Wednesday, March 07, 2007

That's just COLD, Marvel.

Warning: if you haven't heard about this before now, someone died in a Marvel comic that was released on Wednesday. I talk about it for two paragraphs. If you have no interest, or if you have a LOT of interest and want to find out about it yourself, you've been warned.


I'm in a tiny bit of a financial spot right now, with my wedding coming up, car troubles rearing their ugly heads, and only working 3 days a week. Last night I promised The Peach that I wouldn't buy any comics this week, not even $5 worth, and would save it until I got paid on Tuesday. And then, the news breaks this morning. Captain America dead? That's fairly big news. And a big temptation. The Doc felt the pull of the comic store, just to go in and flip through the issue, but he stayed strong. Didn't set foot in the store. I've got a will of iron. Or at least, really strong plastic.


I really doubt it's going to be permanent, because it's not like it hasn't happened before. And it's not like the Distinguished Competition has ever pulled something like this before. I had a really strong attraction to the character, which is weird considering my own nationality, and so I'm a little upset by this announcement. It did make me think about whether or not I should be buying the few Marvel comics I do get, if only because this seems symptomatic of a big problem in major superhero comics lately: event-driven stories and the continued darkening of the storytelling. Event after event after event can drain me as a reader, both mentally and financially, and using death as an obvious plot point can get wearisome, considering all the characters that have come back from the dead recently. However, I'm no rampaging fanboy, and if there's a good story in it (and with Ed Brubaker behind the reigns), I'm sure it'll end up okay. Still, I'll miss Steve Rogers for as long as he stays gone. It made me care about my old Captain America comics, though, and I pulled out my as-yet-unread Madbomb trade to pour over on Friday in memoriam. I'm not sure that's what Marvel wanted; I'm sure they wanted me to buy Captain America #25, and then the five one-shots, and bla bla bla. But again: burnout. Right now I'd rather look back than look forward at what might happen. It might be unrealistically nostalgic, but it's where I'm at. Besides, there are few things as good as seeing Steve Rogers and Snap Wilson punching out people, Kirby-style. Unless the people they were punching were Nazis. Ah, Captain America beating up facists. Sometimes, I just get by on my simple pleasures.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read Captain America. I like Ed Brubaker. I bought him bringing back Bucky (though it took a bit of time). But all I can think is:

Why?

The ending of Civil War was bad enough, but now they have to do this? I'm fully expecting the return of Steve Rogers, but really, I don't get why this was really necessary.

But I'm going to keep reading the series until I find out. So I guess I can't be too annoyed.

Foofa said...

I fully expect him to be back. what I am really excited about are the Buffy season 8 comics.

Amanda, Keith and Cian Morris said...

Thought you might like this...

http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/index.jhtml

Scroll down to Comic Justice on The Word.

Enjoy!

The Doc said...

Allan, my Civil War experience was that it looked good but read really badly. I'm not interested in much Marvel after this, although you can't pry me off the first issue of Omega Flight with butter and a crowbar.

Natalie, he'll likely be back. Although apparently there's an autopsy next issue, so they're really trying to hammer the "HE'S REALLY DEAD!" note home. As for Buffy, Jago's gonna buy the singles, and I can read them that way before I shell out for the trade...

MENSA, thanks for that! You know how much I love Colbert.