LogFAQs > #883207927

#108 - Red Skull (Johann Schmidt) Nominated by: Great_Paul
First Appearance: Captain America Comics #7 (Oct. 1941)
Created by: Joe Simon, Jack Kirby and Frank Herron

Fundamentals: 6/10
Track Record: 8/10
Scarlet Factor: 5/10

The problem with Nazis is their prevalency in comics. We've got the Nazis and the Nazi-lites (HYDRA), and the Not-Zis (Vandal Savage) and everything in between. Red Skull simply has the unfortunate distinction of being the Nazi-est among Nazis. But he wasn't even the first major Nazi villain comics; that distinction goes to Captain Nazi. I have a hard time differentiating Skull from a standard Hitler stand-in. Personally, Baron Von Strucker is my preferable Nazi fascist secret empire mastermind du jour from Marvel. For me, Skull is a B+ player.

Captain America, admittedly, is a franchise where what I want is directly counterintuitive to what the writer's want. My favorite Captain America stories allegorically tackle the issues of the real world in a way only Captain America can - nowadays, the schools of thinking lack the emotional maturity to step back and consider alternative viewpoints, so Captain America has lost the ability to be an insightful series. That's why we've made him a Nazi. Because Nazis are bad. Because punching Nazis is good. There is no reasoning behind the tales of the Cap anymore. Remember when a third party tried to run him for President? That was a phenomenally good story; it explored not only Captain America but also the desire in America at that time for an ideal to shatter the perceptions of the disillusioned. Look at the ORIGINAL Secret Empire, a phenomenal tale about Captain America confronting what was essentially Richard Nixon.

Red Skull is only good when someone can make him matter in the worldview of Captain America. Instead, too often Red Skull plays like a standard supervillain to Captain America's standard superhero. The problem is that, left to their own devices, both characters are so staid and outdated that they come as across as retro and uninteresting. You have to provide new data to the brain's of readers. You have to present these two ancient curmudgeons in a new and innovative way. Sadly, that has become more and more difficult for the Red Skull, to the point that he's nothing more than a plot point and an attempt at a sales draw. While their have been attempts to make him a corporate executive and a more modern militant mastermind, it always smacks of "Nazi". And that might be the problem.
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"Reading would be your friend." ~Dave Meltzer