When Stevie Was Dead: Part I: Heroes Divided, Villains United

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

In the Great Exodus from Livejournal to our current homeland, many a precious memory was lost; among them, the entirety of the "The Death of Captain America" mega-arc.  Since that was probably the most widely-publicized comics storyline of the decade, not to mention one of the best, I decided to get around to reposting the thing for posterity.

Ed Brubaker's whole run is really one big story, but the stuff really pertinent to "The Death of Captain America" begins in #22, the first Civil War tie-in (CW being the storyline which prompted Brubaker to change or move up certain elements he'd had in mind to make the current story).  The crux of the issue is Cap's girlfriend Sharon Carter, SHIELD Agent, struggling between her job and her boyfriend, with the framing device of Sharon speaking to a SHIELD psychiatrist.  

Maria Hill orders her to honey-trap that sucker:




So...good talk.

They argue over registration stuff, and this is one of the better depictions of the argument in terms of not making the pro-Regs neo-conservative fascist strawmen, but it's not particularly relevant, so we'll skip ahead.  Sharon totally fails to turn Steve in, hence being sent for an eval.




Aw, he seems like a nice guy.




Or not.

This is Doctor Faustus, classic psychological manipulator, in his first appearance in quite a while.

Incidentally, pretty much since this issue was first published I've thought the Captain America movies, whenever they get around to solo adventures for Steve in the present-day, should definitely do a variant on this reveal.  Have Steve seeing a psychologist as part of his adjustment to the 21st century, played by a fairly anonymous bit actor (ideally, use these sequences as a frame for flashbacks), and then...tada.

Anyway, next issue is focussed on Bucky, Cap's former sidekick, now working for Nick Fury.  Bucky raids a SHIELD facility looking for a MacGuffin, and comes across:



Nick promises to keep tabs on it, but he evidently does a pretty shitty job (not that he didn't have a lot going on in this period).




Incidentally, that "Baron of Iron" thing is a lingering plot point Brubaker introduced in the middle of his Cap run, and he's hinted that he'll revisit that story at some point (and also that we'll see Doom again in the pages of this title at some undetermined time, from what I understand).

In the final Civil War tie-in, Cap goes on a mission to raid an AIM facility, looking for information on the Red Skull, who, unbeknownst to him, is now sharing a body with General Lukin, the head of Kronas Corporation (thanks to a cosmic cube).  Cap fights some AIM guys, then some capekillers, and is rescued by Sharon (using the MacGuffin that Bucky retrieved for Fury last issue).





Love that classic hand gesture at the end there; very old-school evil.

So that's our main villain cabal:  Red Skull/Lukin, Dr. Faustus, and Dr. Zola (evil mad scientist).

Civil War ends, as we all know, and Cap is being taken to the federal courthouse for arraignment.  Sharon and Bucky are present as part of a plan by 'ol Nick to spring Cap, but they never get to that, as Steve spots a sniper aiming at one of his guards (the sniper is Crossbones, the Skull's top minion):




And the page that was (not undeservedly) reproduced in a thousand newspaper articles and blog posts (not to mention other comics):



Brubaker talked a lot in interviews about how he based this on his observation that America's big icons (JFK and MLK being two examples) tended to just be BANG! gone.

Bucky and Falcon go after Crossbones, and apprehend him, while the Skull's evil daughter, Sin (Crossbones' girlfriend), watches from a distance.



Steve is taken to hospital, but he dies.




This whole sequence has been the fan equivalent of the Zapruder film, as you might imagine, with arguments over whether the guns depicted in the two versions match up, if she actually did it, etc.



One of the things I really like about this story within wider continuity is that it gives the Red Skull a really tangible win for once.  For all his being Cap's top villain, there's been a weird tendency for most of the really major blows to Cap through the years to be delivered by other villains.  I once read a fan argument that, really, Cap's archnemesis should be the Zemos, since Zemo Sr. 'killed' Bucky, and Zemo Jr. had the whole "Under Siege" thing, including the famous memento-destruction that reduced Cap to tears even after he'd won.  Also, when Sharon 'died', it was Faustus who was responsible.

Anyway, that's the kickoff, and it's quite a doozy.

Next time:  Part II:  The Verdict is Vengeance

Material taken from Captain America v.5 #22-25.

Comments

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

Oh, man. I never saw the sequence after he was shot, where he tells Sharon to get the crowd to safety.

That makes it more poignant, and awesome (especially if what Sharon later remembers is true).

[angelophile.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, it's that little detail that makes it both gutwrenching and pure Steve Rogers.

That's Steve.

[proteus_lives.insanejournal.com]

Thinking of others to the very end. Pure hero.

[statham1986.insanejournal.com]

Somehow, I refuse to believe that Sharon did fire those last, killing shots. The gun really doesn't match up, and besides, wouldn't it just be the perfect mindfuck for the Skull to get Faustus to make Sharon believe that she had killed Cap, given how soul-destroying that would be for her? Ideal, given she played a large part in his plans.

It kind of annoyed me, though, that Civil War suddenly blundered in on Bru's plans. The focus of the issues went suddenly (although it was handled well) to the Registration Act and how Steve was fighting it, immediately after the excellent arc in London, and to me, that just lost some of the focus. It might've been Bru's plan to make Bucky Captain America all along, but I would've been intrigued as to how he would've done it.

That said, it could've been as slow as some parts of his Daredevil run, so perhaps it's for the best.

[tilly_stratford.insanejournal.com]

Damnit, why do I get a lump in my throat when I'm hardly hardly familiar with Cap as a character at all?

Excuse me, I think I got something in my eye...

The comic needs a good inker

[jazzypom.insanejournal.com]

I like the art, it's very low key and capable, but the inks and the colours, oy.

Ah Steve, when I got to appreciate your character, they shot you dead.

[erlgirl_9.insanejournal.com]

Wow, I don't even read Capt. America, and that was heartwrenching. The poor girl!

Wish the colours weren't so blah, though. I know it's supposed to be ~dark~ and ~gritty~, but would it kill them to make it, you know... lifelike? It's like each page was submerged in gritty water and then left to dry before they went on shelves.

[queen_marshed.insanejournal.com]

Ironicly I got into comics only a short time before this, liked him quite a bit, and then they shot him. Dammit Steve. ;_;

[scottyquick.insanejournal.com]

Dude, you forgot the best bit.

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

Broken images are the best part?

[scottyquick.insanejournal.com]

Here (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HDLEycm-LIE/RjeK91fKSpI/AAAAAAAABMU/_RCerX57JzA/s1600-h/Captain+America+V5+25+pg++29.jpg)

[joysweeper.insanejournal.com]

Steeeeve...

Since the chances of his actually staying dead are about as high as those of Godzilla rising from the sea and heading to Beijing, I don't consider his death noncanon.

[ohwowsuperman.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

I was wondering if by any chance you had the hospital scenes scanned? what happened between the courthouse and Sharon scene with Red Skull's daughter in the bathroom. It would be greatly appreciated.

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

I can't post them because this has hit the 7-page limit, but in terms of the goings-on, there isn't a huge amount; we see no more of Steve. There's a couple of pages of the Falcon monologuing about how he isn't ready to lose Steve, which is nice character stuff (his is the red dialogue box at the top of the page with Sharon entering the bathroom).