"Alas, poor Yorick!"

BY JASON ANTOLIK

    "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio..."

    -Hamlet, William Shakespeare

Flashback to almost eighteen years ago. I was buying two comics at the time: Batman and GI Joe. Tim Burton's "Batman" had gotten me into the caped crusader enough to read him monthly (Norm Breyfogle's excellent style helped) and Larry Hama was telling some of the best Joe stories ever. I had recently met George and was reading some of his books until one day I walked into the old Dragon's Den on Central Avenue and decided to broaden my selection by picking up Uncanny X-Men, Incredible Hulk, two issues of Amazing Spider-man (it was bi-weekly at the time; The Revenge of the Sinister-Six with pencils by Erik Larsen), Iron Man... and Captain America.

It didn't take long for me to realize that Cap was my favorite of the bunch. A man who allowed himself to be a guinea pig because it was the only way for him to contribute to the fight against fascism. The Super-Soldier Serum enhanced Steve Rogers' body to peak human performance in terms of strength, agility, reflexes and endurance. He fought for freedom, liberty and the American dream... but he had suffered enough to keep him from blindly following orders. And let's face it... that's one of the best costume designs ever conceived. Three cheers for King Kirby!!

And now...

    "Mistah Kurtz-he dead.
    A penny for the Old Guy."

    -The Hollow Men, T.S Eliot

Well, the shock has worn off. Steve Rogers is (at the moment) dead. He could very well be back in 6, 12, 24, etc. months. But right now he's dead, and the Marvel universe really wasn't a place for him anymore anyway. Fear has taken hold. The people he once protected have turned against him. The events of Civil War showed how far people are willing to go to feel safe. The government of the Marvel Universe now forces people with superpowers to register with and work for SHIELD. Anyone not compliant is arrested and sent to a prison in another dimension without due process. Criminals and murderers (Venom, Bullseye, The Green Goblin, etc...) are made federal agents to arrest the superhumans who are now seen as a greater threat (wtf?!?). And this is what the citizens of this version of the US of A want. It's not a country a man like Captain America could stand behind, but he didn't have it in him to continue fighting the vox populi, either.

So it looks like the Marvel U. could be a getting a Cap it deserves.

    "The government won't be putting somebody new in the Captain America suit, but as we'll see in Punisher War Journal, that won't stop others from taking his symbol and applying it to a philosophy he wouldn't be in line with."

    -Tom Brevoort, Marvel Editor

Believe it or not... I'm fine with all of this. I'd hate Marvel more if I saw Cap cooperating with the current regime. Rather see him dead, personally.

    "And now for something completely different."

    -Monty Python

Why did I find out about this in the Daily News? Why was it reported on CNN and Yahoo news early in the morning, before most of us retailers had gotten our books?  To generate buzz? To get more people to buy the comic? Free publicity's great, right? Well... it doesn't help at all when retailers have to keep their orders tight to avoid being stuck with copies of a title that doesn't sell. Did I expect Marvel to let the cat out of the bag (like DC did when Superman died)? It would have been nice. It doesn't help me when thirty people I haven't seen before ask me for a comic I don't have. Ok, it helps a little because at least they know we're here. But had I known that this was to be a title that would have been in high demand I would have ordered more. Like all of the other retailers. And Marvel would have sold more copies of Captain America #25. Which is now on backorder, meaning that we all have to wait for a second printing.

I no longer cry havoc when a character I like dies (you should've seen me when Hal Jordan went OOC for a breakdown)... but do it right or go home.

Jason Antolik is the co-owner of The Phoenix of Westchester in Scarsdale, NY. He has been an avid reader of the funny books since he broke his ankle when he was thirteen and is Westchester?s Comic Book Jeopardy champion. All will bow to his geekness. So say we all.

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