WTTM
In the latest Comic Book Legends Revealed, find out if Sam Wilson was named after the man who was Uncle Sam’s true inspiration!
Welcome to Comic Book Legends Revealed! This is the eight hundred and eighth episode where we take a look at three comic book legends and determine if they are right or wrong. As usual, there will be three posts, one for each of the three captions. Click here for the first part of this episode’s captions.
NOTE: if my twitter page reached 5,000 subscribers, I will be doing a bonus edition of Comic Book Legends Revealed that week. Good deal, right? So will follow my Twitter page, Brian_Cronin!
COMIC LEGEND:
Captain America / Falcon Sam Wilson was named after Uncle Sam’s actual inspiration.
STATUS:
I’m going with a fake
My buddy Charlie E. asked me to review this one and I was surprised at how a bit popular it was. It appears on a few of these “Did you know?” Places like “Did you know Sam Wilson was named after real-life inspiration for Uncle Sam?”
First, let’s take a look at the whole “Uncle Sam” case. Of Histoire.com, “On September 7, 1813, the United States received its nickname, Uncle Sam. The name is linked to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied barrels of beef to the United States Army during the War of 1812 Wilson (1766-1854) stamped the barrels with “US†for United States, but soldiers began to call the larva “Uncle Sam’s.†The local newspaper picked up the story and Uncle Sam took over the story. eventually gained wide acceptance as the nickname and personification of the US federal government. “
History.com continued on the most famous image of Uncle Sam, “Perhaps the most famous image of Uncle Sam was created by artist James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960). In Flagg’s version, Uncle Sam wears a large top hat and blue jacket and is pointed straight in front of the viewer. During World War I, this portrait of Sam with the words “I want you for the army American “was used as a recruiting poster. The image, which became immensely popular, was first used on the cover of Leslie’s Weekly in July 1916 with the headline” What are you doing to prepare? “L The poster was widely distributed and subsequently reused many times with different captions. “
Finally, “In September 1961, the United States Congress recognized Samuel Wilson as ‘the ancestor of the American national symbol of Uncle Sam’. Wilson died at the age of 88 in 1854 and was buried next to his wife Betsey Mann in Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, New York, the town called “Uncle Sam’s Home” .
And of course, the superhero previously known as The Falcon (and now known as Captain America), who made his debut in Captain America # 117 in 1969 (by Stan Lee, Gene Colan and Joe Sinnott) …
his name is Sam Wilson (a fact that somehow wasn’t covered in the first issue, but was only mentioned in the next issue) …
So what’s the deal, did Stan Lee seriously name the Falcon after Sam Wilson, who had just been honored by Congress eight years earlier?
I say no. Here is my reflection ….
1. Lee didn’t really do this. During the Golden Age (and DC’s Silver Age), characters were often named after specific people. Lee, however, didn’t appear to be doing it with his Marvel character names. Peter Parker, Reed Richards, Bruce Banner, there were a lot of alliterative names, but he didn’t seem to name the characters after anyone in particular, so it seems unlikely that he would start in 1969 with Sam Wilson.
2. I doubt the story of “Sam Wilson was Uncle Sam” was so widespread in 1969. Yes Congress honored it, but I just watched the Congressional Record last Friday and found this:
HONOR LIEUTENANT GENERAL FRANCIS M. BEAUDETTE FOR 32 YEARS OF MILITARY SERVICE HON. RICHARD HUDSON FROM NORTH CAROLINA AT THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Friday, July 16, 2021 HUDSON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Lieutenant-General Francis M. Beaudette for 32 years of distinguished military service. General Beaudette has made immeasurable contributions to our great nation and continues to exemplify the core values ​​of the United States military of honor, integrity, personal courage and selfless service. He began his career in 1989 as a military intelligence officer and retired as the commanding general of the US Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.
After graduating from the Citadel, Lieutenant-General Beaudette became a battalion assistant, crew member, and armored platoon leader in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. He completed Special Forces training in 1995 and was assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group before serving as aide-de-camp to US Army Commanding General John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School and Aide de camp to the Deputy Commander-General of the Kosovo Forces.
During his extraordinary career, Lieutenant-General Beaudette has answered the call on several occasions. Previously, he was Deputy Commander General of 1st Armored Division, Deputy Commander of Joint Special Operations Command and Commanding General of 1st Special Forces Command. Lieutenant-General Beaudette retires as a decorated military leader and a true American hero, having won some of our military’s most prestigious awards. He represents the best our nation has to offer and his legacy of leadership will be felt for generations.
As a Congressman from Fort Bragg, I know I speak for our nation and our community when I say that we are truly grateful for Lieutenant General Beaudette’s extraordinary service and I cannot thank him enough. I have personally benefited from his friendship and his advice and I would like to offer him my sincere thanks and wish him every success in his future endeavors. Madam Speaker, please join me today in honoring Lieutenant-General Francis M. Beaudette for his 32 years of military service.
Absolutely no offense to Lieutenant-General Beaudette, but did anyone know this had happened? Almost no one has, right? And so Stan Lee is unlikely to know that Samuel Wilson was honored eight years earlier.
3. The most important. If Lee had intentionally named Falcon after Uncle Sam’s name, he would have incorporated that fact into a dialogue and he didn’t. Not even a single “Uncle Sam” joke, as far as I know. Plus, the Falcon was a big deal back then, so Stan gave interviews about the character and he would have mentioned it if it was intentional. He wasn’t the type to do something like that and not mention it to anyone. Especially not once in the decades that followed.
I asked Tom Brevoort and Mark Waid two guys that I respect a lot about something like this and they both agree it’s just a coincidence so I’m going by coincidence .
Thanks to Tom and Marc! And thanks to Charlie for the suggestion!
DISCOVER A LEGENDS FILM REVEALED!
In the Last Movie Legends Revealed – Was the man who gave Indiana Jones his fedora in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade originally intended to be Indy’s future stepfather?
PART THREE SOON!
Check back soon for Part 3 of this episode’s Legends!
Please feel free to send me any suggestions for future comic book legends at cronb01@aol.com or brianc@cbr.com
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