#this is alll comics based btw

[katatonicimpression]

so, the other day there was another one of those "sam shouldn't be cap, they should make the most of him as the falcon" posts in the tag and some adjacent stuff has been legit straight up haunting me so I guess i'm going to write about it for some ungodly number of words

i) Concern Trolling (Part 1)

The obvious thing straight off the bat is that this is such a disingenuous take. It has all the trademarks of "here's a appropriate-sounding reason for me to take the same position as the reactionary racists without sounding racist myself". It's textbook. They're not opposed to the idea of a Black man leading the avengers and taking on this important title, they're just concerned that they're not doing the character of the Falcon justice. Like, come on. You can smell the bullshit from here.

Now, I don't know this person's mind, and it's likely that they believe what they're saying (weirdly enough, most concern trolls do, to some extent). Moreover, it's possible that they are the rare example of someone who genuinely just happens to have a specific belief that alligns with the reactionaries, but it's just this one thing and they have good reasons for it.

So... let's explore that possibility. What good reasons are there to object to Sam's time as cap?

ii) Is Being Cap Bad for Sam's Writing?

There is this irratating phenomenon from Sam's cap era where he'll be pushed into a role that was clearly written for Steve. This ranges from dialogue choices to physical roles in action scenes. Sam is not super strong - he's a super acrobat and friend to all the woodland creatures. Sam is not a military man - he's a social worker. Sam's politics are more cynical, and more radical than Steve's. Sam's more sarcastic, more of a complainer, but also more flamboyant and more "free-wheeling".

Many of his appearances as cap flatten Sam, make him honestly kind of boring at times. The writing is just whatever bog-standard captain america thing they thought of and Sam's own personality is absent. This is most common in Avengers storylines, where he's not the focus, but even Symbol of Truth - a series ostensively about Sam - ended with the villain monologuing about how Sam "thinks he's america's greatest patriot". And, like, no. No he doesn't. Even for a villain line it doesn't work because it's not just wrong, it's irrelevant. That line could work if directed at Steve (depending on the context), but makes no sense with Sam. He doesn't think he's a great patriot, because he isn't, because he thinks patriotism is dumb. Like, it's kind of his core feature when he's first introduced lol.

What's happening here is that Sam is being handed over to writers who don't know him well, and in some cases don't care about him and maybe even don't like him. This leads to bad writing, ooc appearances and a general sense of a wasted opportunity.

There's a point (made in the original post that got me started on this), that the captain america role is inherently limiting and maybe even inherently boring. I don't agree (see part v), but I would agree that in practice, the role has been limiting on Sam's character and, on multiple occassions, constrained his writing.

iii) The Two Caps Thing

This is something I've complained about before, but the obvious problem with samcap is the shitshow that has resulted from having him and Steve "share" the title.

There is nothing wrong with it in concept, the problem is entirely in how it's played out in practice.

Steve is in a new comic every week, often more than one, often plastered all over the cover. He appears in crossover events, and is often featured heavily in other hero/team's stories. On top of this he has cameos, ranging from small appearances to more meaty roles.

In this same time period, Sam was in Symbol of Truth, and now Avengers. No other series featured him. You'd see him once a month at most. He has cameo appearances in this time, but only a handful. These cameos have been often wordless appearances, or contain a line or two of generic dialogue.

This is ridiculous. It's embarrassing for Marvel. It's an absolute shitshow. They are not "sharing" the title. Functionally, as far as Marvel comics has been concerned for the last two years, Steve has been Captain America and Sam has been barely present.

iv) Concern Trolling (Part 2 - a.k.a. Why the last two points are redundant)

The obvious thing to point out, is that none of this would be any better if Sam was still the falcon, because it's been happening the entire time.

Sam being written badly? Been there since arguably the beginning. Sam being written ooc because the writers don't care about him? Since the 80s at least. Sam being a stock military tough guy? The 00s called and want their ideas back. Sam barely being featured in preference for more wanking over Steve? Yeah, that's literally the late 70s when Jack Kirby took over the series for a stint, and it only got more common from then.

Due to a combination of factors (let's be clear - Racism is the big one), Sam's been written terribly on many occasions since his introduction. And, for the same reasons, he also just doesn't get featured as much, and gets shelved and ignored a whole bunch. It ends up creating a vicious cycle, where Sam isn't around, so no one thinks to include him, and when they do, they don't read anything about him because they don't care, which then leads to them portraying him blandly or even ooc, which does him no favours and makes writers less willing to include him.

Obviously there is still plenty of good Sam writing out there, but my point is that all the problems we see in his cap era are the same problems that have been around for decades. The 00s in particular were bad for literally all marvel Sam's character.

Honestly, I personally think that if Sam had never become cap, he'd barely be in comics nowadays at all.

So, if someone says "i'd rather Sam was the falcon, so that they could explore his unique personality and backstory, and not saddle him with illfitting tropes and bland characterisation - and so they could really give him attention and focus on him" - yeah, that sounds great but it would never happen, and if you have any familiarity with this character's history, you'd know that. It was standard practice to ignore and under-write Sam as the falcon; what on earth makes you think that pushing him back to that (less prominant) role would fix anything?

I think that's why I find it impossible to take this position seriously. If you're a fan of the character, you'd know that the idea of the falcon being done justice by marvel is an unrealistic fantasy. It's hard not to assume that someone is being disingenuous when they suggest it.

v) Is Being Cap Good for Sam's Writing?

If we let this conversation get a little more abstract for a second, and not about Marvel themselves (and the decisions of writers and editors and marketers etc.), there's still a question of whether having Sam be captain america is a good creative decision in and of itself.

I mentioned before how Sam is not a patriot, and he openly derides the whole cap thing throughout the 70s. So, you could say that there's something ooc about him being cap... but I'd disagree. Sam's decision in 616 (and MCU while we're here) was made after Steve asked him to do this, leading to his own mixed thought process on the matter. I think that's good drama. Sometimes having a character be pushed into doing something they wouldn't normally do is good actually, because it puts them out of their comfort zone and gives us a story.

Similarly, his move to become cap again recently was also because of a push, a pressured decision - this time from Misty and the Avengers.

Sam's 2015 series is genuinely great. The art is great, the characterisation is strong, and it bridges the gap between Sam in the 70s and the present day in a really satisfying way - it feels rooted in him as a character in a way so much of his writing isn't. Is it perfect? No, but it is good. And I bring it up here to make a very important point: having Sam be cap opens up an entire range of storytelling possibilities that aren't there with him as falc.

It changes his position relative to other superheroes, it changes his relationship with Steve, it makes him more important in people's eyes - it's Sam in a different, more complicated stage in his life. A stage where he's beholden to more people, has different responsibilities. It's good, actually.

Like, I get that this is heresy in comic book world but yes sometimes changing the status quo is good, actually.

vi) Clinging Onto the Falcon

I do think that Sam's unique history as the Falcon should not be abandoned in favour of the cap stuff. He's a bird prince and a free wheeling flyboy and all of that. That past identity is still his, even if he's using a different title.

One thing that has bothered me in the post samcap era is that sometimes Redwing is treated like he's Joaquin's now. Like, Redwing is a full on person with human-level intelligence and one of Sam's closest friends, and sometimes he gets treated like an accessory to hand over to the new falcon. It's weird and dumb. In general, Joaquin has a different relationship to the whole bird thing to Sam, and his character isn't a one-to-one replacement for him. Just like how Sam is not anything like a replacement for Steve. Fundamentally, they play different roles.

Redwing is still Sam's partner, the bird thing is still Sam's schtick, the Falcon is still kind of Sam's identity - it's just shared. And I think remembering this - bringing all the aspects of sam's identity together - is part of the solution to the less than satisfying writing we've been seeing.

vii) Conclusion....???

There's nothing inherent to Sam being Captain America that makes him difficult to write well, and the premise is actually a great springboard for storylines that do centre him and respect him. Do they all do that currently? No, but the problem there is upstream of what superhero title he has.

What Sam needs is basically just more material - he needs a new solo (which I would assume he'll be getting between now and the film release because bRaNd sYnErGy), he needs other substantial appearances outside of that, he needs multiple writers throwing their towel in the ring and giving a more varied perspective, and maybe needs a couple of memos from editorial with some guidelines on characterisation (and art).

Like, ok I am basically saying that in order to fix unsatisfying writing, the writing needs to be better. But yeah. Whatever, it was like a one sentence post that set me off on this...

#less than 2000 lol #this is alll comics based btw #also don't read it it's just a ramble #rants