One Less Hero To Help Us

I am not the first, nor am I the most eloquent to deliver final thoughts on a great American Hero at his passing, but I cannot let those facts stop me. It is a dark day for America...one that may continue longer than it takes for the sun to set in Sweden in the middle of the summer.
Captain America will be buried on Thursday at Arlington National Cemetery, and that bodes ill for all of us.
Since March of 1941, Captain America has been taking on all the evil people of history, beginning in the first issue with Adolph Hitler. The Red Skull fell during the Cold War, and it was only a matter of time before Cap took out all those bent on terrorizing innocents with explosives and/or machetes. I'm sure HE could have found Osama Bin Laden if we'd only asked. If the world ever needed a real Captain America, it is now.
Captain America was assassinated on the steps of the Federal Building in New York where he had gone to answer the courts as to why he would not sign the Superhero Registration Act...something which would have released the real identities of ALL superheroes. For 66 years he and other superheroes battled in anonymity, a fact which made them all the more powerful. I mean, really, you'd think James Bond would have been offed long ago since EVERYONE knew who he was (even if he didn't look like Sean Connery anymore). Refusal to sign cost him his life and America one of its greatest protectors. Readers bought over 200 million copies of his exploits in 75 countries around the world, a testament to his popularity.
Now, sadly, he is leaving us. Will he return? Author Jeph Loeb isn't saying; however, he IS saying that we won't wake up on the 5th of July as if the whole thing was an episode of "Dallas." Captain America will still be gone...proof will be on newsstands everywhere on July 5th.