Is NOTHING Sacred Any Longer?

To paraphrase a line from South Park: They Killed Captain America...You Bastards!

Actually, he wasn't "just" killed...he was assassinated! First shot by a sniper from a rooftop with a high-powered rifle, then shot 3 times in the stomach at close range...in NYC, no less! In the realm of "comicdom", THIS NYC had placed our good Captain under arrest for failure to sign the government's Superhero Registration Act , thereby forcing him to reveal his real identity (the bane of any good superhero).

Having been an avid comic collector over the years, I can't help but read more into this. There seems to be a duplicity at work here. Sure, there's the hype that surrounds the death of ANY superhero (remember the death of Superman back in the '90s?), and that alone is sufficient to send sales soaring to loftier heights. But think about this wave of anti-war sentiments we have here today. And then think about killing off one of the bastions of patriotism - Captain America, who began his career fighting the nazis in WW2. Have we, as people of this nation become so very lais-sez-faire regarding what it still means to be an American these days? Something to ponder, yes?

Of course you realize that there IS a movie in the works. That will make at least THREE films that I recall starring the star-spangled sentinel of justice, the last being made in 1990 (UK release straight to video) starring Matt Salinger with Ronny Cox and Darren McGavin, which wasn't all that bad, and an old B-movie serial starring Dick Purcell made back in 1944. There was even a paperback novel written by Ted White in 1968 (The Great Gold Steal - HTF) that although the storyline was weak (another Fort Knox heist), the characterization presented in the novel was rather well thought out. And the line of comics and graphic novels span the decades (and even a millenium).

For the full *411*: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_America

This won't be the first time Cap has "died". He was thought to have been killed while fighting Baron Zemo (a minion of the nazis), but was just "frozen" for some 25 (or so) years, until he was found by the Sub-Mariner and a group of superheroes known as the Avengers.

It seems to this comic fan that the way Captain America was killed (shot on the courthouse steps) is a rather ignominious way of offing such an icon. But will he stay dead? Is he in fact REALLY dead? Was it a stand-in that was killed instead of the real Captain America (Steve Rogers...yeah WE know his secret identity, but we ain't telling anyone)? Personally, I think Cap will be back...it's damn hard to keep a good man down, especially when it pertains to the values that Captain America represents. Just wait and see.

Still...In a world where sentiments run deep for both sides to ANY issue, and truth becomes a fast disappearing commodity, we ought to think long and hard about what might be inferred by killing someone who stood for the AMERICAN way, even if it's in the world of make-believe.

Patriotism is never without it's price...

...no matter what world you live in.