I was going to review Captain America, but a minor sticking point I had was addressed by Robin Quivers in Huffington Post. While she got one minor fact incorrect, the response by people to her statement deserves some comments.

In a nutshell, Captain America the movie ran up against the reality of World War 2.

Robin Quivers pointed this out, noting that some elements, such as an integrated military and a woman in command, didn't match with the history of the era. Now, what inevitably happens when someone of color notes issues such as that, you will get two major reactions. One is the dismissal of the slight in race because it is a movie or comic book, essentially saying dealing with social issues is something for high brow affair. The second response is to brush off the person making the accusation, saying they see racism or sexism in every corner. Since Robin Quivers is black and a woman, some would argue, of course she will see something where a positive aspect of history, such as blacks and whites together, would take it as being wrong. As sub argument would be the reverse parameter, which I saw some mention, which goes along the lines with if the filmmakers actually addressed the reality of the time, then she would also be upset because they did show the racism in the movie.

To me, there is another element missing in this, which in some respects addresses the questions brought up by Quivers and some of her detractors. A few people who wrote in were like myself, comic book readers. Unlike most of the people who wrote in an relied on memories of old comic books or their own preconceptions of the character, we actually have been following Captain America, either cursory or in deep study, for the past few years. Because Robin Quivers, from what could be seen, didn't read the comic and relied on the movie, she wasn't able to say that unlike the movie, the comic book version of Captain America address racism and sexism issues frequently.

As a very good example, she couldn't understand why the movie had an integrated military, which wasn't the case in the movie. She even went too far in her assessment to talk about the integrated strike force that worked with Captain America, which had an black and Asian in its ranks. A few comic fans that wrote in response were quick to point out that those men were the Howling Commandos and in the very first issue of the comic book, which was published in the early 60s, a black man was part of the team.

In short, both sides, for the most part, are having a debate without enough facts to really debate intelligently. Robin was right that the movie made a picture of the war that wasn't correct, something the comics over the years corrected. Captain America, even as late as last year, tackled racial and social issues. Even a big subtext of the movie, the use by some of Captain America as a symbol to promote their own agenda, has been used many times in the comics. So it would be wrong to say just because it is a comic book the material doesn't tackle social issues.

One thing Robin and those that left commentary didn't address was the lack of smoking in the film. Yes, it seems minor against the backdrop of racial issues, but smoking was a part of the era. Look at any film of the time and you would see smoking by good and bad people. Tony Stark's father would have definitely had been a smoker, it would have been part of the mystique of the character he was in the film. The general portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones would have been a cigar man. From what I recall not even the evil Nazis smoked. Another rewrite of history.