“Captain America: The Chosen” spurs patriotic response

From the July 4 edition of The Oklahoman:

By Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor

As the United States celebrates its independence, Marvel Comics has released a collection of a popular “Captain America” story.

When Captain America was killed in Marvel’s line of comic books in 2007, the character received more publicity than ever. “Captain America: The Chosen” is a miniseries written by The New York Times best-selling author and Rambo creator David Morrell, with art by Mitch Breitweiser. It sold out its first issue nationwide. “Chosen” now is available in a hardcover collection from Marvel.

“Captain America: The Chosen” is part of Marvel’s “Marvel Knights” line. The line explores alternate and more sophisticated versions of the characters, as in recent miniseries “Spider-Man: Reign” and “Silver Surfer: Requiem.” In “Chosen,” an aged Captain America is dying, but Cpl. James Newman, deployed to Afghanistan, thinks he sees the captain alive and well, and helping Newman escape from scrapes.

Breitweiser, from Arkansas, told The Oklahoman in a phone interview that the death of Captain America probably helped the sales of “Chosen,” but that he had no advance knowledge of the plan.