
Captain America comics have been around for many years and when they were first written back in 1941 they were written as American propaganda for World War II. The original comic's portrayed Captain America, or Steve Rogers, fighting against different villains who were meant to represent communism through their Russian names and Russian ties. The comic takes place in two different times, one is the present day, and the other is a flashback of Steve Rogers’ childhood. In the revamped comic recently written, Steve Rogers lives in the present day in which he is seen trying to prevent a suicide bombing and is depicted in brighter, more vibrant colors, whereas the flashbacks are shown in black and white. Looking more in depth to the black and white flashbacks, there are different techniques used to instill a deeper meaning. Marvel’s comic “Captain America: Steve Rogers #1” used a technique of contrast with the color red on black and white to help emphasize hidden ideas about violence, danger and communism that are taking place throughout the comic.

In the first frame at the bottom of page three there is the use of red on top of the black and white color scheme to express the violence that is taking place. The use of black and white in this photo are to represent the time in which this scene occurs. The use of black and white means that this is a flashback, however the entire scene is not just black and white, there is also some red within the frame. Many times, red has associations with anger, danger, and violence. This frame shows physical abuse between Steve Rogers’ mother and father, and the use of the color red and its associations line up perfectly with the ties to violence and anger. In this scene, Steve’s father was drunk and angry over his mother taking Steve to another man’s house in which he assumes she is cheating. Feeling embarrassed and ashamed of himself, the father verbally attacked the mother until eventually he resorted to physical violence. There is a shadow across the faces of both the mother and father, meaning that there is little detail in their faces. The lack of detail in their faces could help readers associate more with the scene, had maybe they been through abuse and can connect with the faceless characters. The frame also appears to have no background in it, which can help draw focus toward the action at hand or also aid in allowing more connections with readers who have had similar experiences.

The top right frame of page four is in all black and white except for part of the woman’s 

clothing, which happens to be red; this represents a warning of who she is and what ties she is involved with. This frame appears to be a close up of a woman, that of which resembles a flapper through her bobbed hair and make-up. She has a stern angry look on her face, which is heavily detailed so that her emotions in this frame can be conveyed. She has dialogue, in which she says: “You should help her up.” Because of her irritated look, she is not making a mere suggestion, but telling him directly what she wants Steve’s father to do. There is a great deal of clear intensity in this frame from the woman looking directly at the reader and also helps express that she is enraged or displeased. The use of red in her clothing could also be used as a representation of the anger she feels towards the abuse she had just witnessed. In the context of this comic, the red is meant to represent the communist group, Hydra. The red could also be interpreted as a warning from Hydra, the evil communist group.

The middle frame of page 18 brings more detail to the black and white faces of the women and the only color different is red, which is a hidden message that is showing Steve’s mother’s slow descent into communism. In this frame there is more detail on both Steve’s mother and the other woman’s faces. This amount of detail separates the characters from being connected to because unlike the earlier frame there are a lot more defining features that are unique to their own design. Just like previous frames, there is a contrast between the colors red against black and white. In this frame the stripe on the woman’s hat, wine, and napkin are all red. All of the red things in this image could show the conversion of Steve’s mother over to Hydra, as there begins to be more red in each frame and she is even holding a red napkin herself. There is an over the shoulder shot of the woman in red, which gives a better view of Steve’s mother and it can show the napkin in her hand which is a representation of her slowly falling into communism with Hydra. 

The bottom frame of page 30 has changed the black and white background to red because the flyer that the other woman is presenting to Steve’s mother is the final warning before she is committed to hydra. This scene was when Steve’s mother joined Hydra, which meant that Steve himself would be a secret Hydra agent. This further explains parts of the present day comic scenes in which he turns his back on his teammates. The over the shoulder shot allows a clear view of the flyer from Hydra and allows the view of the person whom is reading the flyer, Steve’s mother. The text in the bottom right corner says: “In the right moment it only takes one person to change the world forever.” This means that the choice Steve’s mother makes will determine Steve’s future and eventually make Captain America into a double agent for Hydra. The dark blood red color of the Hydra symbol could be a symbol for death yet to come, death that could be brought by Captain America who is now growing up under the influence of Hydra.

The colors used in “Captain America: Steve Rogers #1” helped to emphasize important elements in a frame and to help deliver a deeper message through the use of color. Black and white helped establish the idea of a flashback taking place, but with the extra hints of red added into some frames there was extra emphasis on what the red is meant to represent. The color red in this comic was used to represent the violence of communism, as well as warnings for them. As the comic went on there was more and more red added to each frame furthering the idea of a warning to what may happen. The final text box in the final frame summarizes what happened as a result of ignoring the warning signs of future violence and communism.
