume.
I never get tired of listening to Steve talk about radio plays of his youth. Though I'm mentally changing the show in question from The Whistler to The Midnight Racer. In the next issue, the last of Gruenwald's run and of Cap's life, Steve tries to say goodbye to everyone he ever loved. Only he's on out's with Sam, and Bernie seems too busy, so he goes to Arnie's bedside.
Then Steve goes home, curls up and dies.
Then Sharon Carter comes back from the dead, teams up with Red Skull, resurrects Steve and takes him on a snarky road trip across Europe. Which is what happens if you're an A-list superhero. Sadly, it's not generally what happens if you're a boyhood best friend. I keep hoping that he'll show up in back story issues, but nothing so far.
(no subject)
Date: 29 Jul 2011 00:41 (UTC)I really like Arnie, and I'm still sad that no one ever really did anything with him again. If nothing else, his being Steve's last link to his original life makes him unique (until Bucky's resurrected, I suppose). :/
Mother Superior. Yes, she does end up having an interesting career, doesn't she?
(Steve is still surprised. valtyr has suggested that I make a post just about Steve and his inability to tell robots from humans.)
That may be longer than this one. Seriously. Even in the Steve Rogers: Super Soldier mini last year, he has that problem. Again.
(no subject)
Date: 29 Jul 2011 05:16 (UTC)I really like him too. For all the trouble he gets in, he seems like a really compassionate man, like getting Steve to spare the lumpy yellow things, even when he's just lost his partner. Or protecting Steve from bullies when they were kids, even. It does seem like he's gotten telescoped out of the timeline, however. He would have to be really, really old to be in the story in present day.
I keep hoping that in all Brubaker's childhood memories stuff, he'll slide in, but Bru seems to be focusing on Bucky so far.
I am never, ever in a million years going to get over him sleeping with LMD!Rachel in Vol 4. Not ever. You should do that post, though!
(no subject)
Date: 30 Jul 2011 20:48 (UTC)Honestly, it just makes me wonder exactly how lifelike the LMDs are, for him to not notice. O.o
You should do that post, though!
*giggle* I'd have to have lots of help. I'm still in the 80s on my reading and my memory of specific incidents is pretty crappy at best.
(no subject)
Date: 29 Jul 2011 05:59 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 29 Jul 2011 06:20 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 29 Jul 2011 09:29 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 29 Jul 2011 07:22 (UTC)God, Nomad's costume! It's... stunning.
(no subject)
Date: 29 Jul 2011 07:56 (UTC)The stuff about Michael got a lot more explicit after he died. I guess it was "safer" then or something. I'm mildly surprised they got away with it in '82.
Nomad. I'm not sure which is more worrying: That Steve designed that costume and wore it, or that when he was done with it he gave it to his hero-worshiping side kick.
(no subject)
Date: 1 Aug 2011 05:52 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1 Aug 2011 19:27 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8 Aug 2012 23:28 (UTC)