Friday, March 09, 2007

How long will this last?

Since the news of Captain America #25 has reached even the underside of my rock, I feel I can safely assume we're beyond spoiler warnings by this point. (At least, I am, since someone at work read it off of CNN before I had a chance to run to the store.) If not, this poll is pretty vague anyway.

[Poll Closed. Results.]


I have an idea of what this and Civil War probably symbolizes, and what happens next based on that idea, but I think I'll spare you because its absurd to postulate that a story centering on Captain America is necessarily about the United States. That sort of absurd self-centeredness is why people hate Americans, after all.

18 comments:

  1. Oh come on - I'd love to hear what you're thinking about this. Please? Marvel just had a big cross-over that was almost literally the military-industrial complex versus America and in the end the military-industrial complex defeated America with the help of the 911 heroes. Then they locked America away, berated it with rants about how old ideals are no longer important in the age of YouTube and American Idol and NASCAR. Then they shot America in the gut and left it for dead on the steps of a courthouse.

    Was the metaphor intentional or not? I dunno -- but that's what I got out of it. I'd be interested to hear what you think.

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  2. I think he'll be back by July 4, 2008.

    And if he were meant to represent America, he'd have a silhouette of the contiguous 48 states, plus Alaska and Hawaii, and all US territories and protectorates on his forehead. He very clearly is meant to represent the letter A (a frequent sponsor of Sesame Street).

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  3. After the disaster that was Civil War, I can honestly say, that I no longer even care. Of course he isn't dead...they've killed him off at least half a dozen times before anyway.

    I had my choice of both covers Wednesday, and I put them both back on the shelf. Pfooey.

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  4. Hmm. My general answer is "within the year", so I'm not sure where to place it- the temptation to write "The Rebirth of Captain America" is just too damn strong, but there's always a grace period.

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  5. Thing is Brubaker is doing a bang-up job as the writer. What if the sales don't drop?

    (I just wants him to stay dead for a while, damn it. His ressurection should actually mean something.)

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  6. Marvel just had a big cross-over that was almost literally the military-industrial complex versus America and in the end the military-industrial complex defeated America with the help of the 911 heroes. Then they locked America away, berated it with rants about how old ideals are no longer important in the age of YouTube and American Idol and NASCAR. Then they shot America in the gut and left it for dead on the steps of a courthouse.

    And then they said _that this was a good thing_. That was the freaky thing about it, and what made me say make mine something other than Marvel. And it wasn't mean to be ironic, because they changed world rules to enforce it; the proreggers threw around power hunting antiregger kids and killed no one, but much less powerful antireggers managed to kill four dozen people during the escape attempt.

    Btw, can I steal your quote for a post somewhere else? Credit given, of course.

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  7. I voted reversed next September 11th. It would be the kind of tasteless thing they'd do, after all the comparisons of Civil War to real-world historical events.

    My first choice was that it would be reversed when sales started to drop, but then I thought if they're anything at all like DC, they won't even be paying attention.

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  8. What I don't get is that they've already said he's not dead in Initiative. Except apparently Joe Q said that wasn't true. So it all gets thoroughly confused and ever more pointless.

    Me, I prefered it when they told stories rather than held events.

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  9. I keep telling myself they don't seriously intend for this to be permanent -- if they were really killing Cap off, wouldn't they at least let him go down swinging?

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  10. I chose "By September 11th", because it was the furthest thing from now... but I think this story will last longer than that.

    I mean, it's going to be another 5 issues until the event and it's fallout is done with, then the "Who Is Captain America" story for six issues where there's someone unworthy is running around dressed as cap, then another 12 where someone else takes up the mantle before Steve's return.

    That's my guess anyway.

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  11. Anyone who has MySpace or YouTube has already been spoiled.



    Y'know, I really expected this to be a pretty quick turn around. Maybe four to eight issues of 'Cap is dead, long live Cap' -- but given the amount of press it's garnered, I expect this to be drawn out much longer than necessary.

    I'm still voting by July 4, but deep down I think this one will, if not motivated by, fall more around the length of 'sales dropping.'

    It's so... Bleh.
    You're not going to kill off Captain America for good, so why even pretend?

    Maybe the Persians were right...
    HEY NOW!

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  12. I have an idea of what this and Civil War probably symbolizes, and what happens next based on that idea, but I think I'll spare you
    Please indulge us. I want to hear it.

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  13. I'm not sure if that's such a great idea...I remember how after "Gethsemane" (that X-Files cliffhanger where it looks like Mulder kills himself) everybody sat down and plotted out in detail every possible way it could play out. When the season premiere came out and it turned out to be Solution #2, Variation B from the list we'd drawn up, it was kind of an anticlimax...

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  14. "its absurd to postulate that a story centering on Captain America is necessarily about the United States. That sort of absurd self-centeredness is why people hate Americans, after all."

    But..."America" is in his name..

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  15. I don't think steve is dead. THe guys taken countless gunshots before. What I think he is is tied to slab somewhere forced to watch a screen broadcasting some evil villain (THe Red Skull)'s plot against america unfold.

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  16. But..."America" is in his name..

    Does that mean he represents South America as well as North America then? Now, if his name was US Agent...

    I does look like Civil War was Mark Millar's little (well, rather large actually) dig at the USA. I find it, erm, interesting to watch the response. Rather than boycott the whole thing, American people are buying it more than anything else (comic book wise)!

    Anyway, I vote for "Reversed by 4th July 2008". That'll give them time to get past the whole Initiative and World War Hulk stuff and then have a build up for The Return.

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  17. I went with "until sales drop" considering that to be a fairly significant time, possibly measured in years rather than months. (Obviously, not until sales drop below the levels of #25. But until sales drop below what they were running around #20-#24. And then two or three months more while the Monkeys write the next crossover to accomplish the return.)

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  18. laura - feel free to use the quote if you still want to. Sorry I didn't get back to this thread sooner - work has been kicking me in the behind this week.

    nimbus -
    "I does look like Civil War was Mark Millar's little ... dig at the USA. ... Rather than boycott the whole thing, American people are buying it more than anything else!"

    I would point to the ending of Wanted to see what Millar seems to think of the comics buying public at large. I read the ending of Civil War in much the same vein as the ending of Wanted, but without the lead character actually telling the reader what Millar thinks of him.

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