Truth: Red, White, and Black #1 (January 2003)

In the Marvel Universe itself, it's highly regarded that Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, is one of the greatest super-soldiers in the Marvel Universe. I mean, it's not hard to see why. The man kicked Nazi butt in the 1940s, and in the modern era, is associated with the Avengers. He's a man who can command gods. 

Naturally, many stories have shown in the years since, various governments have attempted to recreate the unique Super-Soldier Serum that transformed skinny patriot Steve Rogers into the legendary hero. One such attempt resulted in empowering a man named Isaiah Bradley.

Bradley was born from an offhand comment by Marvel's then-publisher Bill Jemas. The idea stuck in the mind of editor Axel Alonso, who also drew inspiration from the horrific Tuskegee Syphilis Study. The idea would be pitched to the late Robert Morales. The concept made Morales laugh, but then he found the pitch depressing. He wrote a proposal that was so downbeat, he expected Marvel to reject it. Much to his surprise, they gave it the green light. His proposal originally envisioned Bradley as a scientist who was transformed by his own experiment in the vein of Bruce Banner. He was saddened by this change (this was because Marvel editorial wanted Isaiah's story to more explicitly reflect the Tuskegee Study), but he would find consolation in the fact that Marvel was happy to let him keep one part of his proposal: a Black marriage. Morales would conduct lots of research on the era, and be paired with artist Kyle Baker, and now we are here.  

Bradley had made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the miniseries Falcon and the Winter Soldier, portrayed by Carl Lumbly, whom you may know as the voice of the Martian Manhunter in the DC Animated Universe. He's also going to reprise the role in the upcoming film Captain America: Brave New World. So, in honor of that, I thought I'd take a look at his comic book debut. This is Truth: Red, White, and Black #1!

The cover is a Kyle Baker piece. It's a simple piece, but its simplicity makes it powerful. A silhouette of Isaiah Bradley against an American flag, the white star indicating that he is wearing the Captain America costume. It tells you exactly what you're going to get in this miniseries, a Black man being Captain America. 

"Part One: The Future"

Writer: Robert Morales
Penciler: Kyle Baker
Inker: Kyle Baker

Colorist: Kyle Baker

Letterer: Wes Abbott

Editors: Axel Alonso, John Miesegaes
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada

Before I begin, I do wish to warn this comic does deal with themes of racism and possibly suicide. So, just something to keep in mind.

The story begins in Queens, New York. The time is July 1940. And a couple is getting their picture taken.

A wholesome couple that will never experience anything tragic...

This young couple is Isaiah Bradley and his lovely wife Faith. The two are attending the World's Fair that is being held in New York City. The two head towards the amusement area of the Fair and try to buy two tickets to an exhibition of ladies from around the world. It was the 40s. However, the ticket-seller doesn't want to, well, do his job and sell tickets to the two. He says the ladies aren't comfortable with being stared at like they're "animals". It's pretty obvious what he means by that.

Time passes. It's now December 1940. The place? Philadelphia. A man is returning home, and the butler is shocked at his state.

“I broke a man’s hand with my face.”

As you can tell, Mr. Maurice Canfield got himself into...a bit of a scrap. Just a little one. He meets up with his mother, who is reading Finnley Wren. She demands to know what he did to get beat up like this as his dad will have a fit. Well, Maurice and a Jewish friend of his named Jules Edelman went to New Jersey to get some dockworkers to unionize. Yeah, form a union! Fight for better pay, benefits, paid holidays, and paid time off! Row row, fight the power!

Thing is, these white dockworkers, being dumb and racist (although "dumb" and "racist" go together), didn't take too kindly to the idea of a Black man and a Jewish man trying to convince them to fight for better working conditions. Remember, this story is set in the 1940s. One worker made some crude "jokes" about Caulfield's mother. Caulfield then responded that he heard rumors of members of that particular dockworker's lineage "associating" themselves with Black and Jewish folks, if you know what I mean.

And that's how Caulfield got into a brawl. Caufield's mother worries about him, wanting him to start a family and get his life together. However, Caulfield wants to earn his station in life, and he wants to make things better. Not just for his own people, but all people. 

Time passes. It's now June 1941. We look in on a pool hall known as Blue Nile Billiards, in Cleveland. One man in a uniform is playing some pool. 

"🎵 It's in the way that you use it...🎵"

Meet Sgt. Luke Evans. Military man, pool hustler, hard as a rock. He finds himself meeting up with an old friend: Dallas Huxley. Huxley has presumably been recently released from jail. Evans revealed he got busted down to Sergeant four months earlier. Huxley wonders how Evans got demoted. Well, the story involves another man: Frank Wilson, who went through basic training with Huxley. Wilson went on to be a Military Policeman.

Wilson and another man went to Columbus to pick up another soldier that went AWOL. Thing was, Wilson, like Evans and Huxley, was a black man. The desk sergeant at the drunk tank didn't want to hand the AWOL soldier to Wilson. Wilson had words about it. After all, he was an MP (the Military Police was formally established in September 1941, but it did have an irregular history pre-dating that time), his skin color should not be important. The cops then jumped down and beat the two MPs. Wilson died, and his partner, a white man, got sent to the hospital. Wilson and Evans' CO pointed out Wilson was wrong for his actions. Evans confronted him and shoved him. And that's how he got demoted. On that day, he learned the only place he can push white folks around was at the pool hall. 

Time passes. It's now December 1941. The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, and the United States now has fully joined the Allies and entered World War II. At that time, Luke Evans is sitting in a room, holding a gun in his hand. It's implied that he's planning to off himself. When he hears about America joining the war, he instead pours himself a drink, thinking "Well, all right..."

Philadelphia, January 1942. Maurice Caulfield is on trial for sedition, as he was demonstrating against the war. He could be sentenced to twenty years of hard labor for it, but there is another option. Since he has no prior criminal record, and comes from an affluent family, he can instead join the military and serve his country. 

New York City, February 1942. Isaiah is in his uniform, giving a pregnant Faith a kiss, the narration saying it was the first of one of the worst days of his life, implying the story was being told by Isaiah himself. There is a twist to it, but that's not relevant here.

I liked this issue, even though it is mostly set-up for stuff later. We do get an idea of who each of these three men are. Caulfield is the social conscience, the protestor, the man who wants to right injustices. Evans is the embittered cynic. And Bradley himself? Well, I got the impression that he's the everyman. The "regular Joe", as it were. You do get the impression that great tragedy will come to these men, and it will not be because of the fires of war.

I admit, I do have a bit of a mixed view of Kyle Baker's art. I felt it never really fit superhero titles as to it being rather..."cartoony" for lack of a better word, but it did work for more comedic stuff like Plastic Man or Damage Control. But this miniseries made me respect his art greatly for one thing: his expressionism and "acting". He's very good at showing how characters are feeling. 

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2021 trade paperback Captain America: Truth. Thanks for reading this blog entry! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!