I was planning on having Sam say something about building community with kindness, but apparently he had other ideas.
So I guess this is instead, a cockroach moment. A "I'll be as queer and asian as I want, fuck you" moment. A "it's your turn to recognize my humanity" moment. A "I will keep asking uncomfortable questions and making you acknowledge what you're doing" moment.
TBH I almost didn't draw a comic this year, since I haven't consumed any Marvel content in over 4 years, and, well... ::gestures at everything::. But it turns out that my brain still wants to trot out these 3 dudes and make them talk about America, so I banged this out in 5 hours.
Yes, I've been doing this for 12 years. Here's the AO3 link if you want to see all 12: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1968099 (wow, look at baby me's opinions from the first Trump term!)
And here's the tumblr tag: https://potofsoup.tumblr.com/tagged/happy%20birthday%20steve/chrono
Happy July 4th, everyone, and good luck to the UK voters out there!
Wow it's Year 11 of doing these!! Here's the AO3 link to the past 10 years, and here's the tumblr link.
Reminder that this is a long game -- some of the judges making decisions were appointed back in the 80s. Many of the cases that were decided this round were from Trump's term. So it's going to take long-term, consistent voting over a decade to start tipping things in the other direction. (Which I talked about in 2018 re: Trump shenanigans and 2022 re: Dobbs).
A lot has been done by the Biden administration (I'm assuming most folks have seen this post by boreal-sea with their very helpful sources), and much of that will be overturned by Trump, especially if he gets the Senate, and especially now that he would have a blank check for anything "official". So let's make sure that doesn't happen.
And even if Trump does get elected, your decisions down-ballot might effect control of the House or Senate, or might make it easier to vote next time, plus the whole plethora of state and local issues. It's Republican state attorney generals who are challenging climate regulations, for example.
Plus, when you really get down to it, only one of the candidates plans on pardoning himself and all his friends if he wins, and attacking the government if he loses. Maybe that guy shouldn't be the President.
If you're new to voting, remember to check voter registration deadlines! I'm a permanent vote-by-mail voter and it's so nice. :)
Transcript under the readmore
Page 1:
Sam and Bucky meet up with Steve for a picnic.
Steve: Thought you guys were still in Sudan?
Bucky: Iām forcing Sam to take a break.
Sam collapses onto the picnic blanket.
Sam: Oof, it just never stops, does it?
Steve: Nope.
Bucky hands Sam an orange popsicle.
Bucky: Eat and relax for a bit, Sam.
Sam: Thanks.
Page 2:
Bucky asks Steve: How are things state-side?
Steve responds: HORRIBLE.
Bucky: I thought youāve been tentatively hopeful about what Biden has been able to achieve?
Steve: I was! Student loans, child care, climate regulations, infrastructure, labor, trans rights ā¦ heās quietly done a lot through regulatory improvements and congress bills. But now all people will talk about is how heās OLD.
And then thereās the Supreme Courtās decisions ā¦ Chevron and immunityā¦
Steve puts his head in his hands, while Sam and Bucky look on with some concern.
Page 3:
Bucky hands Steve a blue/raspberry popsicle: Steve, take a deep breath, and a popsicle.
Sam: Sounds like we missed a lot. Whatās going on? How bad is it?
Steve: Pretty bad. The Supreme Court has made some decisions that give the Court and the President A LOT of discretionary power.
Sam: Yikes, that doesnāt sound good.
Steve: Well, the Chevron thing means that judges with life-term appointments can override policies made by government agencies. And now itāll be harder to hold a President accountable because he will have immunity for any āofficialā actions.
Page 4:
Sam: So if the President tries to, say, overturn a democratic election result, heāll be allowed to as long as itās in his job description?
Steve: I donāt think threatening state electors is āofficialā business, but that will be decided by federal judges. Who get their jobs by approval from both the President and the Senate.
Bucky: Yeesh. No wonder youāre stressed. Any good news?
Steve: Well, thanks the Biden and the razor-thin Senate majority, the newer bills donāt rely on the Chevron deference. Still not great but not catastrophic.
Sam, squirting ketchup on his hot dog: So what Iām hearing is that itās now more important than ever to have a President and a Senate who you can trust to appoint fair judges, pass bills, and not commit crimes.
Page 5:
Steve: Plus all of the state level offices, now that more and more deciding power has been thrown back to the states ā abortion, LGBTQ rights, voting accessā¦
Bucky: Hey, at least this is a big election year so we can actually do something!
Steve, with his arms crossed, looking surly: Except that all people want to talk about is how Biden is ātoo oldā and ānot doing enough,ā as if that is on par with Trumpās desire to dismantle basic rights! As if the candidate who doesnāt embody ALL their ideals is not worth voting for!
Bucky interrupts with a smart and a loud āPFFT.ā
Page 6:
Bucky: Um, Steve. YOU were like that in 1940.
Sam, nudging Bucky: āOh, this I gotta hear. Spill, Barnes.ā
In sepia, Steve is pacing around their apartment while Bucky is sitting and reading a newspaper.
Steve: I canāt believe heās running for a 3rd term! we need a fresh candidate to vote for! This is hardly a choice at all! AND he refuses to engage in Europe! All of Europe under fascist control and weāre just twiddling our thumbs? Heās letting millions die through his inaction!
Bucky: Most people donāt want another war, Steve. If he came out for it, he would lose.
Steve, indignant: But Buck, itās your Polish relative who are in danger!
Bucky, closing his newspaper and looking at Steve: Yeah, and between FDR and Willkes, I trust FDR to help if he could.
Page 7:
Steve, in sepia, looking away: Should he be encouraged to do more? Maybe I should vote for Browder. The Communists have historically be Anti-Fascist.
Sam interrupts off-screen: Waitaminute! STEVE was going to PROTEST-VOTE?
Steve: We were in a Blue State, Sam!
Sam: But what about the down ballot races?!
Steve: RELAX, I did my due diligence down-ballot. I wanted a senate thatās more progressive than the President.Voted LaGuardia for Mayor, too.
Steve hesitates: Then, when I got to the Presidentā¦ I realized that the Best case scenario would be that my vote did nothing, versus if it actually spoiled the election. And when I asked myself who I could trust to work with my Senatorā¦ well, FDR had a good record with Labor. (sepia shot of young Steve voting)
Bucky interrupts: Hold on, Steve.
Page 8:
Bucky, eating a cookie, arching an eyebrow: You didnāt vote for Browder? Why didnāt you tell me?
Steve: And have you say āI told you soā for the next century?
Bucky: Heh.
Steve, with hand on his chin: Whatās weird was that, despite everything, I still felt HORRIBLE when I ticked that box.
Sam: Sounds like you built up the meaning of that vote far too much in your head. Logically, we know that a single box canāt represent all of the complexity of a whole system, but the desperately WANT it to. Just look at how people have built up so much around the term āZionisā that itās made productive conversations difficult.
Page 9:
Sam and Steve speak in the background while Bucky reaches into the cooler and pulls out a box.
Steve: Sigh. And thatās something that goes beyond the election.
Sam: Which is why we need to vote, AND do other things.
Bucky, looking at Steve and Sam: Like how Steve works to push organizations on the local level? Or like all the work you do as Captain America?
Sam: Exactly. Vote AND.
Sam looks at Bucky fondly: Like how you vote AND make me and Steve take breaks.
Bucky, looking stern because he canāt handle compliments: Shush, Sam.
Bucky holds up a cake that has the number ā107ā on it: Itās time for cake. Happy Birthday, Steve.
Happy 10th year of me doing this dorky comic! Hope people donāt mind the fact that I havenāt really dabbled in Cap stuff for a few years, except for my weird yearly July 4th ritual. On AO3 here, and tumblr tag here. (2022 was about Dobbs, 2020 was about seeing the stars, 2019 was about building new systems, 2018 was about voting, 2017 was about immigration.)
@histrionic-dragon tagged me yesterday and posted a bunch of cool links of ways to help: https://histrionic-dragon.tumblr.com/post/721837010124488704/almost-captain-americas-birthday
Lots of posts out there on the 2023 Minnesota legislative session, but hereās the OG tumblr roundup post.
California is trying to divest its two largest pension funds from fossil fuels, but apparently today they decided to table it until next year. :/ I guess more meetings are needed! (productive ones, not ones that could have been an email.)
Madames and Monsieurs. Poirot has seen much evil in the world, but the evil of this man is in a category all itās own. His crimes are those of which Poirot cannot speak of in polite company, and they stretch the limit of discretion and manners. And he flees his persecution but cannot resist to remind the world of his existence. To brag about the money his filth has brought him. To try and, how you say, āflexā on a girl whoās concern is for the future of this planet by touting his many fast cars. But she is not so easily cowed and came back strong against his crude message with one of her own. Poirot may not condone the language, but he cannot deny it may have been called for. And there, there he let his hubris lead him to make his mistake. In his video, there, there is his pandoraās box. It does not look like much, it is after all a pizza box and such food is popular among the masses today. But this boxā¦this box proved where he was hiding away. What hole this rat crawled into!
I claim no deductive prowess on my part, Watson. Our quarry is a braggart and a fool and he has proclaimed his location for all the world to see. But the prey is still afoot, dear doctor, and we must be swift. Bring your pistol.
Are you tired of trying to look on the bright side, and to keep faith?Ā Cause I sure am.Ā But also ā the alternative is far less helpful in making the changes that we need.Ā So: to tiny steps in the right direction, to voting and all the million other things we do to bend the long arc of history.
8 previous yearsā birthday comics on tumblr and AO3.Ā
Iām barely here anymore (how many of us are?) but when I am I tend to lurk. I randomly clicked on my blog today and saw that my theme kept reverting back to the mobile version. I went into edit mode and was notified that there was some āsuspicious codeā so it was reset. I remember finding each of my themes, changing the colors until it was just right, finding pictures, setting page links, and itās all gone. I donāt have the heart to track this last theme down (and anyway I already tried and I ran into dead ends) so maybe itās time to close this chapter?Ā
I remember scrolling for hours till I got to posts from the previous day.Ā I remember the fandoms and only having this place to check in with to see how the rest of the world was feeling about big news. I remember writing about nothing at all. I remember having to save GIFs in a folder for later use. I remember making friends and following real life friends (shout out to my first friend from the east coast, and that guy I had a crush on in college - hope youāre doing okay in ... Ohio, I think?). I remember seeing a split GIF for the first time (it was a scene from Harry Potter) and being truly awed. I think thatās what Iāll remember the most - the unbound spirit that people used to create the most wonderful things. I have spent hundreds of afternoons going down rabbit hole after rabbit hole. Iāve gotten lost in whole new worlds thanks to so many here.Ā
I feel like Iāve grown up here. Learned so much, for better and for worse (thereās definitely some stories that will haunt me).
Maybe this is my last post, maybe that post will come and I wonāt even realize it. Who knows anymore.
But I wanted to say something. Have some sort of record that I felt that my time here has passed. Like school. Itāll always be mine, and I can always come back but it wonāt be the same.
So to wrap this up, hereās something from a silly old bear:
āGoodbye? Oh no, please! Canāt we go back to page one and do it all over again?ā
For the the first time in millions of black childrenās lives, they got to see themselves as both warrior and king. Your contribution to the culture was invaluable. You truly were the hero of an entire generation. Wakanda forever and ever and ever king. Rest easy.
this fourth of july think of the indigenous people of america who had their country and land stolen from them with little to no reparations or apologies. land is still being taken. sacred grounds are still being ripped away. there is noĀ āindependenceā for the people who were here first.
name one native american intellectual off the top of your head, name one native american actor or actress off the top of your head, name one native american senator, one native american news anchor, or an author or a tv personality or a singer or a poet or a comedian, name a single native american teacher youāve had, can you? probably notĀ
ok so now think of one native american cartoon character you know of or a sports team relating to native americans whether itās their actual name or their team logo, or a town you live in or near with a ānativeā name bet a lot of these things came to you right away i bet you didnāt even have to thinkĀ
needing native representation in media, education and government are not decoy issues, the commercialization and appropriation of native cultures are not decoy issues, the lack of native representation is institutional oppression at workĀ
White people specifically need to reblog this, I donāt CARE if it makes you uncomfortableāthatās the point. Listen to Native voices about Native issues PLEASE
black people, please take care of yourselves. please take care of your health. please take care of your mind. please take care of your spirit.
i understand if your soul is not at peace. i understand if you are exhausted. just, please take care of yourselves in these dark, hateful times and surround yourself with people who understand why.
I guess this is how Iām processing what weāre all going through right now. I had the stray thought, āWhat is Spider-Man doing during all this?ā and this happened. On the one hand, itās kinda sloppy and inconsistent, but on the other hand, I had the idea Sunday night and Iām posting this Wednesday night. 5 color pages in 4 nights is pretty good work. Anyway. Hope everyoneās safe out there.
