The Death and Life of America

By MALCOM A. GLENN

Captain America died last week, but not too many people noticed.

It made few headlines, people shed few tears, and he probably won’t even get a real funeral. Granted, he’s not a real person, but he was a true patriot—even if only in the comic book world. He battled the Nazi-regime of Adolf Hitler in 1941, was lauded by multiple U.S. presidents for his service to our country, and helped save the world countless times. Even for people like me, who haven’t read a comic book in 15 years, the name is iconic—a lasting symbol of devotion to one’s country.

And in the aftermath of his fictional death by a fictional sniper bullet in the most recent issue of the popular Marvel comic book bearing his name, his creators have taken the opportunity to make a worthy statement about a number of issues. And it didn’t matter if they were jingoists or turncoats, left-wing or right—the onus was on Captain America’s writers to take advantage of their ability to reach to a broad and responsive audience by saying something worthwhile in the issue. And they did.

Far too often, we pigeonhole comic and kid-oriented works into neat and tidy categories, forcing them to conform to the comic book’s stereotypical nerdy, science-fiction minded readership. But when the artists and authors step outside the kiddy confines of the genre, the results can be inspiring.

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