THE DEATH OF (captain) AMERICA

Working as a journalist, one finds that every day brings with it new challenges. On Monday you could be in the midst of a forest fire, Tuesday a gang shooting, Wednesday a cat fashion show, etc. However today's story was one of a very serious nature. During this time of war, a time of fear and doubt, the country lost a great hero... A man who is known the world over for his tireless effort to promote truth and justice in the name of democracy. Stories about fallen soldiers are always hard, but this one was particularly difficult to face. I speak, of course, about the tragic death of Captain America.

The day after we celebrate the birth of our nation, Marvel Comics decides that it is time to kill off and bury the one shred of hope that the people of this country had left: that a man armed with nothing but a shield would restore peace to the world. Why only a shield? Because the United States (up until about 4 years ago) does not act unprovoked against other countries. During the 1940's, around the time that Captain America came to be, the United States was propelled into a world war after being attacked without warning. Thus, the shield transformed from a defensive to an offensive weapon as the United States unleashed its wrath on those who opposed the ideologies of freedom and justice. This event is illustrated below, where we see Captain America punching Hitler.

Bet he didn't see that one coming.

After leading the country to victory over the (original) Axis of Evil, Captain America continued to fight for America using nothing but a shield. 70 years later, as the Bush administration struggles to defeat evil in all its forms (like the unreasonable sentencing of Scooter Libby), the national icon has fallen. Our last hope for victory over terror and various other ambiguous yet frightening nouns has vanished. It is truly a dark day for freedom.

The focus of today's story was to inquire as to what motives may have led to the burial of a national icon the day after Independence Day. Was this done in order to project a political message to the masses? Our conclusion: Perhaps.

Marvel treated the tragic end of this iconic hero with the utmost respect:

I've asked the same question about my leader... we'll call him "W"... more times than I could tell you.

As tragic as this day is, it should be noted that this isn't the first time Captain America has died. As it turns out, he has been killed in action 12 times since his creation in the 1940's. That profound number, by my count, exceeds even that of Friday the 13th's Jason, which in itself was ridiculous. I mean, think about it... Jesus did it only once, and look at all the credit he got. So perhaps today shouldn't be thought of as at tragic day, for this probably isn't the last we've seen of the good Captain.

Fortunately he was around when the country was once again provoked into war by an unwarranted attack. Much like the outset to WWII, the United States was hit without warning by a ruthless enemy. Like in WWII, the United States responded in kind, proving once again that we would not tolerate aggression against our homeland, especially when civilian targets were involved. Captain America showed his support through some of the darker days in this country's history, despite being over 100 years old (assuming he was over 30 in the original comics, which, judging by the definition in his muscular stature, he was). However, the current engagement in Iraq falls far from the ideals that Captain America originally represented. Rather than defending freedom with a shield, this country took the offensive against a weak and insignificant target because the leader had a personal vendetta. The result? Utter chaos that cannot be controlled by force. Captain America used a shield as a weapon, defending himself once defense was needed. Being that our current war couldn't be farther from this scenario, perhaps it is proper that Captain America be killed off. Hopefully he will be resurrected once this country is back on track.

It looks as if this tale has a moral to it after all... Like the Phoenix, this country must perish (thanks, Bush) in order to rise again stronger than it ever has been (Gore, you gonna help us out over here or what?).