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NEWS >POLITICS > TEA PARTY PROTESTS PORTRAYAL IN CAPTAIN AMERICA, ZIGGY
TEA PARTY PROTESTS PORTRAYAL IN CAPTAIN AMERICA, ZIGGY
February 14 2010
Washington, D.C. – For almost 70 years one person has stood as the hallmark of American patriotism. Created by Joe Simon and comic legend Jack Kirby, Captain America was the embodiment of American pride at a time when the country most 
needed it. While much has changed from those days when the world was at war, the success of the comic has not as evidenced by the impending release of a big screen version of the red, white, and blue hero.
Of course like anything that has remained in popular culture for that long, Cap has not been without his controversies. Many of those issues have come and gone as quickly as issues have left the newsstands dues in large part to Cap being a fictional comic character, but some, like the most recent, have had staying power. On the verge of his greatest success yet, Cap is being faced with the wrath of the Tea Party which is up in arms over their perceived portrayal in the latest issue of the comic. With the growing power of that political movement inevitably fictional portrayals were going to make their way into the mainstream, something that happened in the latest issue of the comic. Now Tea Party officials are up in arms over their appearance in the comic, garnering an apology from Marvel Chief Joe Quesada, and are using turning their newfound influence towards another comic stalwart, Ziggy.
“The Tea Party movement has been very reflective of broad concerns of all Americans. Membership is across ethnic, religious and even political lines. I feel this juvenile dig will ultimately do more damage to Marvel's brand than to the Tea Party movement,” said Tea Party Committee board member Michael Johns. “When I was a child in the '60s Captain America was my favorite superhero. It's really sad to see what has traditionally been a pro-America figure being used to advance a political agenda. Their apology sounds less like a genuine 'we're sorry' than it does a 'we're sorry we got caught' statement.”
Marvel has promised that no future references to the party will be made in the comic, and that those made in the issue were a result of a rushed deadline, neither of which has done much to quell Tea Party anger.
“There’s little doubt that this Party has been growing in influence though they will have a great deal of difficultly gaining any real political influence. No matter the state of the Union come the next election or even the one after that I doubt that they will be able to field a successful candidate for major office, but their words may have an influence on more radical members of the Republican Party,” said Scrape TV Political analyst Gabriel Kinsey. “That said, this is a good move for them all around. Whether its comic books, or music, or video games much political clout has been gained by attacking the entertainment industry and the Tea Party will likely do well by this action, especially as Captain America inevitably becomes more popular next year.”
The upcoming film is part of a slate of Marvel films expected to have monster success. Following that film, Cap will also appear in ‘The Avengers’ film.
“They are smart though, not throwing all their protests into one property. They have apparently also sent a cease and desist order to Universal Press Syndicate for a recent Ziggy cartoon which portrays the main character expressing his preference for coffee over tea, which obviously was going to cause a lot of controversy. So far they haven’t responded which means a righteous outrage incoming,” continued Kinsey. “There’s little denying that Ziggy is a major player even today and that his influence is any less than that of Captain America. He is after all syndicated across the country, read by millions and the last thing the Tea Party wants is that notion being shared across breakfast tables all over the country. Or it could be exactly what they want.”
The Tea Party apparently had issues with a recent Garfield strip in which Odie accidentally knocked over Garfield’s lasagne, though the nature of their concerns is not yet clear.
Edward Bastil, Political Correspondent
NEWS >POLITICS > TEA PARTY PROTESTS PORTRAYAL IN CAPTAIN AMERICA, ZIGGY
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