Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up. You mean to say Captain America may not be 100% relevant?
What a totally new and heretofore unknown problem and situation that I never before realized!
Seriously, all sarcasm aside...man, people have been saying Cap is old school since the FIFTIES. In fact, there's an argument that says the only time Cap was even vaguely relevant was the forties.
This is why Steve Englehart wrote the "Man Without a Country" run when he did: because Cap was embarassingly unhip even in 1970-whenever-it-was, and having Cap lose faith in America was something that made him sympathetic and relevant. It's amazing how well the Englehart CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON run has aged (unlike the Kirby Cap run that followed it, but that's another story), even despite the fact that the context that it happened in was Watergate and the Nixon presidency: because by making Captain America someone that payed attention to what was going on around him, he transcended his origin as a flag-waiving character into someone that is much more complicated and about American ideals vs. their real-world execution.
This was the Englehart Cap that fought the Squadron Supreme for being tools of the powerful, business/government interests that rule Squadron-Earth.
"You have your definition of a hero, and I've got mine...and mine involves being more aware!"In other words, Englehart saved Cap from the fate that MIGHTY THOR eventually suffered: condemned to being a Marvel property that only the original creators in the original context ever really got, who keeps on being published, but whose soul disappeared sometime in the late seventies.
It's funny: Englehart made Superman a conservative and Captain America a liberal, and both characterizations worked out well.
The really frustrating thing about this news is that it reflects a really corrupt, overkill mentality: killing a character off because writers can't think of what to do with them at the moment. Considering the way the post-CIVIL WAR Marvel comics are looking, with EVERYBODY being pro-Registration and every state having a superteam, Steve Rogers, who would NEVER sign up, doesn't "fit in." So, what to do?
I've seen enough deaths, yes, even shock-value deaths (shock value can be effective...if it is shocking enough) that have been done well, that I can see the value of it as a technique. The great thing about the Legion of Super-Heroes is you can kill them left and right.
But because cynicism is what it is, people aren't killed off anymore in order to spike sales. People are killed off to create excitement for when they eventually will RETURN.
Marvel's gotten more thrills out of comics fans by teasing us with Thor's possible return than they ever have with Thor alive and well. I can see the same done with Steve: just throw a star-shield on the cover of an issue of IRON MAN and just watch the sales spike.
To an extent, I don't entirely mind this. You'd better believe now Hal Jordan's back, people aren't going to take him for granted for a WHILE.
And speaking of Cap's return...when will that be, and how?
Five gets you ten its going to somehow involve Arnim Zola. (Yes, I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is.)
Don't forget Red Skull having a Captain America clone body since the Gruenwald years! You'd better believe that'll come into play. And then there's Vance Astrovik having Cap's shield in the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY years...those that say Cap's return is just a matter of time may be more right than they know.
I can agree about the working better in WWII but with one thing in mind, he works better there as a *solo* character (or with Bucky). In modern times he's usually better off with the Avengers unless he's working for SHEILD.
As long there IS an United States of America, Cap will be "relevant". Wether he's considered kewl or hardcore with the bloodthirsty Iron Age comics crowd or people who want superhero stories to be pretentious tomes about todays headlines, well that's another matter.
Killing Cap. FOR WHAT? A sales spike? Some Kennedy Assasination/9-11 posturing to seem edgy?
As a superhero and adventure character there is nothing broken about him and this latest move is yet another in a long line of disgraces to Jack Kirby's creations.
But nothing about this really shocks me at all. If Joe wants to shock me, try telling straight up fullblast superhero action/adventure stories with the character instead of corrupting his dead sidekicks soul and drowning him "shades of grey".
