Skip to main content

Captain America & Secret Empire should my library carry them when I find it repulsive?

This was a question someone reached out to me and asked me to tackle, so here we go..

Let's get a few things out of the way first shall we? Yes, Captain America is essentially a Nazi now or at the very, very least being used as a Neo-Nazi/white supremacist propaganda.

And yes, that is extremely troubling and flies in the face of the late great Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the creators of Captain America, who like many early comic writers were Jewish.

Also, no you do not have to personally support any of these books. You don't need to buy Captain America, Secret Empire, Thunderbolts, or any the tie in stories. You just don't.

You should, however, buy it for the books for your library if you think they will circulate and justify your purpose as a library (like if you have a huge white supremacist population and you think they'll read it). That's ultimately the reason to have any controversial material and there is legitimate reasons to have material that is pushing the envelope and making people study the issue. If Captain America's reveal makes people re-evaluate their views, then that is a good thing.

But here is the reality on the popularity side, as Bookriot No Marvel We're Out of Patience points out sales on Captain America are slumping which is sort of typical of a Marvel title, but they're really going down fast over all. Secret Empire started out solid in sales, but that is with 5 covers, so ultimately.. sales data does not suggest that this is a hugely popular series, if you want to argue that.

This also is a trend for Marvel of the last several years of making all of their heroes into villains or rather generally bad people, so people could be bored with the concept over all as it's not very new. But it has drawn a lot of protest, anger and people being upset so adding it to your library collection should be done with care if you choose to have it and I would make sure your policies are strong on collecting and keeping objectionable material so you can defend your choice.

Really this boils down to: if you think it will circulate, get it. If you do not think it will, don't. There are numbers and arguments to back up both sides, but personal opinions on the comic and story really shouldn't come into play anymore than any other objectionable material. You make these decisions either way, just be prepared to defend your position and also be open to hearing the both sides of the argument to make that decision. The controversy should not be the only reason you shy away from it or openly support it and you cannot stand on that argument alone. You also cannot use the argument that people are hurt or upset by it as the only reason for exclusion anymore than you would accept the same reasoning for excluding a Harry Potter book or Perry Moore's Hero or Walter Dean Myers' Monster. 

Ultimately do what is best for your library and remember this is no different than any other controversial material.





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Wonder Woman movie recommendations

As you all know (or should know.. if you don't you will now), the Wonder Woman movie is hitting theaters June 2nd (or maybe June 1st depending on where you live). Either way, it's coming soon. DC has also officially announced that June 3rd is Wonder Woman day! Participating comic book stores will be giving out free Wonder Woman comics and cardboard tiaras and bracelets. The Wonder Woman merchandise and advertisements are all blitzing big now and while it may be difficult to get some new items right now in time for Wonder Woman, here are some Wonder Woman comics and books about Wonder Woman I recommend. Legend of Wonder Woman Etta Candy tries to find the perfect outfit for Wonder Woman Legends of Wonder Woman  by Renae de Liz and Ray Dillon. This is a perfect all ages origin book for Wonder Woman. Starts off with her as a child on Themyscira and follows her all the way through her becoming Wonder Woman in World War II. It's a really beautifully drawn book and the story...

Go Try New Comics (aka Marvel and Image aren't the only companies)

One of the reasons I started this blog is I'd noticed a number of librarians on various platforms advocating for comics and coming back to the same small list time and again. Another reason is I've noticed that well let's be honest, that list consists of a majority of Marvel and Image titles with maybe a couple titles, typically one each, of a few other companies and that's it. Those titles would also be whatever has made a big name/splash in the comic world like Lumberjanes , which is amazing by the way, but it's not the only comic Boom! Studios puts out and while Boom! is currently putting out a bunch of titles that are similar, it's not indicative of all Boom! titles. Seriously, don't assume Boom! only does all-age friendly titles because they don't. They, like almost all of the publishers, have a large variety of titles. That said when we're talking comics, we as librarians need to remember that our bubble of comics is not all there is (just ...

Why does trade vs. Graphic Novel matter and how to tell the difference

So someone challenged me recently that none of this remotely matters if it is a trade paperback or if it is a graphic novel.. and someone else expressed frustration in not being able to tell what is reprinted.. This blog post is going to cover both.. so hang on to your seats. Why does it matter? Well simple.. they're different terms and mean different things, just like Anime and Manga mean different things even though they are related and in the same industry. But besides that, there is a difference between say the Sandman graphic novel and the Sandman trades. How? OK.. So Sandman has 11 trades now (From Preludes and Nocturnes to the Wake and then the prequel/ending The Overture ) and there are 2 graphic novels ( Dream Hunters and Endless Nights) The trades tell the serialized story from beginning to end and recent beginning that brings the whole thing full circle again. That story is reprinted from the original series 1-75 and Overture 1-6. This is important to note because a...