The Death of Captain America, and Nuclear Buttons
I'm am not going to pretend to be a story-line guru when it comes to the glorious medium of comic books. Convoluted as they seem to be navigating the web of action, glory and despair would be a full time job for any enthusiast.
Over the course of the last couple years it has been apparent to my children that there is an epidemic of superhero deaths. This has caused a great measure of dismay, discomfort and mourning in my home as though each child in my home has in some way been betrayed.
My 3 year old son idolizes Captain America. Throughout my life from kiddom to the seemingly endless grind of adulthood I have found a measure of retreat in the story of Captain America so it warms my heart that he sees the glory of service before self. Rewind to a week or so ago...
I take great steps to ensure that "age appropriate" comic books are available for my kids - and the more mature books are stored separately. Captain America for the most part falls into the appropriate category. The other day I was inventorying my over collection of Captain America Books and my 3 year old is laying out the bagged and boarded books to look at the covers, occasionally calling my attention to the various scenes and getting more and more excited with each book. Then came the reckoning.
The cover to end all covers.
Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America
If you are not familiar with the cover or the storyline - simply put at the end of Civil War Captain America submits himself into custody - In "Fallen Son" he is shot on the courthouse steps (I'm skipping I know). None of that matters to my 3 year old who now sees a bloodied Cap laying on his back hand cuffed and dead on the steps of a courthouse. Heartbroken isn't the word...
This is only days after trying to explain the Death of Spider-man Comic that my 9 year old found at the comic book store, or the Death of Wolverine Comic that my Daughter saw displayed in a back issue bin.
Naturally I tried to explain to my 3 year old that Captain America would return, that he wasn't in-fact dead but had been lost in time etc. etc. etc....realizing that I stopped reading Marvel long ago because I too found the story to be lacking...
My 3 year old decided this is essentially crap and spent the better part of a day in mourning. By the end of the day he had decided I was right and Steve Rogers wasn't dead, though he was still unhappy to be put through the heart break of thinking his hero had been killed.
The ever prevalent need to displace readers, and twist whole books to get results serves to only muddy the waters in an already convoluted universe. DC went nuclear a while back with the new 52 for better or worse committing themselves to a re-boot. I've always preferred Marvel over most publishers, however in the last 2 years I have only purchased one Marvel book (Man-Thing). I have been completely disenfranchised with their need to try and re-create the types of successes they had with Civil War.
The deaths of superheroes the obsessive need for variants - overtly gimmicky cross-overs all serve as symptoms to a larger problem. The Marvel Universe is lost.
I keep waiting watching and hoping but I have been dismayed. I'm sure there are some great Marvel Books out there and I'm sure they have a plan moving forward - but I'm a traditionalist and the fray they've created in the rope is all but ready to snap and drop the payload leaving them in the same predicament DC found themselves suffering through.
Somewhere it would seem Stan Lee is standing with his hand on the Nuclear Button just waiting for the moment when they can no longer keep the damn from breaking.
I could be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time. Story-lines have always been a bit confusing, there has always been overlaps, or changes or character updates - but I believe we are in uncharted territory now. I believe that it's been coming for quite some time and no amount of variant prints is going to prevent it.
http://bit.ly/2ouxze9
Over the course of the last couple years it has been apparent to my children that there is an epidemic of superhero deaths. This has caused a great measure of dismay, discomfort and mourning in my home as though each child in my home has in some way been betrayed.
My 3 year old son idolizes Captain America. Throughout my life from kiddom to the seemingly endless grind of adulthood I have found a measure of retreat in the story of Captain America so it warms my heart that he sees the glory of service before self. Rewind to a week or so ago...
I take great steps to ensure that "age appropriate" comic books are available for my kids - and the more mature books are stored separately. Captain America for the most part falls into the appropriate category. The other day I was inventorying my over collection of Captain America Books and my 3 year old is laying out the bagged and boarded books to look at the covers, occasionally calling my attention to the various scenes and getting more and more excited with each book. Then came the reckoning.
The cover to end all covers.
Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America
If you are not familiar with the cover or the storyline - simply put at the end of Civil War Captain America submits himself into custody - In "Fallen Son" he is shot on the courthouse steps (I'm skipping I know). None of that matters to my 3 year old who now sees a bloodied Cap laying on his back hand cuffed and dead on the steps of a courthouse. Heartbroken isn't the word...
This is only days after trying to explain the Death of Spider-man Comic that my 9 year old found at the comic book store, or the Death of Wolverine Comic that my Daughter saw displayed in a back issue bin.
Naturally I tried to explain to my 3 year old that Captain America would return, that he wasn't in-fact dead but had been lost in time etc. etc. etc....realizing that I stopped reading Marvel long ago because I too found the story to be lacking...
My 3 year old decided this is essentially crap and spent the better part of a day in mourning. By the end of the day he had decided I was right and Steve Rogers wasn't dead, though he was still unhappy to be put through the heart break of thinking his hero had been killed.
The ever prevalent need to displace readers, and twist whole books to get results serves to only muddy the waters in an already convoluted universe. DC went nuclear a while back with the new 52 for better or worse committing themselves to a re-boot. I've always preferred Marvel over most publishers, however in the last 2 years I have only purchased one Marvel book (Man-Thing). I have been completely disenfranchised with their need to try and re-create the types of successes they had with Civil War.
The deaths of superheroes the obsessive need for variants - overtly gimmicky cross-overs all serve as symptoms to a larger problem. The Marvel Universe is lost.
I keep waiting watching and hoping but I have been dismayed. I'm sure there are some great Marvel Books out there and I'm sure they have a plan moving forward - but I'm a traditionalist and the fray they've created in the rope is all but ready to snap and drop the payload leaving them in the same predicament DC found themselves suffering through.
Somewhere it would seem Stan Lee is standing with his hand on the Nuclear Button just waiting for the moment when they can no longer keep the damn from breaking.
I could be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time. Story-lines have always been a bit confusing, there has always been overlaps, or changes or character updates - but I believe we are in uncharted territory now. I believe that it's been coming for quite some time and no amount of variant prints is going to prevent it.
http://bit.ly/2ouxze9
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