Comic Book Resources

meh, reminds me of how every supposed "big deal" in 52 has been spoiled by Didio, to the extent that at one point the artists were even putting them on the covers (booster / supernova).

also, i give it six months.

this is not cool. i can't think of any purpose it would serve and A SNIPER?! not even the red skull's cousin on his mother's side's twice removed step-father's brother? C'MON!

i give it twelve months because this is the age of decompression, baby!

yes it does suck when the internet does this

Hrm.

Suspiciously crap sniper.

Avoids clean headshot for gory poo-poisoning-related death.

All for show?

Cap now dead for second time in twelve years.

//\яR/\\

I don't really care about Cap's "death," but that "Cap Traitor" protest poster, with the no sign around the shield, is pretty great. Nice bit of design there.

Newsarama has a larger version here: http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/CapAmerica/DDream/Cap_pages-2.jpg

After reading roughly seventy-five issues of Captain America straight over the course of a week (god bless Essentials), I can say that this is now proof positive that this isn't the real Cap. The real Cap couldn't be taken out by ten snipers if he was blindfolded, hobbled, shieldless, and drugged.

Still, I look forward to the next shock-factor Marvel sales hook. "Johnny Storm secretly a child molester!" "New Thor a male prostitute!" "Hulk and Thing get married!" "Ms. Marvel into bestiality!"

I expect a job offer from Marvel any second now.

(Wow, I'm getting cynical. At this rate, I could start my own set of posts--"Snark-Saturated Corner.")

""I was shocked. I was not expecting it," said Gerry Gladston, co-owner of Midtown Comics in Manhattan. "I'd rather they didn't kill him - but it's going to mean great sales.""

It's sad because it's true

Sales will skyrocket and Cap will be back in about 6 months or so, in time for the next big event.

This is bizarre: isn't this the real ending to Civil War? Wouldn't it have made more sense to do this in the pages of Civil War, instead of the lame ending everyone seems to hate? The cover says "Epilogue", but it really seems to be a conclusion.

Also: He gets shot? While under SHIELD protection? And dies? Next Month: Batman gets done by Guy With A Switchblade!

The month after: Superman falls down stairs, breaks neck!

Yeah, that was weird to me as well. It sure as hell seemed like Cap was gonna bite it in Civil War. When he didn't, I thought maybe they weren't going to do it. While it's odd that it didn't happen in the "Big Summer Event" I'd rather his death be handled by Brubaker than Millar.

It's even funnier when journalists who don't normally cover comic books try to write about them. The Daily News guy writes: "His death is sure to ignite controversy in the comic book world - still reeling from Superman's death in 1993 and resurrection the following year ... "

Still reeling? Yikes, Daily News. Way to be out of touch!

Most of us in "the comic book world" knew Superman's death wasn't going to be permanent from the moment it was announced. It was the rest of the dopey American public that went ga-ga over that mediocre story.

This smells like a set-up. Fake Captain America's death; he goes off and "finds America" AGAIN.

After Frontline #11, does he really wanna find it? (NASCAR & MySpace?!? - He'll come back in 6 months as Captain Mediocrity)

Also, he's wearing his costume, you're telling me that Cap's costume isn't bullet proof? Ug. I really don't have a big problem with this, seeing as how his "death" is about as certain as Superman's was. I like Brubaker and I'll try to give it a chance.

That said, it all looks pretty stupid.

Hey, remember when Marvel accidently shipped an issue of Thunderbolts that spoiled Civil War #2 as part of the first look program, and they freaked out, basically threatening anyone who posted pages from it? And then they went out of their way to spoil it themselves? Bloody wankers.

I'm sure some people are still reeling from Superman's death. Mostly people who have 100 copies of Superman #75 sitting in their basement and don't understand why they aren't profiting from their investment savvy, but aren't their feelings important, too?

(No, don't answer that.)

Where are my eyes? They seem to have rolled all the way out of my skull.

Too bad the spoiler in the media is all about the attempt at generating sales right now! today! from the non-comic reader at the expense of the loyal fans.

Obviously, a lot of this is just a publicity stunt, just like Spider-Man's unmasking. Marvel and the Big Q are all about getting in the newspapers. Whether or not it has any impact on getting people that aren't collectors out to a comics is debatable. But this will be a big deal to us, because lots of us that weren't planning on buying Captain America this week probably will (I'm still on the fence, I guess I'll decide in a few minutes when I go to the shop). Plus, retailers that had no idea this was coming will probably sell out very quickly, so Marvel and Wizard will be able to claim that Cap is now a "hot" book because of the scramble to get this issue. Then, in a year or two when the whole thing is just a distant memory, people will be wondering what all the fuss was about.

When did we all become so jaded in this hobby?

well, god help any comic nerd guy who happens to go to Yahoo today, because they have a huge ass pic of Captain America with the tagline OH NOES HE IS TEH DEAD!

spoilers ftw.

"Too bad the spoiler in the media is all about the attempt at generating sales right now! today! from the non-comic reader at the expense of the loyal fans. "

That's true.

I'm all for this then. Hooray for the Daily News.

If there's one thing I've learned from comic message boards, it's that I hate loyal fans more than anything.

"When did we all become so jaded in this hobby?"

*Shrug*

Realizing mainstream comics, and ALL commercial art such as Hollywood movies, TV and Pop Art, are profit-oriented doesn't seem jaded to me. Just accurate. Granted, comics have completely fucked this up, frittering away their hold on mass culture by trying to appeal to the "real fans." We shouldn't expect life-changing art from serial fiction.

I became jaded when I learned how DC comics dumped Gardner Fox.

Man, this will always hold a special place in my heart spared for stupid things.

*Actually reads the article.*

Nah. That's not a real spoiler, I bet. It's a metaphor.

Eh. This has convinced me to drop Captain America until it appears that Marvel are willing to let someone tell stories instead of produce hype.

I know Brubaker was in on the CW plot conferences, and that he's said he's happy about the post-CW direction of the book, but really...I defy anyone to read his Cap prior to CW and tell me that this doesn't amount to derailing a numkber of the plotlines and themes Brubaker had set up with Winter Soldier, Kronas Corporation, etc.

Hell, this is the second time Brubaker's plots have shifted because of some jackass crossover -- look at how long he kept Nick Fury in the book after Bendis decided to have him go rogue, the better to set up Maria Hill as a heavy in New Avengers.

Screw Marvel. I was happily enjoying a nice little Cap book, and they've gone and turned it into a 90s X-book. Oh well, it'll pick up 15,000 sales on the stunt and trade dress alone, so I'm clearly not "right" about this.

No way this will be a permanent "death". The really big question is: Why is it that whenever a writer wants to "explore what a character means in the wider sense of popular culture" the way they do it is to first kill the character or else drastically change him/her (yes, I'm looking at YOU "Death of Superman" and "Electric Blue Superman").

Sorry to continue the Superman references but Joe Kelly's Action Comics #775 has long been hailed as an excellent example of exploring what a character means culturally and Kelly did it in a single-issue story and didn't involve killing Superman either.

His candle burned out long before his spandex ever did

Hey, I had this spoiled by My MSN homepage when I logged on this morning. That wasa happy "Good Morning" to me.

I am giving them the benefit of the doubt, however. Brubaker is the man who killed off Foggy Nelson if only to put him in protective custody.

But, if Marvel is really serious about this and Cap is dead, I might just quit picking up Marvel books altogether. I'm really getting sick of their jerking people around with their leaked rumors about their storylines. "Thor is coming back in Civil War!" "No, he not. It's only a clone!" "Cap is going to die at the end of Civil War." "No, no one dies!" "No, Cap dies in CA #25".

At least they're getting some mainstream publicity out of this. Hopefully, they get more sheep...er...I mean more readers out of this.

Well, thanks Marvel. I can see it now...the Skull has the Cosmic Cube; it's all a fever dream; he'll be back in like 6 months. DC may have had Superboy-prime punch some walls, but Marvel has revived Bucky (well-done, but still), killed Aunt May (agin), turned Tony Stark into a SOB, "killed" Cap, outed Spidey, wrecked two different versions of the Avengers. Not to mention had Gwen sleep with Norman Osborn (and have kids with him) and "brought back" Uncle Ben and Captain MArvel hisself.

I think Ol' Quesada has decided to torch his fan base in order to ride the odd gimmicked sales spike every 6 months. Didio may have said the fans only have attention spans of 6 months or so about DC...but Marvel is the King of dump the old for a 2% gain...

MVL stocks up +0.02 already!

Yawn. Can we please find some writers who actually care about, you know, telling stories? Instead of playing at pretentious cultural and literary deconstruction exersizes? Or at least give these posers some of their own characters to screw up for a change?

And, seriously, A sniper? I guess that chainmail all over Cap's costume is just for show. Can you get any more lazy and contrived? When they "killed" Superman they at least made it exciting.

And how in the world would a measly shoulder and gut wound drop Captain America, anyway? He shrugs off mortal wounds for kicks. Heck, even Bucky would probably have laughed it off.

It's a special gimmick-bullet. Given to the sniper by the gods himself to increase Marvel sales.

Of course the sniper had no idea what that meant, but he decided to go with it.

And might I say kudos to Captain America for escaping the 616 universe!

themselves. I meant the gods themselves.

Jesus Buddha Spongebob whatever, don't let Bucky end up in that outfit...

Cap now dead for second time in twelve years.

Technically third, isn't it? He "died" in Onslaught, too.

The month after: Superman falls down stairs, breaks neck!

I have so very many tasteless, callous jokes running through my head now. At least you said "stairs" and not "horse."

I just want to know if he'll be buried in a tarp like Goliath.

Really, unless Adam Warren, Christopher Priest and/or Nextwave is involved, I'm not buying Marvel.

I don't want to read this. I don't like Brubaker's take on the character -- don't get me wrong, I think Brubaker can tell a good story and all, but Cap himself has come across as rather a generic morose, taciturn tough guy -- and anyway I see two possibilities:

1) They've actually killed Cap off, in an anticlimactic and, frankly, dull way

2) The death is as real as Foggy Nelson's in Brubaker's other book, or as Bucky's once Brubaker got his hands on this book.

In either case, why bother reading it? Nah. I'll hope for the best and wait until somebody writes a version of the character I like again. It's been a while.

I hear rumors that Punisher is to take on the Cap mantle, which sounds ridiculous to me. Even if I could buy that Frank was inspired by the example of a dedicated non-killer, the man just doesn't have the chops without his guns. And Cap with an AK-47 is just the Punisher in a funny outfit.

Actually, I thought of a potential upside to this: Maybe some non-comics-reading rube* will now pay for my Civil War run on eBay.

* That's distinct from me, the comics-reading curious rube who bought it to begin with.

I agree.....would have been nice if CBR didn't have the spoiler splashed across the front page....Newsarama managed not to do it.

It seems rather convenient for Cap to "die", right as they're introducing a new Ronin in the pages of New Avengers. They've hinted that it's going to be a character with a long history of identity changes. Cap/Steve Roger fits that bill perfectly (Nomad, The Captain) and he's also, in essence, a samurai without a master.

I could be wrong, but Cap's death seems like a convenient way to give Steve Rogers the Ronin identity and keep fans guessing as to who is/will be the newest Ronin.

"Clearly it can't be a dead character!"

I don't know though, I would be surprised if they had a staged Cap killing in Captain America. Didn't they already do that once with John Walker?

Steve Rogers > Ronin.

Ronin sucks.

I can't help but wonder if this was Brubaker's idea or if it was forced on him thanks to Civil War.

-M

On actually reading the issue, I thought the whole thing felt sort of perfunctory--"Let's get the death-faking out of the way, so we can get on to the real plot." Without spoiling anything for anyone, the person behind the "death" has a long, long history of being in a position where he could easily kill Captain America, but instead coming up with an over-complicated plot that leaves him alive so he can "suffer". (See how I left that a big mystery. )

The "death" is obviously faked, he doesn't even die on-panel, and the only aspect that's irritating is the fact that they're reporting it in the news as real. (Which doesn't annoy me because of the spoiling, but because the news isn't going to later report, "Captain America alive after all!" So ten years from now, I'm going to still be explaining to non-comics fans that he came back. Heck, I think most people probably just found out from this article that they brought back Superman. )

What sucks is how even if you are good at avoiding the spoilers (as I was when Spidey unmasked), you still have everyone in your office/calling you all day to ask you about it because they happen to have read something on Yahoo.

God damn did that infuriate me.

Well I had it spoiled this morning by three separate headlines on the CBR front page - annoying!

The month after: Superman falls down stairs, breaks neck!

Hey, I'd read that story. Those stairs would do more than any villain ever did and it would be more believable than a villain doing it.

At one, brief moment in my life, I thought that Joe Quesada might actually do something that no other EIC at Marvel ever did...
...make me like Marvel Comics...

Well...it looks as though that brief moment turned out to be a moment too long.

I've always kept a small collection of Marvel's comics going. A mini-series here, a favorite creator's run there, etc. But, since I had the misfortune of having Norman Osborn's "O" face glare at me, I have come to believe that nothing good will come from Joe's reign.

Okay...I'll alter that last remark to say that very few things will be good. After all, he did green light (and then red light) Nextwave.

The recent goings-on at the House Of Ill-planned Ideas just reinforces my dream of starting a new comic company that doesn't take the reader for granted.

Oh yeah...
Dan DiDio and DC Comics...
You guys aren't looking so hot lately either.

Just counting the days now until I've finally had enough and just quit comics altogether...*sigh*...

In Defense of Joe Q, he didn't put the red light on Nextwave. Stuart Immonen got the Ultimate Spiderman gig, didn't have time for Nextwave, and Warren Ellis didn't want to do the book without him. When Immonen has time, we'll see more Nextwave.

The one thing I don't understand is that when civil war 7 ends with more of a whimper then a bang people complain that nothing happened. Then when something does happen in Captain America #25 people complain that something big happened just for hype. Kind of a darned if you do and darned if you don't situation for Marvel.

My complaints about Civil War have had little to do with some notion that the ending was "a whimper." In fact, most of the complaints I've seen around here have been about the politics of the story, and the bizarrely selective and pessimistic idea of "realism" that seems to animate it as a project.

Okay...I stand corrected on Nextwave...
Kudos to Marvel and Warren for allowing it to end than not have Immonen on it.
If nothing else, I'll always have..."Nextwave are in your room and touching your stuff."
Good times...
Good times...

I still don't much care for that Joe Q. guy, though.