Patriotic superheroes have been around for almost as long as comic books have. DC and Marvel have had their share of these red, white & blue clad characters over the years. Marvel, of course, has the granddaddy of World War II heroes, Captain America - soon to be seen again on the big screen. Marvel likes to forget the other CAPTAIN AMERICA movie (and TV-movies).
Cap (Steve Rogers) "came back to life" in 2009 after being dead for about 2 years, causing a frenzy of non-comic book fans to crowd into comic shops in hopes of nabbing a copy of the "collectible" issue to sell on eBay for more money. Ugh.
The DC Universe, on the other hand has had Wonder Woman, as well as a plethora of stars-and-stripes donning dudes and dames—both homegrown and adopted when the company absorbed Quality Comics, Fawcett Comics and Charlton Comics.
These characters include Mr. America, Miss America (not to be confused with the Marvel heroine of the same name), Uncle Sam, Liberty Belle, Minute Man, Rusty Ryan, Stars-Spangled Kid and Stripesy and later additions like Americommando, Agent Liberty, Major Victory, General Glory, Steel, Commander Steel and Citizen Steel. I'm sure there are others that have come and gone.
In 2009, DC entered into a deal with Archie Comics to acquire the publishing rights to the MLJ/Red Circle characters. DC had already published these characters in the early 90s under the Impact! Comics banner.
But now for the first time, these classic heroes were promised to be apart of the DC Universe proper— including the great grandaddy of patriotic heroes—The Shield!
The Shield first appeared in PEP Comics #1 (January 1940) - a full fourteen months before the more famous Captain America, who has an extremely similar origin. Hmmm...
The Shield was created by writer Harry Shorten and artist Irv Novick, with his secret
origin revealed in Shield-Wizard #1 (Summer 1940).
The Shield's secret identity was that of chemist Joe Higgins, the son of Lt. Tom Higgins who was slain by the Nazis, who were after his secret formula for super-strength.
After his death, son Joe took on his father's research, concluding that he must apply chemicals to certain parts of his anatomy:
Sacrum,
Heart,
Innervation,
Eyes,
Lungs,
Derma, and then zap himself with x-rays—thereby giving him super strength, invulnerability and the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound!
The Shield was born and became the star player in MLJ's lineup.
That is until a certain redheaded upstart named Archie Andrews appeared, relegating The Shield into becoming a supporting player, eventually being forcing him into an early retirement.
Other Archie/Mighty/Radio Comics versions of The Shield appeared over the years, notably Joe Simon & Jack Kirby's Lancelot Strong and Bill Higgins, son of the original.
The MLJ heroes returned briefly in the 1960s during the campy comic book craze, this time teamed up as The Mighty Crusaders.
Archie Comics again brought them all back in the late 1980s to cash in on the independent comics explosion.
Then, in the 90s DC Comics bought the rights and started up the Impact! Comics line - hoping to introduce the characters to a new generation of comics fans.
This attempt failed miserably.
Just when we thought we saw the last of these characters, they resurfaced in a few issues of
Archie's Weird Mysteries in the early 2000s, almost coming full circle.
And the in 2009, DC's Red Circle revival will gave The Shield and his super friends yet another chance at greatness, under the guidance of comics superstar J. Michael Straczynski.
It didn't quite work out that way. Now, two years later The Shield and his Red Circle companions join the plethora of DC Comics that are in limbo while fans await the news of a "blockbuster" announcement in June that promises to redefine DC Comics for the future. So on this Memorial Day, I salute The Shield - the Captain America that never made it big.
Cap (Steve Rogers) "came back to life" in 2009 after being dead for about 2 years, causing a frenzy of non-comic book fans to crowd into comic shops in hopes of nabbing a copy of the "collectible" issue to sell on eBay for more money. Ugh.
The DC Universe, on the other hand has had Wonder Woman, as well as a plethora of stars-and-stripes donning dudes and dames—both homegrown and adopted when the company absorbed Quality Comics, Fawcett Comics and Charlton Comics. 
These characters include Mr. America, Miss America (not to be confused with the Marvel heroine of the same name), Uncle Sam, Liberty Belle, Minute Man, Rusty Ryan, Stars-Spangled Kid and Stripesy and later additions like Americommando, Agent Liberty, Major Victory, General Glory, Steel, Commander Steel and Citizen Steel. I'm sure there are others that have come and gone.
After his death, son Joe took on his father's research, concluding that he must apply chemicals to certain parts of his anatomy: Sacrum, Heart, Innervation, Eyes, Lungs, Derma, and then zap himself with x-rays—thereby giving him super strength, invulnerability and the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound!
The Shield was born and became the star player in MLJ's lineup.
Archie Comics again brought them all back in the late 1980s to cash in on the independent comics explosion.
Just when we thought we saw the last of these characters, they resurfaced in a few issues of Archie's Weird Mysteries in the early 2000s, almost coming full circle.
There have been, in my lifetime, a lot of songs that I didn't like, say The Macarena or Toni Basil's Mickey, for example, but I more or less was able to avoid those because they usually went away after a short while.
There is currently a "song" which I find to be the most irritating earworm that I've ever heard. This wretched recording, which was released exactly one year ago today, is a huge pop hit and despite the fact that I don't listen to commercial radio, don't watch MTV and never go to danceclubs - I somehow manage to hear it at least once a day.
The shitty song in question was in heavy rotation at my gym for months, playing twice, and sometimes three fucking times during a typical 90 minute workout. Luckily, now I only hear it every other day. Or maybe I'm just not working out as often as I used to? On Facebook, so-called friends are constantly posting YouTube clips featuring the song, or updating their status with a lyric from this dreadful ditty. This begs me to ask "Who the fuck are these people and what have they done to my friends?"
The 'performer' of this musical atrocity is someone who I never really cared for in films and I do not know any other song that this one-named person sings. If their other songs are anything like this thing, please keep 'em far away from me. To make things worse, this musical turd has won awards from once-reputable magazines, proving how sad the state of music is today.
What puzzles me is that people who I know and like actually find the song amusing, fun and cute (?) - when to me it's like listening to a thousand pieces of chalk being dragged across the world's largest blackboard. 
To top it all off, the "message" of the song is offensive as well - I only wish this was still the days of women's lib where Helen Reddy fans would take to the streets protesting this sexist, mindless dreck!
Yes, I know it's only "pop music" and I should chill out and not get so worked up about it and stop being such a "hater". But you know what, if something that I don't like is forced upon me aurally, I have a right to complain! As a person who suffers from migraines, a song like this is a danger to my health.
So, I will do my best to avoid this vile and vomitous anthem–I've already managed to walk out of bars and stores in protest when I've heard it playing, and I've left at least one party prematurely and I will continue to do so in protest and in defense of good taste. I will go on hating it, hoping that the hate will spread and people will rise up an destroy every known recording of it in existence.
