CAP FLAP

As a long-time comic book fan, I find it amusing when something from the comic book world spills out to the general public. This happens a little bit whenever a new superhero movie is released, but that’s generally along the lines of “Hey! I remember the Fantastic Four. And Jessica Alba is HOT!”

But only rarely does something happen that actually gets news coverage. This happened with DC killed off Superman a decade ago (he got better).

And it’s happening right now with the death of Captain America.

Now, no-one is going to say that Captain America (or just “Cap” to us fanboys) is as well-known or iconic as Superman. But people still know who he is and, apparently, are up in arms that he’s been killed.

Personally, I haven’t been reading the “Civil War” story line. I gave up on Marvel cross-overs years ago because they were, without exception, hokey, ham-handed attempts to sell more comics (Um, The Beyonder, anyone?)

But from the little I have read, Civil War sounds like a much more mature (in the sense of a more grown-up theme, not as in lots of bare boobies) comic. I’ll probably pick it up when the inevitable trade paperback comes out. In terms of the plot, Cap dying seems to make sense (in that it’s a senseless killing, if you see what I mean) and not just a ploy to sell more funnybooks.

It’s amusing to see how people outside of the comic world react to the news. These are people who haven’t read a comic book in decades, and couldn’t have told you what the current Captain America story line is if you put a gun to their heads. But I guess they were unconsciously comforted that the red, white and blue masked Avenger was still out there, making the bad guys accountable for their actions. And now that he’s dead, well, good God, who will protect us?!

Of course, no fanboy in his right mind expects Cap to stay dead. If it even is the real Captain America. I mean, there’s no shortage of clones, doppelgangers, shape-shifting aliens and androids in comic books, so it might not even be him.

Also, there’s a plethora of beings in the Marvel Universe who apparently have the power over life and death, so some collective bargaining on the part of the surviving heroes might return Cap to the land of the living.

Or maybe, just maybe, Cap really is dead, and is going to stay that way. That would be an amazing statement from the writers and editors at Marvel, and would really bring home the importance of the Civil War story as it applies to real things happening in our country right now.

But I don’t expect that to happen. Look for the triumphant return of the good Captain (coming soon to a theater near you!)

###