Let's Talk Comics

We had to know this was coming. It’s just the way comics work at the big two.  Before I write about the return of Steve Rogers, I’d like to write about the main part of this month’s milestone 600th issue of Captain America.

The main story of the anniversary issue was a good way to pay tribute to Steve Rogers while both push the main story forward and seed future plots. I find myself curious as to what role Rikki Barnes is going to play in the future of the comic.

I did, however, feel that the reveal of the weapon used to assassinate Steve Rogers not being a normal gun in the main plot was a bit too much of a deus ex machina, even with the already seeded plotline of Sharon Carter’s brainwashing.

This brings us to the topic that has caused the most buzz: the announcement that Steve Rogers would return to the land of the living.

I love Brubaker’s work on Captain America so far and I trust that he will tell a great story in the Reborn mini-series. He has not let us down yet, so there is no reason to think he’ll let us down now. My problem with his coming back has nothing to do with storytelling. Instead, it has to do with how emotionally powerful the death of Steve Rogers was to me.

Marvel’s Civil War crossover was the first comic series I ever read. I was in my late-teens at the time. I was attracted to the story’ political overtones and its use of allegory to tackle issues that I had, and still have, strong opinions about. During the crossover, I associated with the anti-registration side, and I found a hero in Steve Rogers. He wasn’t a hero to me because of his super-strength. He was a hero to me because of his ethics.

Steve Rogers, especially during Civil War,  represented the America I believe in. In World War II, soldiers fought and died to preserve the freedoms we enjoy today. It is emotionally distressing, in my opinion, to see our society come to a point where so many of us forget that freedom comes at a bloody cost. To see the side that valued security over freedom win, both in reality and in comics, saddened me.

The death of Steve Rogers represented the death of the American Dream that millions made the ultimate sacrifice for. To see that death reversed cheapens the symbolism behind the death of Captain America.

That being said, I believe that the return of Steve Rogers opens up doors to new stories, and I excitedly look forward to reading the story that Brubaker is telling.

Filed under: Articles Tagged: | Captain America, Comics, Ed Brubaker, Marvel, Reborn, Steve Rogers