I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters...: When Will Dead Mean Dead?

Monday, 29 June 2009

When Will Dead Mean Dead?

I really thought Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, was dead.

And despite the fact the Reborn mini-series is being written by the ever-excellent Ed Brubaker I have to confess I'm a bit underwhelmed (and disappointed) by the fact that Marvel is bringing him back (and so soon after his headline-grabbing death).

Can't the death of a superhero actually mean something for once? As much as I like the character of the original Captain America, I thought it was a very brave decision for Marvel to kill him off and was impressed by the fact that it looked like he was going to stay dead.

Now I just feel ever so slightly cheated.

All that aside, io9 has some interesting speculation on what's really been going on with Steve Rogers...

5 serfs have something to say about this!:

AnonymousJun 29, 2009 09:27 AM
Why would you have ever thought he was going to stay dead? Pure naivete...
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Jeremy PatrickJun 29, 2009 11:09 AM
Yah, sorry to be mean, but have you ever read comic books before? Characters in mainstream shared universes only stay dead through unpopularity and being lost in the dregs of comic book history; any character with a shred of a fanbase will be brought back to life sooner or later. It was a hard lesson for me to learn, but it helped increase the appeal to me of creator-owned, non-shared universe series where, from time to time, characters actually do stay dead.
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The Acrobatic FleaJun 29, 2009 03:13 PM
I think you two failed to grasp the point I was getting across. I've been reading comics for around 30 years and seen countless characters die in a blaze of sales-grabbing publicity only to return later as if nothing had happened.

I know Steve Rogers was always destined to eventually return as Cap, but the "hero returning from the grave" is such a cliche in comics that it borders on farcical.

My naivete came in thinking Marvel might have actually tried to do something new with this format for once instead of trotting out the same old "ha, ha, fooled you, he wasn't really dead" shtick!

That's what I'm disappointed about; regardless of how brilliant Ed Brubaker's script is pretty much guaranteed to be, it's the fact that they're bringing him back so soon... especially after making such a big song and dance in the mainstream media (and, of course, no doubt boosting sales) about how brave and controversial they were in killing Cap off.
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Jeremy PatrickJun 29, 2009 09:31 PM
Sorry, my comment probably came off harsher than I intended. I agree with you that it is rather soon, but I guess what the Marvel folks are thinking is that once the initial sales and media boost gained from killing Cap has worn off, the only way they can get that sales and media attention boost back is is by bringing him back. Yes, it's cynical and short-term thinking that has a detrimental effects on any sort of reputable storytelling in the Marvel universe, but I guess that's life in the big biz of comics. I'm trying to think of other examples where major characters have been "killed". Superman had that big thing in the early 90s before returning all blue and funky; Spider-Man had that whole Clone Saga where he wasn't killed per se but they tried to abandon Peter Parker; the death of Hal Jordan lasted a couple of years before the whole Spectre thing went down (I think); Green Arrow/Oliver Queen didn't stay dead for long; Blue Beetle/Ted Kord is kinda dead and kinda back alive over in Booster Gold. Hmmmm . . . Comics and soap operas really do have a lot in common!
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The Acrobatic FleaJun 30, 2009 01:34 AM
Thanks for expanding your comments, Jeremy. Don't worry, I didn't think they were too harsh - sometimes it's just difficult to get the right tone in a short, written piece.

Between you and me, the "soap" aspect of "comics" is part of the appeal - watching characters grow, evolve, interact etc

My problem though is the habit of recycling cliches and I think we're both agreed that the "bringing a character back from the dead" is an overused gimmick by both the main publishers :-)

Of course, it's a trick situation because there has to be that threat of death (even to Superman) or there is no drama and comics would become boring.

But then when once you've actually killed a "source of income" what do you do? Bring him back, of course!
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