Sigh. I'm beginning to sound like an old comic book geek who doesn't like change. But I don't. At least I can admit it.
I think us old timers (even though I'm only 31) have been around enough to get bored on the whole "comic book death" event. I'm not about to say, like some have, that killing Cap is anti-American. It's not. He's a comic book creation. Fictional, unreal,
unliving. So as I examine why we get so upset about these deaths, it's less about missing the character (he'll be back) and more about simply being tired of the publicity stunts.
I haven't read much about what
Quesada or
Brubaker have said about the merits of the story. To be honest, I don't care about said merits. I think both men are highly effective story tellers and
Quesada has done a good job overall bringing some zip back to Marvel. I have only minor complaints about things have happened over the years, but the who the hell am I to say, and I certainly understand and
appreciate that they will not make every fan happy, 100% of the time.
My
pissiness (is that a word?) started when they brought back
Bucky. And maybe this is all one big
elaborate story that we eventually find out it's not actually Bucky, but he's been back long enough that might be a worse scenario. I wish I could have been in that Marvel meeting when someone came up with the idea about bringing Bucky back. I just would have liked to have heard how the conversation went. I would've just started laughing. And then jokingly made a comment about bringing Gwen Stacy and Uncle Ben back as Russian spies. Some things should be held sacred.
But it's not always just about story, and to be honest, it can't be. Comics have been feeling the pinch for well over a decade and anything that leads to increase in sales needs to be thrown on the table. But at what peril? And, did the comics industry get to this sad state of affairs because of all these publicity stunts.
So as my mind continues to ramble, I start asking myself if this will be good for comics in the long run. I mean, my Grandma new that Cap got killed cause she read it in Time. My 81 year old grandmother. And she has never read a superhero comic book.
So let's assume that killing Cap
gets potential comic book consumers in the stores,
interested in the character. Then what? There are no new books coming out with Cap in them, not that would make sense to the casual reader anyway. There are plenty of
TPB and
HC of past story lines and issues runs. But no new material is coming out...he's dead. There is nothing for the potential consumer to become interested in.
They will bring him back eventually. And don't think they're not going to. With a Cap movie in the works they will not lose out on the marketing potential of tie in issues, movie issues, special issues, limited series, etc. But will Time run the story about Cap coming back to life? No. So the potential consumer, finding nothing new and exciting on Cap, would have already walked away. And most likely won't hear, or care, that Cap is back.
But in the short term it looks good for Marvel. High publicity. High interest. High sales (could be the highest selling issue in over a decade). High controversy, which is never a bad thing. I just got nervous about what this means for the long run and more importantly, how this impacts the character's future stories and future standing.
But I guess he came back from the dead before....
Labels: Comics, Marvel Comics
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