Truth: Red, White & Black

Synopsis

In the tradition of ORIGIN, Marvel reveals the shocking secret history of Captain America! In 1940 there was a man who had many of the same qualities as Steve Rogers – save for one, the color of his skin – and TRUTH is his story! This six-issue monthly miniseries – guaranteed to challenge preconceptions – features the distinctive digitally painted art of award-winning artist Kyle Baker! 

Notes

I can’t think of a more important comic book to introduce as a part of Black History Month.  Truth by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker stands alone as the most significant Black comic book/graphic novel to be published in the last 25 years.  

First Encounter

Robert Morales was a writer/editor of Afro-Puerto Rican descent.  He’s best known for being editor of Vibe magazine from 1994 to 2007.   I recall vividly the cartoons Kyle Baker and Morales created for Vibe magazine.  I’ve always been a fan of Baker’s cartoonish style.  In hindsight, Baker’s art is what drew me to Truth in the first place. Unfortunately, I never made the connection between the book and Vibe magazine.

It was Robert’s research and his pitch to Joe Quesada that created Truth.  Of course, the idea of a Black Captain America faced tons of online vitriol.  

According to the book’s editor Alex Alanso:

“When we posted our first image of Isaiah Bradley – the silhouette of an African American man in a Captain America costume – the media latched onto it as a story of interest, but a lot of internet folks lined up against it, assuming, for whatever reason, that it would disparage the legacy of Steve Rogers. By the time the story was done, the dialog around the series had substantially changed…” 

Will the Real Captain America please stand up!

I originally thought Isaiah Bradley was the FIRST Captain America.  I assumed the experiments that turned Bradley and his compatriots into Super Soldiers predated Captain America’s first appearance.  This misconception was one of the major sticking points of critics. Conversely, it was also a major selling point for me as a young Black comic fan boy. 

I was gobsmacked when I learned otherwise.  According to Kyle Baker:

With Captain America, people get on my case for ‘changing’ Captain America. We got a lot of grief from the Captain America fans on that series until the fifth and sixth issues came out; when it turned out that we hadn’t tinkered with the continuity. Before that, everybody was very upset, because our story started with Pearl Harbor, and everybody knows that the first issue of Captain America took place before Pearl. Somewhere in the middle of the series, it’s revealed that Cap already existed, and we hadn’t tinkered with the timeline, and suddenly, the book is okay.

Sidebar

After the Truth series Robert Morales was brought on to write Captain America volume 4, issues #21–28 in 2004. “In an attempt to humanize Steve Rogers.”  Of course I’ll be adding these books to my want list.

I was also happy to learn that Morales was once an aspiring poet.  This peaked my interest.  I’m a huge fan of Nuyorican Poetry (poetry from New York based Puerto Rican literary figures).  I’m very anxious to find out if he has any connections to the world renown Nuyorican Poetry Cafe.

References

Robert Morales Bio via Wikipedia

Truth: Red, White and Black via Wikipedia

Truth: Red, White and Black synopsis via Mycomicshop.com

Robert Morales Interview via Dynamic Comics