It wasn’t exactly “a shot heard ’round the world,” but it did manage to grab a few headlines.
On March 7, Marvel Comics killed Captain America. And by killed, I mean shot repeatedly. I would tell you to go to wikipedia.com for more info, but if you’re a comic book geek (like me), you already know what happened. Jack Ruby got him with three slugs at the courthouse (Happy birthday, Jack!).
Suffice it to say, comic book writers killed off a character that epitomized America. (Captain America = America. Superman = American Dream. Wonder Woman = pervert’s dream.)
Well, I hate to be the one to break it to Marvel and all the fanboys out there, but this guy’s been dead for a while now.
Using the same news release video edited to appear fresh and original, numerous news channels have jumped on the bandwagon to show Joe Quesada, Marvel’s editor-in-chief, plead his case that this is a real death in the comics. (Just as real as the movie in the works.)
Some reviewers (yes, people get jobs as comic book reviewers) claim this is Marvel’s way of protesting the Patriot Act and the Iraq War and the Bush administration’s policies and probably the end of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” (Lord, knows why.)
But if this is the case, there are a few problems at the logic factory. First: Marvel got to the party late with the anti-Bush/anti-war/anti-Big Brother rhetoric. If it was courageous, it would have killed the captain three years ago. Second: Sorry folks, this old soldier’s been dead for a while.
Captain America stopped living years ago when our civil liberties became passé as compared to the newest cell phone (no court-ordered wire tap necessary!). Cap and the ideals he stood for no longer mattered against a backdrop of immoral celebrity role models, corporations bankrupting their workers, politicians cow-towing to lobbyist’s interests and clergy sex scandals.
In terms of meaning, Captain America died the moment America closed its eyes and hoped that our fearless leaders would make those awful terrorists go away. Just let daddy take care of it and don’t ask how. Now let’s put those silly little civil liberties – er, I mean toys — away and let’s go nighty-night.
It comes as little surprise Cap died on the one-year anniversary of the Senate’s renewal of the Patriot Act. And two days after the fictional hero’s “death” the U.S. Department of Justice issued a statement claiming the FBI had acted illegally in its use of the Patriot Act to obtain information about U.S. citizens.
In a world where the norm is to do as authority dictates with no way of questioning their actions, whether well-intentioned or not, America has died. To go blindly, trusting that someone else knows best and they cannot be wrong is a fool’s errand.
Since when did it become unpatriotic to question authority?
Every time I try to get information for a story on campus and someone doesn’t return calls or e-mails – or worse, tells everyone in his department they can’t talk to media – it makes me wonder what they are hiding. (I know. It’s Commerce. Go back to sleep.)
When someone tells me I can’t satirize, criticize or ridicule something, I feel a twinge of 1940s Germany, a hint of Taliban-era Afghanistan and an Orwellian chill running up my spine. And maybe the Spanish Inquisition, too.
In the 1940s, Timely (now Marvel) featured Captain America slugging Hitler on more than one occasion – and not just on the covers, Superman fans. He took the fight to where it was being waged and fought alongside GIs. Immediately after Sept. 11, Cap was in the Middle East tackling terrorists.
Then he stopped. In the comics, he still fought villains, but not the ones who were targeting Americans in our reality. Hey, kids! It’s just like our real leaders!
Let’s face it, fanboys, Cap will be back. Just wait a little while and say, “I believe in patriots!” and he’ll hop right back up, walking hand in hand with Jesus and Jack Kennedy, ready to save us all.
Or … he won’t. Then what? Will we need to be the carriers of the flame, er, shield? Will we crawl out of our beds and open our eyes to our government’s deeds?
Face front, true believers, at some point in all our lives it’s time to put away the funny books and stand up and take our country back. And after we clean our own house, it’ll be time to kick some terrorist ass.
E-mail Troy at theeasttexan@gmail.com