Captain America #13: The Path of the Righteous

The terrorist group in question is revealed to be The Watchdogs, a group that Cap has tangled with many times in the past. Created by Mark Gruenwald and Tom Morgan in the late 1980s, The Watchdogs were created to symbolize censorship and repression. Coates and company mobilize them in this issue to represent the opposition to immigration in the United States. There will be backlash from this issue, undoubtedly, but let us take a closer look at how this issue played out, shall we?

Steve clearly is shown with hesitations here– the same hesitations that many of the silent majority of Americans share. Throughout the issue, there is a consistency to the lack of information provided. There is nothing stating where the immigrants came from and for what purpose. There is general discussion of these people doing jobs that nobody else wants to do in order to survive but no specifics. I believe that to be because this issue is not specifically about immigration, at least not in the grand sense, but about the conflicts between Nationalist ideologies. Rather than debate the legality or illegality of asylum seeking versus illegal immigration, this story shifts the focus instead to the human element, something easily lost in our national discourse. These are people being harassed by other people and the reason becomes irrelevant for the bold.

As Steve begins to question his position in history and the significance of iconography to ideological struggle, the bigger picture comes slowly into focus. To wear the Stars&Bars is to represent something bigger than yourself, much larger than your personal struggle. In removing the Captain America moniker from Steve Rogers, Steve is forced to question his entire purpose of existence. He seeks redemption– a redemption he points out that can only come from the people, not the law– but who’s redemption is he seeking? Is this redemption for Steve or redemption for Captain America? Or redemption for the United States as a whole? These larger questions, coupled with the excellent artwork of Masters and Izaakse, help to make this book one of the most complex and nuanced books on the market today.