Oh, come on. Somebody had to make a Walt Whitman reference.
Out of respect to UK readers who don’t get their comics until today, and North American readers who may not have made it to the comic shop on Wednesday, I’ll hold off on the more obvious spoilers until after the jump.
After yesterday’s media avalanche — what writer Ed Brubaker, on his MySpace blog, labeled as the weirdest day of his life — I’d be surprised if there’s any reader of superhero comics who isn’t aware of what happens in Captain America #25.
As of tomorrow, all bets are off on the spoiler front. With all the coverage by mainstream media and comics news sites, and discussions on blogs and message boards, I’m not sure the details really can be considered spoilers anymore.
But for today, this is your final warning: If you don’t want the events of this week’s Captain America #25 spoiled, don’t read any further. Do not click “more.”
By Marvel’s count, more than 175 mainstream media outlets have carried news of Captain America’s murder on the steps of a federal courthouse, as depicted in this week’s issue.
The New York Daily News kicked off the frenzy yesterday morning with its “exclusive” report on Page 3. Other news sources quickly followed suit, with coverage ranging from straightforward to satirical. Some of the reports and accompanying headlines blended comic-book fiction with reality, leading to articles that read like something from the obituary page. (”Rogers was never married and has no known living relatives,” Variety wrote.)
Even the typically staid New York Times succumbed to the initial excitement, using the dry headline, “Captain America Is Dead; National Hero Since 1941,” and showcasing the story on the front page of its website.
Yesterday also saw television interviews with Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley and Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.
“So, as anyone with a TV or computer probably knows by now, Cap 25 came out, and the media apparently went crazy,” Brubaker writes on his MySpace blog. “Thank god for slow news days.”
“I did about ten interviews today,” he continues, “with more scheduled tomorrow. I was on two NPR shows — or at least I will be when they air. I’m on the Morning Edition tomorrow (Thursday) and I’ll be on On the Media this weekend. I also got called up by an afternoon drivetime radio show from the DC area — the Don and Mike Show — and did a really funny interview. Apparently they called up Patton Oswalt to get his reaction, and he suggested they call me, and so I ended up on ‘drivetime’ which was awesome. I even found a way to slip in a mention of Criminal.”
You can listen to Brubaker’s Morning Edition interview here.
Slow news day or not, the interest hasn’t died down quite yet, as morning newspapers in the United States pick up on the story at about the same time that media in other countries do. A quick Google search for “Captain America” brings back some 626 results from outlets in Australia, Canada, the UK, India, South Africa and throughout the United States.
I’ll give the coverage until at least Sunday, when lifestyle reporters likely will trot out historical retrospectives and analyses of the pop-cultural significance of the death of a comic-book symbol of America. That last part probably will give it a longer news cycle than the previous Civil War-related “event” — the unmasking of Spider-Man.
On the significance front, Tom Spurgeon has a good, bulleted (no pun intended) look at the bigger picture, pointing out that the “death and rebirth device” in modern heroic fiction goes back to at least Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.
I haven’t done more than skim a couple of message boards for fan reaction, but from what I’ve seen it’s a mix of skepticism, excitement and anger. Oh, and the usual declarations of, “I’ll never buy another Marvel comic.”
To those last folks, artist Leonard Kirk says, “Cap’s not dead!! At least he isn’t over in Marvel Adventures: The Avengers.
“For all you folks who are feeling so down in the dumps over the loss of everyone’s favorite patriot,” Kirk writes on his blog, “I just thought I’d remind you that Captain America is alive and well in the Marvel Adventures line of all-ages comics.”
March 8th, 2007 at 11:28 am
I think comics should use quotes around the word “dead.”
No quotes means 616 uncle-ben dead.
March 8th, 2007 at 11:33 am
My comic shop actually had a sign up list to get a copy of Cap #25, and I have to admit, there was definitely a buzz of excitement all through the store, as workers and fans alike saw all kinds of new faces looking for a copy.
Still, I’m a little rankled by some of the “Cap was out of touch” sentiment from Joey Q. and his posse, so let the Photoshop Follies begin.
March 8th, 2007 at 11:49 am
I avoided spoilers so well yesterday I didn’t even know I were spoilers to be avoided.
March 8th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Are you telling me that Captain America’s “freedom sense” couldn’t have sensed that a gunman was about to fire a bullet and kill Foggy Nelson…er, him?
He should have eaten more Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream Ice Cream. Tim Robbins says you can really taste the chunks of freedom.
“Inspired” by all this, I got to blogging about Jean Grey’s return to the Marvel Universe back in the mid-1980s and how it, and the plethora of “ret-con” and “stunt comic book” events that followed, helped kill my interest in superhero comics…
http://www.bestofmostof.com/07mar/index070308.htm
March 8th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
““Cap was out of touch” sentiment from Joey Q and his posse”
When did any writer ever say Captain America was out of touch? I know there was a character that said that, but in what interview did Joe Quesada say he thought Captain America was out of touch?
March 8th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I haven’t read Frontline #11 yet but when some reporter called him out of touch for not knowing what myspace was Captain’s correct response, should have been. “I’m sorry. I’ve been too fucking busy saving the world, over and over again.”
March 8th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
I am not sure about that out of touch line either. What a slap in the face to Ed B. and his writing that would be!
March 8th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
When this story gets on The Colbert Report, THEN it’ll be news. Who still reads The New York Times or watches CNN anymore?
March 8th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I made the mistake of reading Civil War The Initiative #1 before I read Captain America #25. So I didn’t think he really died. Watching the news and reading Marvel’s site made me realize it was true.
Richard
http://1rightopinion-comics.blogspot.com/
March 8th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
“…but in what interview did Joe Quesada say he thought Captain America was out of touch?”
From a CNN article:
“He hasn’t been living in the modern world and the world does move,” says Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.”
Writer Paul Jenkins through character Sally Floyd in Frontline #11:
Sally: Let me ask you something sir: Do you know what MySpace is?
Cap: I’m not sure I understand the relevance of that question, Sally.
Sally: No, you just don’t understand the question, Sir. I’m trying to illustrate a point here, so bear with me. Do you know who won the last World Series, or who was the last American Idol? When was the last time you attended a Nascar race Watched the Simpsons or logged onto YouTube to watch a stupid video? Answer?
Cap: [befuddled silence]
Sally: Exactly. Never. You hold America up as some shining beacon of perfection but you know next to nothing about it.
By “Joey Q’s posse”, I didn’t mean to paint everyone associated with Civil War with the same brush, particularly Brubaker. For that I apologize. However, it’s been pretty clear for a long time that the “cool kids” at Marvel have had a problem figuring out what to do with Cap in the modern age….as if his ideals had an expiration date attached to them.
March 8th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
“For that I apologize. However, it’s been pretty clear for a long time that the “cool kids” at Marvel have had a problem figuring out what to do with Cap in the modern age….as if his ideals had an expiration date attached to them.”
I don’t think that’s really a fair assessment. I don’t have a dog in this fight, so I’m being as unbiased as possible. I read the comics and interviews as the “man out of time” angle they almost always try to play with Cap. It’s not a new angle. I can think of plenty of writers just in the last 10 years or so that have done the whole “Cap realizes he is out of touch” thing. Heroes Reborn had Cap hop on a motorcycle to “find America.” Waid/Garney had Cap come back and be distrurbed by his “celebrity.” Waid/Kubert had Cap shaken when the Skrull impersonator ruined his standing with the public. Jurgens/Kubert had Cap out of touch with American politics. Reiber/Cassady had Cap disallusioned with American government (again). I won’t even get into what Austen did with Cap. The point is, the “man out of time” angle has been played, and the “modern” version is having Cap not know what American Idol or Nascar is.
I don’t buy the arguement that because Cap doesn’t know who won American Idol he’s out of touch, but I think that’s what they were trying to say.
Incidentally, I would have punched the reporter, and said, “Was I out of touch with America when I did that to HITLER?!?”
March 8th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
it is sad. thumbs down.
http://www.thumbwarz.com/index.phtml?snum=-1&sterm=the%20death%20of%20Captain%20America&limit=0
March 8th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Apparently I too should be shot and killed for I haven’t watched American Idol. Perhaps if I start a MySpace account it will be enough to save me.
March 8th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
“Writer Paul Jenkins through character Sally Floyd in Frontline #11:”
1: Just because a writer has a character say something, it doesn’t mean the writer believes that (Jenkins may very well believe it, but all we know is that Sally Floyd does). And during the same scene, Ben Urich tries to stop her tirade and remind her of journalistic objectivity.
2: The myspace comment is kind of silly, but the character did have to avoid not getting crushed by falling debris by hiding in a subway station, so she’s not exactly being rational. Plus it seems the notion there is that he spends so much time being an icon that he’s lost touch with everyday people, much the way presidents often do, not just that he’s old and out of touch. That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have put her in her place, but he’s also, you know, polite.
3: “Cool kids”? I find the comic fandom’s hyperawareness of what goes on (or what they think goes on) outside of the story itself, well, a little odd. When I’m reading a story, if it’s at all worthwhile, I’m reading the story, not speculating on the marketing decisions involved in the story.
March 8th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
“When I’m reading a story, if it’s at all worthwhile, I’m reading the story, not speculating on the marketing decisions involved in the story.”
Well, considering the people behind the comics are the subjects of countless press releases, interviews and their own hive-mind message boards, it’s hard not to read stories without the constant buzz of their hype machine ringing in the back of your brain…so it’s perfectly understandable that many of us fans would be commenting on the story from that perspective. It’s not like these guys work in an ivory tower. They put their PR spin, thought processes, their passion and (occasionally) commentary on the marketing aspects of the business out there for all to read and comment upon…so I find it odd that someone would act so surprised that people would respond to what’s already been put out there by the industry guys.
It’s good that you can shut it all out while your read the story, but at the same time, realize that many of us can’t help noticing that 800 lb. gorilla in the room and commenting on it.
March 9th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
You make a fair point, and the presence of creators on the Internet and elsewhere is one of the charms of comics. I’m not particularly surprised — I’ve read enough posts on message boards and blogs to know the score. I just find it strange because it’s not something you see as much in other media. A lot of it is worth discussion, especially if, say, Paul Jenkins were to say, “Yeah, Sally Floyd is talking for me,” but it seems to overtake the discussion sometimes, and Joey Q and his Cool Kids kind of thing really takes it to a different place.
So, uh, is he 800 lb. gorilla a talking gorilla hell-bent on taking over the world and enslaving humans?