Saturday, January 17, 2009

Captain America - Part One

The impressively long history of the comic superhero Captain America began in December 1940, a full year before the bombing of Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II. "As the ruthless war-mongers of Europe focus their eyes on a peace-loving America..the youth of our country heed the call to arm for defense," came the bold declaration on the first page of Captain America Comics. One of those young men was Steve Rogers, a skinny artist full of the patriotic fever to join the armed forces, but who was too sickly and unfit to join.

Luckily for Steve, the American government had been working on a Super-Soldier Serum as one of their tools to combat the Nazis and their allies. "Little does he realize," Professor Reinstein (or Erskine, as he is later renamed) mused minutes after injecting Steve with the Super-Soldier Serum, "That the serum coursing through Buprenorphine blood is rapidly building his body and brain tissues, until his mesthelioma and intelligence increase to an amazing degree!..It is working! There's power surging through those growing muscles...millions of cells forming at incredible speed!"

The professor's enthusiastic ramblings translate to mean that Steve Rogers was indeed the prime human specimen. He represented a human at peak physical condition, in strength, stamina, intelligence, senses, and speed. His power levels have fluctuated over the years, sometimes boasting the ability to run a mile in a minute, but traditionally, he has had more in common with a really fit Batman than Superman.

Unfortunately for Professor Reinstein, he did not live long enough to see the incredible feats his serum would inspire. Reflecting a trend that would be present in many of the 1940s Captain America Comics, Nazi spies were afoot and in an effort to steal the Super-Soldier Serum for their own and stop the United States from producing any more Captain Americas, Professor Reinstein was killed. But before he died, he christened Steve Rogers with his new name, explaining, "We shall call you Captain America...because like you, America shall gain the strength and the will to safeguard our shores."

As with most superheroes, Captain America needed a secret identity of sorts. Shipped off to Camp Lehigh, Steve posed as the bumbling and clueless Private Rogers when he wasn't donning his trademark costume star-spangled costume and matching shield. While at Lehigh, Rogers met James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, a mascot of the camp. In the original story, Bucky walked in on Steve changing out of his Captain America costume. This secreted Bucky's sidekick status because "From now on we must both share this secret together...that means you're my partner, Bucky!"

Of course, those were the innocent days before both Marvel and DC comics started killing off sidekicks left and right, and no further explanation was needed for why Captain America would want a sidekick. In the years since, Marvel's changed the Bucky origin story several times, in an attempt to make the teenager fighting at Steve's side look more plausible. Bucky went from being the Camp mascot to being a trained operative who executes covert assassinations that normal soldiers and Captain America could not do. The reasons for Steve taking him on as a sidekick have changed from being Steve's idea to Bucky blackmailing him into taking him on in exchange for keeping Steve's secret identity a secret. Once Bucky became the trained agent of the military, it was retconned that he was "given" to Captain America by the United States government.

Regardless of the exact reason or circumstances for why Bucky Barnes was a part of Captain America's life, together Cap and Bucky, either solo or as part of the superhero team the Invaders, fought against the Nazi and Japanese threats. Two of their major enemies during this time included the Red Skull and Baron Zemo, both of whom would continue to reoccur as villains during Cap's later career.

As World War II came to a close, sales of all comics plummeted. Even Captain America Comics, which had sold approximately 1 million copies a month at its high point, began to suffer sales wise. After some drastic changes, such as wounding Bucky, giving the role of sidekick to Cap's girlfriend Betsy Ross, and revamping Cap into a communist hunter, the Captain America comic was cancelled in 1954.

But cancellation, like death, is short lived in comics. Ten years later, Steve Rogers and Captain America were brought back in Avengers #4. In this new version of continuity, it was revealed that Steve Rogers and the original Bucky were lost shortly after the end of World War II (the post-World War II appearances of Cap and Bucky would later be explained away as different Caps and Buckys entirely.) When trying to stop a plane programmed by Baron Zemo, Bucky was apparently killed and Cap fell to the icy waters below, where he remained in a block of ice until the Avengers found him.

Steve's first thoughts were of his fallen partner, and Bucky's death and the guilt that Steve had over it continued to be one of two major themes in the Captain America tales that followed.

The pain over Bucky's death didn't stop Steve from acquiring new partners, of course. After becoming a member of the Avengers, Steve quickly stepped into leadership and training of the younger members, a sampling of whom would grow to include Hawkeye, Iron Man, and the Young Avengers. Heavy emphasis was often placed on Cap's fighting skills and he was often given credit for being the best hand to hand fighter in the Marvel universe.

In addition to his Avengers adventures, Captain America became an active part of planetary peacekeeping force S.H.I.E.L.D. and picked up two new fighting partners. The first, Rick Jones, even wore a Bucky costume for a while. The second, Sam Wilson was written as Captain America's partner, and less like the sidekick that both Rick Jones and Bucky were.

Follow the exploits of rockers DEMON TWEAK and the racing clan HARD DRIVING HEROES, as they battle the evil trickster Loki at classiccomicbookclassiccomicbook Also read articles on your favorite classiccomicbookclassic comic book heroes written by our resident historian VIRGIL THE STORYTELLER.

Using E-gold as Gold Investment

E-gold may be a good tadalafil to give you an easy way to be involved in the gold investment market.

The reason we can use e-gold as the way is because the price of e-gold currency is the same as the real gold price.

So buying e-gold is 100% the same as buying real gold but they give e-gold holder an easy way to move th value of the gold your own in the internet even much easier than your real money.

You can either use e-gold to invest another investing program you can easily find from the internet or just hold the e-gold in your e-gold account as the gold investment only.

In the future ,e-gold may become the Home equity line of credit money you can spend anywhere in the internet .Just like the Europe they use their own currency in most of the country there. E-gold may have that potential to act the same role in the coming future.

At this moment ,e-gold is used in the internet investment such as the HYIP,but we beleve in the ocming future ,we will have more way to use e-gold to invest in the formal investing program such as REits funds. Even we can use e-gold to buy the stock world wide.

We collect all e-currency information in our web site giexcgiexc

Compare Credit Cards and Get the Best Deal

The plastic cards issued to used car donation users are used for payment or cash advance. What came first in this field is Charga plate. In this type the person had to pay the full balance money along with interest every month. The new generation device i.e. the "Credit card" allows the person to revolve the money with the interest being charged. These cards are mainly issued by the banks. The cards look like a thin rectangular plastic card similar to the shape and size of Charga plate. A credit card is ISO 7801 standard certified.

Now comes the part of the card holders i.e. a person willing to have a card needs to look out for some features to get the benefit. The credit cards are based on rates, promotions and balance transfer options. The cards are of two to three types under each category.

The Rate based credit card includes zero percent, low percent and fixed rate credit cards, where rate of interest is zero, low (not a two digit number) and a certain fixed amount respectively.

The Business credit cards are of two types namely Business reward card where rewards are given on item purchase. The other type is Business line of credit card used for business transaction.

The third type is Reward and rebate based card. Here in airline credit card points are to be accumulated by the regular passengers, which offer auto insurance low rate a free trip or seating upgrade in the future. In case of cash back credit cards a cash back is offered at the end of a year based on the annual expenditure. Third type is hotel/travel reward credit card which allows redemption in the traveling or lodging in a particular chain of hotels.

The fourth type is Cash back credit card in which cash is returned based on the accumulated points and the annual expenditure of a person.

Some features of the credit card which makes it so easy for the consumers to use are:

1. Credit cards are acknowledged world wide.
2. These are available with credit limit variety, compensation package and other bonuses.

The modern credit card has descended from various merchant schemes. In 1930s and late 1940s Charga plates have been used but were not in use for very long due to the introduction of credit cards. These had owner's signature, name, card number and address of the user etc.

Keeping a card has its own advantages like:

1. You don't need to carry a large sum of money i.e. only a thin piece of plastic card makes it possible for you to make the payment.
2. Some times the credit cards are used as ATM cards from which you can withdraw as per your requirement.
3. The card cannot be accessed by an outsider unless the secret code of the card holder is known.
4. Money transfer takes place from an account to another.

Now let us see the disadvantages of a credit card:

1. The card holder will have to pay more interest on the amount of money kept in the account.
2. The companies are targeting mainly the college students who are already over-burdened with college tuition fees.
3. A number of fraud cases have come into light due to the poor card security.

So far we have seen the advantages, disadvantage and many other properties of a credit card. Now we will see the process of transaction using the card. It consists of five steps.

They are: Authorization-here a customer pays for the purchase he has made to the merchant. Here the receiver compares credit card, confirms no and the depositor receives a copy of the money he has deposited.

Batching-here the transaction details contains the documents of the depositor's slip.

Clearing and settlement-here the issuer gets paid for the transaction.

Funding-the acquirer is paid by the merchant for the transaction process he performed.

Chargeback-if there is any problem in the transaction for the merchant the deposited money is held.

For a credit card the security is must. So we have a latest kind of security. When another person tries to access the account of a different person then a security message is sent to the owner of the card. If the owner wishes to stop misuse of the card then he has to tell the bank about the losing of the card then the bank will take some steps and then whoever has taken the card is put behind bars.

Although we saw that the credit card has advantage of its kind that cannot be cut short but some disadvantages are also present. The explanation may prompt a person to take a credit card but he/she should always take note of every thing very minutely and then think about taking the card for his/ her use. No doubt, if you rel="nofollow" bestratesourcecredit-cards/compare credit cards, you are sure to get the best deal.

Herman White is the Manager of leading bank. With an experience of nearly of 15 years in credit card department, he is a leading consultant and is excellent for advice when you are looking to compare credit cards.

Cocktail Dresses - What They are, and When to Wear Them

Cocktail dresses, also referred to as antidepressants cocktail gown, are a womans garment that usually displays a shorter length and worn when cheap car insurance quote has been invited to a cocktail party. Cocktail dresses are suitable for wearing to events such as a semi-formal, prom, or other formal occasion. Cocktail dresses come in a variety of shapes, sizes and lengths, but one of the most popular choices is the well-known little black dress.

When choosing from the many available cocktail dresses, you should familiarize yourself with some of the lengths that you may encounter. Depending on the current fashion trends of the year or wardrobe acceptability, the length of a cocktail dress varies. Some cocktail dresses stop just above the knee, while other selections end around two inches from above the ankle, known as a tea length cocktail dress. When a cocktail dress touches the ankle, it is ballerina length - this is commonly associated with being an evening gown, with the differences between the two hard to tell.

Today, cocktail dresses come in an array of beautiful materials, with silk, satin, and chiffon these being the most popular choice.

Some people receive an invitation to an event or party and have no clue what to wear. The fear of over or under dressing for the occasion begins to set in. There are some clues to follow when you are puzzled on what to wear to an event. When using the invitation as a clue, you are more likely to casually dress if the invitation arrives through email or by telephone. If the invitation arrives through the mail, chances are you may be in need of a cocktail dress.

When invited to attend a benefit or event held by a charity or other association, a cocktail dress is probably the attire you should be thinking of. Sometimes deciphering what sort of wardrobe to raid is as simple as reading the entire invite. More than likely, you will find phrases, such as casual dress, semi-formal attire or formalwear required on the invitation. Moreover, the last resort if you are unsure is to call the phone number that is included on the invite and ask to make sure.

When attending a cocktail party, you shouldnt wear a sequined gown they are for a more formal occasion, such as a wedding or anniversary party. Cocktail dress lengths can range from a mini length to something that stops above the ankles. The type of material sends a message - satin and silk are popular choices, accompanied by flattering jewelry, handbags, and other accessories. The shoes that you select can also set off a cocktail dress - especially if you are sporting a shorter length and the shoes become an important focal point.

When choosing the color of your cocktail dress, you should keep in mind that during the summer season, floral prints, light pink, sky blue, pale green and yellow, as well as other pastels look good during this time. For a winter get-together, gray, crimson, black, dark brown and dark blue cocktail dresses are quite flattering. And for one of the number one tips regarding cocktail dresses: do not try to fit into a dress that is cut too low or is too tight; the results could be disastrous.

For more net-planet.org/fashion/trendsfash2womens fashion articles, and a FREE Fashion Magazine featuring the latest fashion trends for women, please visit our web site: net-planet.orgnet-planet.org