I simply cannot believe all of the coverage the “death” of Captain America is receiving. Because the whole thing is, of course, a non-event. It’s nothing more than a publicity stunt by Marvel Comics.
When I was a kid in the 60’s and early 70’s, being a comic book fan was both a reason why I was something of a social outcast, and my coping mechanism for dealing with being relatively unpopular. The idea that the Marvel Comics characters would become as widely accepted as they are today, and Stan Lee would be a cultural institution, was beyond the most fantastic adventures of any comic book hero.
Yet on Thursday I heard both the BBC and NPR cover the “story” of Captain America’s assassination — a manufactured event! I wish Cap co-creator Jack Kirby were alive to see it. Fortunately, Joe Simon is still with us. I met Kirby in ’72, and Simon in ’80. Here’s the NPR feature.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAR07/CaptainAmerica.mp3]
The Dog Rat gallery has two tellings of the origin of Captain America. The first is from the Golden Age of comic books, and the second is from Cap’s return in the Silver Age of comics. Click the pictures to go to each of the gallery albums.
If there’s one thing that’s for sure in the realm of comic books, death is a common event, and it’s never permanent. So at some point in the future, expect Marvel to hype the return of Captain America. Undoubtedly around the time the movie is about to be released.
NPR is excellent. They even include the theme song! Of course, Captain America is not necessarily dead. I’ve seen so many characters come back from the dead on the only soap I watch, “Days of our Lives,” it’s a joke now. I think one died four times. One just left because she was indicted for murder, but the actress is coming back as the character she originally played back in the 80s! The other thing they do is rapidly age their characters. One, E.J. , is a suave, urbane, and very evil Brit in his late 20s. The only problem is, he was born to a character named Susan Banks two years after Molly was born! Now he has impregnated a character who was pregnant with her son when I was pregnant with Molly! THAT son was also rapidly aged; he should only be 11; he’s noe 18.