The Captian has left the building...

Captain America, also known to the more well read and knowledgeable as Steve Rogers, died yesterday. Not really yesterday, but in the eyes of the public, he died yesterday. he got taken out by sniper fire.

to those of us in the industry, and I include myself among them, this is problematic. this means a drop in sales, after today. it also means I have people coming to my store trying to buy up my entire stock of the goddamn book. this is not cool. leave some for people who read the damn book.

this is only the beginning of the problems. Cap, as we fondly call him, is an American icon. he's been with us since world war two, fighting Nazis, and briefly the commies (though this was largely nick fury's department, with the space race and all). Cap stood for truth, justice, and the American way, whatever they mean. he fought the good fight, even after he was unfrozen from a block of ice and joined up with the avengers.

cap was a symbol of America, almost like superman, but more human. because after all, Steve Rogers was a human being. he was the patriotic hero of a generation, and continued to be so, until his demise yesterday. he risked his life time and time again for mom's apple pie, and... I don't know. whatever else is American these days. freedom fries. who the fuck knows. but he did it.

yesterday, someone almost cried when they read this story. I can understand this without hesitation. I have no qualms with being touched by a fictional entity. god knows, one changed my life.

but here's the problem. HE'S NOT FRONT PAGE NEWS. it does not matter except to the few who really care that he died, and even they know that this is just a goddamn stunt. nobody dies "for real" in mainstream comics. superman died, and he's back. so did red skull, Bucky, Jason Todd, hawk eye, the list goes on and on.

IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT HE'S DEAD. grieve personally. not publicly. he's not worthy of your tears, because his death is not one that meant something, then or now, and it never will. it'll ripple in the marvel universe, but it'll fade away in a couple of months. it always does.

NOBODY DIES IN MAINSTREAM COMICS!!!!

if someone like Jessey Custer, or Spider Jerusalem, or kabuki died, it would not matter. why? because he's not a marketing tool, he's not you old man's hero. most importantly, his story will never be over. he's part of an engine unlike anything we know, he's part of the corporate company owned armada of heroes. the story of these characters that we love and hate and are ambivalent about will never end. they'll be over, finally, when the company folds, and not a goddamn second sooner.

because they're part of such a beast, all that can be done with them is more. they cannot end, because if they do, the money stops coming. they exist in a world where stories go on forever, where the folklore is forever continued, new stories are told, and death is meaningless, because it is not lasting.

Steve Rogers, Captain America, whoever, FUCK YOU. no. excuse me.

Marvel Comics, fuck you. you've made your money. now earn it by letting him stay dead! but you won't, because you're probably down three quarters running, just like a few years ago, and civil war bombed like you never expected. that'd be a lie. the readers bought it, and you made your ends, and it never mattered. because you were just going to screw it up anyway. grow as a group of humans, not as a company, and let whatever respect and attachment you have/ had for these characters prevail over your bottom line, and keep them dead. they'll matter more this way.

[originally posted 3/8/07]