The Die
I got to sort of meet Amiri Baraka a little over a month ago, which was neat since he’s a pretty cool guy. Although, most of the people who will read this blog were there as well, so they probably know what I’m talking about.
I don’t Amiri Baraka was as “angry” or even as “radical” as he’s talked up to be. Of course, that’s fine. He just didn’t live up to the hype. The only real reason I think I was looking forward to the real angry and radical Amriri Baraka is because he’d have a lot of political things to say. I really expected that from of the intensity of the politics in his poetry. Maybe he was off his game that day. More likely, it was probably too presumptuous of me to expect to hear something earth-shattering from Amiri Baraka about society (what a loaded word that: “society”) or something enlightening. Maybe there’s nothing earth-shattering to hear anymore?
Of course, Amiri Baraka is a very wise man. He’s certainly been around for a long time, and like the people this blog is kind of about, he’s fought the good fight for his whole life. He’s been speaking out against all manner of oppressive problems: racism, imperialism, exploitation, greed…that list goes on and on. Amiri Baraka did have a lot of interesting things to say during our talk with him. But, I think one of the most interesting things he mentioned was who his heroes have been, and what it was like when a lot of them died.
Amiri Baraka mentioned the assassinations of Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and JFK at least twice during that talk. I think for Amiri Baraka (and probably for many other people as well) that time was both incredibly upsetting and it really changed him as a person.
It seems all his emotions associated with the deaths of those men, and what their killings symbolized, has affected Amiri Baraka since then. And by affected, I don’t mean traumatized . I mean it like it was “earth-shattering” for him. I think Amiri Baraka is more angry about their deaths than anything else. But, he has also been inspiried even more to fight for what he believes in. Amiri Baraka was a fighter for that before all those killings, but from what he said, I really got the feel a lot of his heroes dying in a row may have focused him more.
I think Psychologically, the death of a hero is definitely something that can change a person’s world. It seems to me it could either be paralyzing or it could be motivating. For Amiri Baraka it was the latter. Whatever it does to us, I think witnessing a hero die is a big deal. I mean, I see it all the time in “the entertainment world”.
On a TV show they always advertise a big, dramatic episode with “…And someone will die!” Well, maybe they say it more eloquently than that. Maybe less. I saw that tactic most recently with House (which I just blogged about. Oh and spoiler alert, kids:) and the death of the character Dr. Lawrence Kutner.
I was watching House the week before that episode, it was the excellent episode “Locked In” featuring none other than the great Mos Def as a guest star (really you should check that episode out) and at the end I was really surprised by the “Next Time On House” thing. They just showed all the doctors making intense, emotional faces and had the announcer saying something like: “A tragedy unlike they’ve ever faced” or something like that. They were obviously saying the “Someone’s gonna die!” thing. So, as viewers we’re all thinking: “Oh shit, who? Which doctor? I hope to god it’s not 13!” You know, stuff like that. turns out (very unexpectedly) that Dr. Kutner was the one. And, there’s been a whole (slightly odd) movement online to sort of mourn his death. Check this out:
That’s a little bit freaky to me. I mean, I really liked Dr. Kutner, and I like House a lot, but there are all these online memorials to him. It’s been a hero death I think. Well, sort of. Anyway, this stuff is bizarre. It’s almost making it seem like Kal Penn‘s dead or something. He’s not, he just went to work for Obama. But, you probably know that.
That’s just one example of a “hero death” in fiction, and the effect its had on people. And, its really not a great one. There have been two particularly interesting ones in comics recently. Yes, I’m talking about Batman and Captain America.
Captain America’s death was in April 2007, in his series: issue #25. And since then, Ed Brubaker (Who’s by far one of the greatest comic writers) will be known as “the man who killed Captain America”. The art on that was handled by Steve Epting so Brubaker had an accomplice actaually.
Captain America was assassinated, the Red Skull, his longtime nemesis, finally got the best of him. But, Red Skull would never have been able to manipulate a sniper to kill Cap if it hadn’t been for the Marvel Universe Civil War that had just occured. That sort of set up Cap’s death.
If you’re not familiar with Civil War, it was a Marvel comics event for summer ’06 to winter ’07. And, comics events are always all about the “heroes will die!” thing. They always have been. They’re about that and: “Things won’t be the same again!” I mean, that’s why people read them. Actually, Civil War really has shaken up the Marvel Universe (well, America in the Marvel Universe anyway) to this day in the comics. Mark Millar wrote it and Steve Mcniven did the art for the event. Actually, it’s interesting Millar got to write Civil War because Brian Michael Bendis has literally written every marvel even since Avengers Dissembled. So, somehow, Millar snuck his way in there. And he brought a new style to Marvel’s events: politics.
In Civil War, the American government establish the “Superhuman Registration Act” which is (like it sounds) a sort of Patriot Act for superheroes. And, then, we get the Civil War where the heroes (and villains) fight over it. Captain America leading one side, Iron Man leading the other. What’s interesting here is what each of those guys are fighting for. That’s way more interesting than the fact that they’ve been friends and fellow Avengers like forever. What was interesting to me reading Civil War was that Captain America was fighting against the Registration Act.
I have never liked Captain America. That whole patriotic thing has never appealed to me. But, when Cap stands up against the American Government because he disagrees with the law, it got me. I guess it pulled at some kind of heartstrings or something. It got me interested in Captain America.
The reason Cap goes against Iron Man the the Registration Act is because he believes it’s totally unamerican. I liked the statement Millar was making with that. Captain America wouldn’t fight the Patriot Act. He stands for freedom, and more importantly, the constitution. That’s very interesting, and got me to like Cap. And, it’s probably the best part of Civil War. Honestly, Civil War is a failure I think. What was billed as a huge study of superheroes, and how politics affect them (sounds like Watchmen, huh?) wasn’t. It was really nothing more than a huge super-fight in New York City. And, actually how every Marvel event is now. Secret Invasion was exactly the same thing. Except instead of fighting each other, the heroes fought alien shapeshifters.
Plus, Millar had already done a very insighful and also really badass policical look at Superheroes in his run on the The Ultimates. Especially with his “Grand Theft America” arc. Ultimates might be Millar’s best work, actually. And, there was a very different, not particularly likable, but interesting Captain America in that series. I guess Mark Millar and Captain America are a good match. Anyway, Captain America loses the Civil War, and he’s taken into custody where, on his way to trial, he’s assasinated.
I was just starting to like Captain America, and they killed him. And, that’s not me bitching. I think that worked very well. Especially having Cap die after Civil War. His death was very surprising. I think Millar and Brubaker (they probably planned it together, comic guys love to do that) killed Cap like that intentionally. In Civil War, Millar brought a lot of the less conservative comic readers onto Cap’s side, and then Ed Brubaker killed him off.
That tactic is used by Joss Whedon frequently. He gets viewers to really like a supporting character, and then has them die. Or turn evil. That’s the whole “leaf on the wind” moment from his film Serenity:
We really get to liking Wash, especially for his strange, not very philosophical, but still somehow moving “I’m a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar” lines. Then, he gets impaled. But, back to comics.
Captain America’s death was even in the news. But, I don’t think it was as mourned as Kutner’s, which is actually strange. Comics don’t really make the news much, a really big, really symbolic superhero has to die for that to happen.
Batman’s death was in the news, too. He died more recently, just a couple months ago, at the end of Final Crisis written by Grant Morrison and drawn by a bunch of artists (J.G Jones, Carlos Pacheco, Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy and Marco Rudy). Like Civil War, Final Crisis was an event. The heroes have to save earth which has been totally brainwashed by the evil Darkseid and his mind controlling math equation. And like Captain America’s death, Batman’s didn’t happen where expected. Morrison wrote for Batman since 2007, and his final arc on that series (although he’ll probably come back to it soon) was called “Batman R.I.P“.
However, Batman did not die in “R.I.P”. He survived all manner of crazo stuff like being addicted to heroin and having his sense of identity fucked with and being buried alive. But then in Final Crisis, he (like a trooper) takes a full-on blast from Darkseid’s Omega Beams (they can kill anything, even Superman) so he can shoot Darksied, mortally wounding him for Superman to finish the job. And, after a lot more stuff, Superman does. That’s Final Crisis in an extreme nutshell becuase a ton of things happen in it. Like usual, Grant Morrison pulls off a ridiculously complex and ambitious story.
Although, there are some people out there on the vast internet who didn’t like Final Crisis, I am a fan. It’s not Morrison’s best work, but it’s certainly the best comics “event” I’ve read. Waaaaay better than the total butt series Secret Invasion. And, it’s funny because I really haven’t seen that much hate on Secret Invasion even though it was awful. Interesting…
Maybe people dislike Crisis because of Batman’s death? With the awesome Dark Knight having just come out last summer, and with it a plethora of other Batman stuff seeping into the atmosphere, I think Batman has been on everyone’s mind now more than ever. He has really been embraced as a great hero. I never thought Captain America was that loved until his death. Batman, though, I knew his death would shake up people because he was so much in the public eye recently.
I have always loved Batman ever since the Animated Series back in the 90s. Although his death didn’t really “shake me up” I thought it was kind of cool. Especially how Grant Morrison shows us Superman’s grief at Batman’s death. In a very epic (almost truly epic: like mythologyish) moment, Superman unleashes his emotion about his friend Batman’s death on Darksied. And, he saves us all.
Batman’s death was more epic than Captain America’s, but I think both work. Captain America’s death wasn’t in battle, and wasn’t honorable at all. And, Cap was a soldier and a superhero who really believed in honor, so that’s interesting. It really deflates the character and makes him more human. And of course, Captain America’s actions during the Civil War humanize him also.
Batman’s death is very different. It is with honor, and it’s the way you’d expect a superhero to go. Saving the planet, basically. But, I think that works, too. Batman is already a very human character, and one who’s flaws we get to see all the time. And, lest we forget, Bruce Wayne is just a normal guy who’s worked very very hard to get where he is. Batman Begins really shows us the hustle that guy went through to become Batman, and to become a hero. So, a pretty human superhero gets an epic super-death. And, the first guy who mourns him is Superman.
Actually, that shot of Superman holding the dead (and kind of grossly dead) Batman, is the first shot we see of Batman’s corpse. So, Superman is mourning Batman’s death with us. With the readers. That’s very good work on Grant Morrison’s part I think.
One thing to remember is that both Batman and Captain America will return to the comics. And, not just some other guy calling himself Batman or Captain America. The real Batman (Bruce Wayne) and the real Captain America (Steve Rodgers) will return from the dead. Somehow. Trust me, they will. Because, unlike reality (and as the saying goes): “No one stays dead in comics”.
