Well, it was a long shot, but I was COMPLETELY off regarding the big ’spoiler’ for Fallen Son: the Death of Captain America - Iron Man. We got in a preview copy at work and lo and behold… it wasn’t that much of a spoiler after all (like they weren’t going to have a funeral for someone as important as Captain FREAKIN’ America!). I was thinking more a ‘late breaking news story’ rather than something for the Today show to talk about in regards to the Fourth of July. But man, wasn’t it kind of exciting, even it it was far-fetched? Can you imagine a day where an African-American could take on the mantle of Captain America?
Anyhow, the week started with the news already starting to pick up the story, letting people know that yes, Captain America is still dead and is being buried with the issue’s release after the Fourth of July. Jeph Loeb, who is quoted through most of the interviews I’ve seen (and not Ed Brubaker; does this make the man who killed Cap less important than the man who buries him?), has said that “it’s impossible not to have it at least be a metaphor for the complications of present day.” And that’s perfectly true, more than I think even Marvel Comics realizes.
INSIDE! Silent War #6 and Fallen Son: the Death of Captain America - Iron Man; grab your books and head on in!
The funeral is a well written ode to Captain America and what he stood for, a valiant era in our nation’s history. As Sam Wilson makes a fantastic speech (making me almost wish the book was his spotlight story rather than Iron Man’s), he calls on people who had been personally affected by Steve Rogers’s heroism to stand up, uniting a large group of people form all walks of life, from the common man to the uncommon hero. The brilliant artwork of John Cassidy lights up the speech as Captain America looms larger than life on the page, shown at his best.
Yes, this book really does feel like a funeral, making speaking of Cap in the past tense a lot easier despite his ‘comic book death’. Just as a reader and fan, there’s a sort of finality to it all, that this man and the era he came from that Sam Wilson lays to rest is over, that his memory will live on but the World War II hero is no more.
Taking it in the larger sense, that’s kind of depressing, isn’t it? That the idea of might for right, black and white good and bad and heralding ideals that maybe corny or outdated but still honest and true is put to rest on the page along with Steve Rogers. It’s human nature to put yourself into stories and relate the heroes to your own experiences; Jeph Loeb wrote this from his personal experience grieving for his son and myself, well… I read this from the perspective of a fan and young adult living in a country at war.
I also read Silent War #6 and again found myself looking at the story through a metaphor of the modern day. SHIELD, the extra-government intelligence and security organization dedicated to protecting the nations and peoples of Earth from all threats, terrestrial or extraterrestrial, is aiding the US government to wage a ‘Silent War’ with the Inhumans after taking their Terrigen Mists into custody. To protect themselves from this alien threat, the government subjects its own soldiers to the Mists, giving them super powers that will, quite shortly, kill them. These soldiers are then taken to the moon to fight the Inhumans upfront; when one of them dies from the Mist’s influence, the Inhumans accepts thier surrender and takes the remaining into custody.
At this point, once inside the Inhuman city of Atillan, one of the soldiers is detonated, her last worlds blessing America.
Atillan is in ruins after the explosion, the blast visible from Earth, and their king Black Bolt nearly buried under the rubble.
Yeah, it is very hard to read comics and not relate their world to yours, consider four-color stories a metaphor for modern day events and not wonder at where have all the heroes gone.
We’ll miss you, Captain America.
July 4th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
I still question the Captain America being “dead” business when Ultimate Captain America is still very much alive. After all, which one is more “real” than the other? The media seems to have overlooked that Marvel has two Captain Americas named Steve Rogers who were revived from suspended animation, and one of them is still very much alive.
July 4th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
But your forgetting the fact that Ultimate Captain America is a complete DICK.
July 4th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
And that’s not a metaphor for modern day events?