Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America
Writers: Jeph Loeb
Artists: Leinil Francis Yu, Ed McGuinness, John Romita Jr., David Finch, and John Cassaday
Jeph Loeb creates a beautiful and somber story that conveys the heroes’ various reactions to the death of an American Icon...
Ranking: 4 stars
It just saddens me when some writers receive a large amount of hate, as sometimes the negative criticisms will overshadow the good qualities of that author’s writing. Such is the case with Jeph Loeb. Loeb is a comic book and television writer who has become quite infamous in recent years for writing terrible comics like ULTIMATUM and RED HULK (though I consider ULTIMATES 3 to be a guilty pleasure), as well as being the executive producer behind shows like NOT-ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN (that atrocity doesn’t deserve to even share the same name as one of my all-time favorite comics) and AVENGERS ASSEMBLE. Despite the enormous amount of negative backlash that Loeb has received in recent years, he still remains to this day one of my all-time favorite comic book writers (can’t decide if he or Brian Michael Bendis is number one though…)! This is primarily because before the decline in the quality of his writing, Loeb’s work on BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN, BATMAN: DARK VICTORY, BATMAN: HUSH, SPIDER-MAN: BLUE, and SUPERMAN | BATMAN had him heralded as a great comic writer. I think what struck me accord with those stories was that they were written from a first-person perspective of the main character, but were conveyed as if we were seeing their thoughts and feelings towards what was currently happening in the story. Because of this, it felt less like the character was narrating the story to us, but rather that we were experiencing the story alongside them, allowing us to have a greater understanding of their psychology. This is a unique style of writing that I have only come across in Loeb’s works, and has contributed to several of his comics to become some of my all-time favorites (particularly his Batman works). However, something that I came across in his later works that there was less emphasis on narration, and more on dialogue. In my opinion, Loeb has always been much better at writing narration than dialogue, which could have easily resulted in his decline in quality. Despite that, I feel that Jeph Loeb is still capable of creating compelling stories as FALLEN SON: THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA perfectly conveys the emotional reactions of it’s characters solely on dialogue rather than first-person narration.
One thing that I should mention before I begin my analysis on this book is that Captain America’s actual death does not take place in this book, but rather in Ed Brubaker’s THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA series. FALLEN SON here is actually a 5-issue miniseries that ran alongside Brubaker’s story, and focused on the superhero community’s reactions towards Steve Roger’s death rather than the death itself. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA was an 18-issue story arc that ran through Captain America’s series following CIVIL WAR. As I stated in my review of CIVIL WAR, Captain America had opposed the Superhuman Registration Act and led the Anti-Registration side of heroes in the fight against the act. The event ended with the Anti-Registration side surrendering to the Pro-Registration side (an incredibly moronic ending that still frustrates me), and Captain America was arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. However, the Red Skull ordered an assassination hit on Captain America, who was later killed with a sniper rifle by Crossbones. The premise of FALLEN SON was originally conceived by J. Michael Straczynski, who wanted each issue to be centered around Elizabeth Kubler Ross' Five Stages of Grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Each chapter would focus on a specific Marvel superhero experiencing one of these stages of grieving in response to Cap’s death, and would then transition to the next stage of grieving at the end of each chapter. It was Jeph Loeb who took over the actual writing duties of the book, as he had then recently lost his 17-year old son Sam Loeb to bone cancer, and requested to write FALLEN SON as he felt his personal experiences could help enhance the book’s emphasis on the stages of grieving. While reviews on this comic have been very mixed, either praising or deriding it, I found FALLEN SON: THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA to be a beautifully written and emotionally driven story that perfectly conveyed the character’s grieving over Steve Rogers’ death.
-I: Denial- The first chapter deals with Wolverine, who isn’t buying the idea that Captain America could die, and pits himself against both the Winter Soldier and Iron Man in order to discover the truth.
-II: Anger- The second chapter deals with the reactions of the two Avengers teams. First the Mighty Avengers, who are taking their anger out on the super villain Tiger Shark, and then New Avengers, who are struggling to hold in their anger over Cap’s death while playing cards together.
-III: Bargaining- the third chapter focuses on Hawkeye (a once dead character now brought back to life), who is offered by Iron Man to become the new Captain America, but feels that Iron Man is just bargaining to bring back Cap through whatever means possible.
-IV: Depression- The fourth issue revolves around Spider-Man succumbing to depression, as he looked up to Captain America similarly to how he did Uncle Ben, and fears his own mortality if a hero as noble and pure as Steve Rogers could fall.
-V: Acceptance- The final chapter takes place during Captain America’s funeral, where Iron Man struggles to come to acceptance with Roger’s death, as the rest of America is encouraged to view his death not with agony, but as a motivator to do good as he did…
FALLEN SON is a comic that’s deserving of more praise and attention than it has received in my eyes. Not only is the story beautifully written, but it also strikes home in conveying and expressing the emotions and reactions towards Captain America’s death. Whenever a story delves into themes of sorrow and loss, one of the key factors that must be accomplished is in conveying the character’s emotional distress on a level that the reader can connect to. That way the reader not only becomes invested in and cares about these characters’s sadness, but also that they can gain greater understanding of how people in these situations would act. Jeph Loeb excels in that regard as the character’s dialogue felt accurate and relevant in the environment that their set in. Their lines conveyed a sense of sorrow and emotion that felt realistic and believable to me, and gave me an idea of how one would actually behave when dealing with the loss of a loved one, even if it’s not 100% accurate. The amount of weight and sincerity put into the dialogue actually took me by surprise, because as I stated earlier, Loeb’s writing talents are better suited towards inner thoughts and narration in my opinion, rather than character interactions and dialogue. While this never made the dialogue bad or insufferable in those other works (excluding ULTIMATUM), it did sometimes come across as cheesy and weird, and was somewhat distracting to his exceptional narrative skills. With FALLEN SON however, I never got that impression, as nearly every piece of dialogue felt genuine and convincing to me, conveying exactly what emotions the characters were feeling towards Captain America’s death, enhancing the sorrow and weight of their reactions as a result. In fact, I feel that the story is better suited for being driven solely by dialogue rather than first-person narrative, as it conveys a more accurate depiction of grieving than one that would be conveyed through inner thought clouds, as despair and sadness are emotions that are extremely difficult to convey in any form other than spoken words. To be able to write so well in an area that one is not used to is difficult indeed, but Jeph Loeb deserves praise for not only pulling it off, but for doing so to such an incredible degree!
The other element that makes FALLEN SON such a somber and engrossing tale is it’s narrative being structured around the five stages of grieving: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. According to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, an individual will experience each of these stages of grieving when dealing with the loss of a loved one. They can occur in any random order (with the exception of acceptance being always last), and their intensity varies between individuals. Although every individual experiences grief in a different way, Kubler-Ross’ model provides a basic model for how one is likely to undergo the process of grieving. Jeph Loeb does well in incorporating these stages of grieving as the focus of each chapter. In order to convey the grieving of the entire superhero community towards Captain America’s death, Loeb has each chapter focus on a specific character experiencing one of the five stages of grieving, and will gradually transition that character’s feelings towards the stage of grieving present in the next chapter. Not only does this make the narrative feel well thought out and unique, but it also helps Loeb convey the emotional turmoil of not just one superhero, but an entire community of them. The emphasis on the stages of grieving also contributes to the strength of the dialogue, allowing the heroes’ emotional trauma feel more natural and relatable. Pieces such as Wolverine telling Spider-Man, “Wanna know why it’s called ‘depression?’ Because it is depressing… A death isn’t like losing a job or getting divorced. You don’t ‘get over it.’ You have to integrate it into your life. Learn to live with it. But… Life does get better,” really strike gold as it shows that Loeb not only understands the stages of grieving, but is able to effectively channel them on a level that the readers can understand and relate to.
The final element that I felt made FALLEN SON an engrossing read was that five different, but extremely talented artists drew each issue. While Leinil Yu and Ed McGuiness do great on the “Denial” and “Anger” chapters, it is the pencils of John Romita Jr. (THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN), David Finch (NEW AVENGERS and ULTIMATE X-MEN), and John Cassaday (ASTONISHING X-MEN) in the last three chapters that really struck accord with me. These three are among my favorite comic book artists, and to see them collaborate with one of my favorite comic book writers is like a dream team come together! Overall, FALLEN SON: THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA deserves more attention and credit than it has received in my opinion. Jeph Loeb creates a beautiful and somber story by effortlessly conveying the character’s emotional trauma through their dialogue alone, which is made more powerful through each chapter’s emphasis on the five stages of grieving. Even though Loeb’s works have declined in quality in recent years, he still remains one of my favorite comic book authors, and FALLEN SON is a perfect example of why. Any book that cannot only connect to the reader to its characters, but also to their emotions and experiencing is definitely a story worthy of acceptance…
“Grief releases love and it also instills a profound sense of connection.”
-Jacqueline Novogratz
