You've heard about it on "The Colbert Report," but not from an analytical or personal perspective, which is why this comic review is taking a different format this week. The issue at hand is indeed "Captain America #25," or "The Death of Captain America."
Marvel Comics' "Civil War" miniseries has come to a conclusion and the Marvel universe is a very different place. In the series finale, Captain America surrenders himself to the United States government for mobilizing an army of heroes to act against the Superhuman Registration Act, a law requiring all citizens with superpowers to register their information with the government.
Marvel now plans to deal with the fallout from "Civil War" and "Captain America # 25." Captain America dealt with the consequences of his actions while his enemies put into action a plot they had been planning in the regular book since Marvel restarted the series in 2005. However, readers everywhere were shocked to discover that Captain America (civilian name Steve Rogers) was pronounced dead at the end of the issue.
The shocking conclusion received massive press coverage on the day it came out. CNN and NPR ran broadcasts about the issue and newspapers and programs such as "The Daily News" have run articles on it. So now it's The Eagle's turn.
First, those who paid $50 on eBay for this issue, thinking it was going to be worth a lot of money sometime in the future, should know that it wasn't a good investment. Captain America isn't dead. Marvel never said this was a death issue, so don't be surprised if he's back next month. The comic itself is very good and definitely worth a read to a comic fan.
Since Ed Brubaker took over as the writer for "Captain America," he has developed a reputation for writing stories where nothing is what it seems. The perfect example is his "The Winter Soldier" story line. Brubaker not only crafted a story that involved modern politics clashing with World War II values, but he made a pure superhero story that made the reader feel like they were reading the comic book equivalent of "24." Brubaker even brought Bucky, Captain America's sidekick from WII, back from the dead and turned him into a Soviet assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Brubaker took what would normally have just been shock value and added emotional weight to a plot twist.
In comics, death is a revolving door. Now that Captain America has died, it doesn't seem like he'll be gone long. However, that does not mean his "death" is in vain. Brubaker evidently has some tricks up his sleeve and is building up several of his subplots to a crescendo. The emotional roller coaster the characters go through in the issue will keep readers hooked even if they have never read a comic book before. The photo-realistic art by Steve Epting enhances this by making readers feel close to the characters.
The bottom line is that to buy this book is a very worthwhile investment. This is one of the best comics out there now, and it would be a shame for any comic fan, let alone any superhero fan, to miss out on such wonderful reading. A lot of people think that Captain America's death is a cheap stunt on Marvel's part to boost sales. Others maintain faith in Brubaker and Epting and believe that perhaps this will be the best run that Captain America has ever seen.
