Comic Book Journal

I was recently watching a YouTube Clip called “The Death of Captain America: Comic Book Creators Sound Off” over the weekend. The clip interviews comic book creators at WizardWorld LA right after the death of Captain America. The focus is on predominantly independent and small press comic creators, and thus, for the most part, the reaction is less than enthusiastic. However, I have to disagree with most of their assertions - the death of Captain America is NOT a cheap marketing ploy.

One needs only pick up an Avengers comic to see the Marvel Universe has been a bleakly different place after Cap’s death. The pillar which so many heroes has rested upon has now collasped, and with it, many of the relationships which have glued the MU together for so long. With Jeph Leob’s “Fallen Son” revelation that the Captain’s resurrection isn’t on the books any time soon, its clear Marvel has a very long-term story in mind.

While Captain America’s death and funeral has garnered major media attention in the short-term, the massive crossover was far too rooted in it’s own comoc book lexicon to completely appeal to the mainstream. I remember Neal Conan asking Marvel EIC Joe Quesada how Registration will affect Thor (Neal didn’t know Thor went MIA until just this week), and Joe candidly hinted at the Thunder God’s return in the series. However, when the burly Norse God of Thunder did return, it was as a murderous cyborg clone! Such moments were barely accepted by comic book fans, let alone the newstand populace. In the event of Cap’s s death, late night talk show host Craig Ferguson joked that is Steve Rogers died in issue #25, but there’s going to be a #26, 27 and 28, that he could accurately guess the red-white- and-blue-hero would probably return - not knowing the current issues reflect the fall-out for characters like the Winter Soldier, Red Falcon, and in particular, Sharon Carter - who herself killed Captain America under the influence of a supervillain.

Unlike the Death of Superman, The Death of Captain America is not written with the assumptions of a mainstream audience in mind. However, the two share at least one quality in common - in both cases the death of the hero is only the catalyst of the story as a whole. While events build and build to the death of Flash in Crisis on Infinite Earths and Superboy in Infinite Crisis, the death of Captain America is just the beginning of Ed Brubaker’s ground-breaking story, and just as the Death of Superman deals explicitly with its four heir-apparents to the Superman Legacy.

For years, comic books and serial fiction alike have been trying to make a lasting statement about the world around them. Such statements go beyond simple labels like “Post-9/11″, and reflect a symbolism rife with interpretation. But unlike Star Wars and its massive New Jedi Order and Legacy of the Force storylines, Marvel sought to make its impact in one simple moment and one single death. What does an America without Captain America say? What does it stand for? Has the hero become outmoded? Has his ideals become outdated? Or his death really a testament to the horrible price exacted by our enemies while we argue among ourselves about who is right and who wrong? There are no easy answers, because these are questions which can be asked again and again.

Thus, while I’m confident Captain America will be back in circulation for the 2009 movie, for now oh Captain my Captain is dead, and all that comes with it. Despite what this may or may not mean for the world itself, against super-villains, Super-Skrulls and symbiotes, the superheroes of the Marvel Universe are certainly hard-pressed without him.