Captain America is dead. Assassinated. Which is a pretty apt image for most of modern superhero comics, especially the Marvel variety.

Beyond the mere gore, there is of course the symbolism. In keeping with the adage "if it bleeds, it leads" we have, as I have said here before, a perfect refutation of the essential wonder and escapism of comics. At least, comics as I have known them (superhero comics, which aught to entertain and inspire, in precisely that order).

Within minutes of finding this news, I also found blogs, and even somewhat more legitimate news services, making hay over the meaning of this event. The gist, of course, being that this is what happens in Bush's America, where heroes are slaughtered by an uncaring and dangerously arrogant system (ie.: America itself, if you cannot read that "subtle" of a subtext). The cherry picking of meaning in this fashion, however, ignores the truth of the crass commercialism which is driving this whole charade, which has been labeled "Civil War" in the Marvel comics universe.

The death of Marvel's flagship hero is just another publicity grabber and psuedo-event (like the whole Civil War series), by which the writers probably hope to show their great introspection on the issues of our age (the age of the Iraq War and the War on Terror), and their concern for civil liberties. After all, if Captain America is opposing the government, then he is opposing George Bush and company, whether named or not, and if Cap falls then no one is safe.

As a wise man has said: That is what alternate universes are for. Wasn't the crass "realism" of the Ultimates universe enough for the monstrous self-indulgence of these writers? Doesn't that outlet for their black-hearted, unrestrained "artistry" suffice. No, we had to see the whole of the so-called Marvel Universe hitch it's star to some grandiose, stomach churning, heart rending civil apocalypse (so far as our favorite characters are concerned), from which there is no coming back. The innocence and inspiration of super hero comics has been pretty brutally murdered, and for not much more than the sheer callow thrill of it. I cannot believe for one minute that anyone connected to this charade has any real love of the comics they are destroying, and that, Yes, it is all for the money.

The real artistry of the superhero comic is pretty much gone, at least at Marvel Comics.
Well, so long.