5 Possible Reasons they killed Captain America

Before getting to work today, I thought I’d procrastinate a while.

It’s the professional thing to do (as I was noticing while reading the latest issue of “The Cartoon!st”, the official publication of the National Cartoonists Society).

Anyway, rather than read all the exploits of my fellow cartoonists, or do all the work I have to do (several illustrations for READ! magazine, a CD cover for a metal band out of San Francisco, and a bunch of illustrations for Kaso Comics) I thought I’d comment on the “Death of Captain America.”

Needless to say, I am pretty cynical about this move on Marvel Comic’s part. You wouldn’t catch DC doing this sort of stuff with Superman! Oh, wait, they already did…

Anyway, I thought I’d list off five possible reasons that Marvel chose to kill off one of comic’s most beloved characters.

5) Is Joe Simon’s lawsuit for the return of the rights to Cap settled? I never saw the end of the thing in the comics press, (since that was about the time I got really ticked off about the whole process of trying to be a full time comics artist and decided to actually make a living as an illustrator). If Joe’s still got a case pending, then I can see the wheels turning at Marvel. “We own the TRADEMARK on the name. Joe created a particular character, which he may or may not own the COPYRIGHT on. So we kill off Steve Rogers, wait a while, and then come out with the ‘New-Improved Captain America’ !” (possibly a more PC version, see below).

4) Marvel simply didn’t know what to do with Cap any more. He’s a non-PC character in the hands of more or less PC editors and publishers. You can’t make a character like Steve Rogers “politically correct” without scrapping the entire continuity of the past. Joe Simon was quoted on the news show I saw (on a Fox station BTW) as saying that he isn’t happy, and that America really needs a character like Cap right now. I agree. But a compassionate conservative like Cap just doesn’t fly with the Marvel editorial slant, and so he’s got to go.

3) They were concerned that DC’s “52” was, in fact, outselling Marvel’s “Civil War”. (To be honest I have hardly touched either series myself. Both appeared too grim to even consider, and so I’ve only paid a little attention to either. I have to say that the art has been nice, what I’ve seen of it, on both maxi series). Also, it should be noted that “52” is a weekly series, while “Civil War” has been a regular monthly; so any talk of “outselling” on DC’s part is primarily a numbers game, although if we’re just talking in the sense of moving tons of paper around, then DC has won this hand.

2) They thought it would get the attention of the news media (it did) and help them sell a bunch of comics.

1) They thought it would sell a bunch of comics.

There you have it. A brief, cynical, analysis of the latest event in big-time American comics publishing. I’m not buying a copy myself. I can imagine that even now the comic shops are posting “Sold out of the Death of Captain America” signs on their doors.

I’m not saying that it isn’t an interesting story idea. What I am saying is something my wife mentioned just last night; “why is every storyline lately about death?” I’ll go further than that, “why is every storyline lately about VIOLENT death?” We need more life in comics. We need more life in the media in general. Sad state of affairs.