Jake Tapper of CNN obtained a statement regarding the Jan. 6 insurrectionists from Neal Kirby, son of Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby. Kirby’s son was upset at seeing his father’s legendary character appropriated by rioters engaged in the most un-Captain America behavior of his lifetime.
Kirby wrote:
“My father, Jack Kirby, along with his partner Joe Simon, created Captain America in 1941. Perhaps the most iconic symbol of patriotism since the ‘Spirit of 1776,’ Captain America has stood as a symbol and protector of our democracy and the rule of law for the past 79 years,” Kirby wrote. “He was created by two Jewish guys from New York who hated Nazis and hated bullies. Captain America stood up for the underdog, and, as the story as written, even before he gained his strength and process from Army scientists, always stood for what was righteous, and never backed down.
“At 72, I have a fairly vivid personal memory of every political and cultural upheaval since Castro’s revolution in the mid-1950s. Add to that my father’s stories, and I could probably paint a picture of the battlefields of northern France surrounding the city of Metz in WWII as well. However, the events that transpired at our nations’ Capitol on Jan. 6, an insurrection inspired and fomented by our own president, will be the event that haunts me forever.
“While watching one of the horrific videos of the storming of the Capitol, I thought I noticed someone in a Trump/Capt. America t-shirt! I was appalled and mortified. I believe I even caught a quick glance of someone with a Captain America shield. A quick Google search turned up Trump as Captain America on T-shirts, posters, even a flag! These images are disgusting and disgraceful. Captain America is the absolute antithesis of Donald Trump. Where Captain America is selfless, Trump is self-serving. Where Captain America fights for our country and democracy, Trump fights for personal power and autocracy. Where Captain America stands with the common man, Trump stands with the powerful and privileged. Where Captain America is courageous, Trump is a coward. Captain America and Trump couldn’t be more different.
“My father, Jack Kirby, and Joe Simon, the creators of Captain America and WWII veterans, would be absolutely sickened by these images. These images are an insult to both their memories. If Donald Trump had the qualities and character of Captain America, the White House would be a shining symbol of truth and integrity, not a festering cesspool of lies and hypocrisy. Several of our presidents held the same values as Captain America. Donald Trump is not one of them.”
The Guardian reports that Marvel has issued no statement on the appropriation of Captain America by protesters, nor on the use of the Punisher skull symbol by police and white supremacists:
In an interview with Syfy, Punisher writer Garth Ennis called those who stormed the Capitol “halfwits”.
“The people wearing the logo in this context are kidding themselves, just like the police officers who wore it over the summer,” he said. “What they actually want is to wear an apparently scary symbol on a T-shirt, throw their weight around a bit, then go home to the wife and kids and resume their everyday life. They’ve thought no harder about the Punisher symbol than the halfwits I saw [on Wednesday], the ones waving the stars and stripes while invading the Capitol building.”
“With much respect to Jack (King) Kirby,” writer Jon Wesley Huff (@jonwesleyhuff) parodied the original Captain America cover late Thursday to depict how Steve Rogers might react if he had been present inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Particpipants in the Trump Insurrection are patriots in their own minds. The world would have been better off had they just paid their way to Comic-Con instead.