V Interview: Is America Ready For A Black Captain America?

There’s this underlying theme with most superhero characters: how far will they go with their powers? Like, most of them could easily just kill everyone, but they figure out ways to keep from going over the edge. Right, they all have to figure out what differentiates a human from a villain. That’s very important to him and most of theses superheroes. What went into the decision to make the new Captain America a black character? It’s too convenient to say we live in a post racial society and everything is OK. But I think things are getting better in this country. When we announced it, some teachers sent me pictures of classes with predominately black students and a lot of the kids were Captain America. One big problem in the media for a long time, was that it only reflected White people. This is representation and it’s pretty amazing beyond just telling a cool story. It’s a human need to feel like you’re a part of the society you grow up in. When people aren’t reflected and they feel disenfranchised, they feel like they’re not a part of the culture. We all need to feel represented in the culture we live in. With reinventing the character, you’re also bringing in a younger audience. I feel like the movies have created a resurgence in interest in the comic books themselves. How have the movies increased the readership, especially among younger generations? There was a period were kids all but disappeared from the comic book world. You were writing for an aging audience. Now I’m seeing teenagers again. Marvel films are based on comic book ideas and if people enjoy the films/shows, they’ll want to know more about the story. It’s like the Walking Dead, which was a comic book first, has brought people back into the comic series. Or Game of Thrones, people have bought all the books from the series. Anything in our media that leads people back to reading is pretty good. It’s exciting within the industry. Is there anything else you want readers to know about the new series? Just that they don’t have to be afraid to jump right in. A lot of times people feel like there’s so much happening in the Marvel Universe that’s there’s too much back story for them to just jump into a comic series. This is totally new series. I want to tell an exciting story and make it accessible for everyone. I’ll reveal some interesting things and along with illustrators Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger and Marte Garcia, will combine great visuals to tell a story that you can just jump right into.