Thursday, March 8, 2007

Musing: The 'Death' of Captain America

That's not a spoiler at all if you were awake yesterday.

It's the story that no newspaper, television news station, or internet news failed to cover.

My contention is thus: As much as I enjoy Captain America (I'd be perfectly willing to get into a fanboy argument with nearly anyone about how I think Cap is the most iconic comic book character), I'm under the impression that anything that draws this much media attention to comic books is probably a good thing. Evidently Captain America #25 is flying off retailers shelves, so Marvel's PR people did a good job.

Creator's have been interviewing all over the place. Ed Brubaker, the current writer on Captain America, says he's been planning this for the past two years, and that he has two more years worth of Cap stories plotted out. Joe Quesada, Marvel's Editor in Chief, is loving the limelight, giving interviews to major papers (or at least AP). Even Jeph Loeb is getting some attention, as he's writing a five issue mini series about the Marvel Universe's reaction to the death.

I'm hopeful that this might draw in some new readers. Ed Brubaker is a fantastic talent for Marvel (this is what, third post in a row that deals with him?), though I'd be concerned that his book might not be right for new readers. While Brubaker's Cap is one of the best books coming out of Marvel, it's pretty well mired in continuity. Hopefully though, between Cap and Loeb's mini, the people at Marvel can turn some heads and get some more respect for comic books.

Of course, we all know Steve Rogers will be back in a year, right?

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