Captain America is dead. Shot by a sniper dead. No longer occupying pages in enw adventures dead. It’s probably only a case of “mostly dead.” Let’s just take it on faith that Marvel’s ended the fictional lifespan of one of it’s more noticeable characters. The one character that always brought scripted awe and reverence from the rest of the Marvel hero-verse.
What does it really mean?
If Marvel’s going to have any kind of respect from me, they’ll leave the character dead. I can’t tell you how many times a certain chracter has died only to return a few years later in order to drum up new sales. They are well known for their revolving door at the pearly gates. DC Comics is guilty of it too. Look at the Superman’s dead but not really debacle of 1993.
I would guess a lion’s share of the more famous Marvel-ites have suffered from the Jesus complex at least once. Some even twice. I think Jean Grey has cornered the market. Sure, she takes her name from the Phoenix. The mythical bird of fire that lives and dies only to live again, but damn, sometimes “the body” should stay cold and buried for any real meaning to be gained.
Look at the Buffy episode “The Body.” I never thought I would see on my TV screen a death that struck so close to home. There was no fanfare. There was no wailing into the skies denying the truth of the matter. “The Body” was the cold, uncompromising ending of life brought to life on the screen. It was the kind of art that can only be written and executed by a person who knows the real meaning of grief. And what made the story even more pointed, the dead stayed dead.
This Captain America thing, well we’ll see how that plays out over the next year. The moment they bring him back from hero heaven, is the moment they invalidate evrything they built up to that point.
It’s sad to see Cap offed like that.
