Captain America's back

[Trippy]

Captain America rises from the dead for new series

NEW YORK – Captain America is rising from the grave.

The Marvel Comics superhero returns for the five-part series "Captain America Reborn," beginning July 1.

But Marvel won't disclose how he rises from the dead. Executive Editor Tom Brevoort teases that the character has been "on a Vonnegut-esque metaphysical journey," including some soul-searching about his place in the world.

"He hasn't just been lying in a cold grave for these many months," Brevoort says. "While he seems to be dead, his mind and his spirit" are active elsewhere.

Captain America, the superhero alter ego of Steve Rogers, was apparently shot and killed two years ago on the steps of a courthouse in lower Manhattan. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Rogers' sidekick Bucky Barnes took his place, continuing the series. Brevoort says Barnes will embark on a quest to revive Rogers after tracking down what really happened to him.

"There's definitely a question that must arise, which is `Can there be more than one Captain America?'" says Brevoort. "And if not, even if there can't, what does this mean for Bucky? Where does he fit in the world now?"

According to Brevoort, some Bucky fans are none too pleased.

"Right this second, it's kind of a split," he says. "When Steve was first killed, there was great outcry. But then as Bucky has taken over as Cap, and has sort of struggled to fill those big shoes, a lot of our readers have really taken to him as a character."

He says Marvel planned to bring back Rogers in one shape or form and, given the general mood of the country, the timing seemed right to resurrect one of the comic book empire's most patriotic icons.

"It feels like there's a desire for hopefulness," he says. "A desire for heroes and for somebody to show us that we can be our better selves, and to help pull us all up by our bootstraps and get out of the situations that we find ourselves in."

[IainC]

There is also a Captain America origins film planned for 2011 IIRC along with an Avengers movie with him, Thor, Hulk and Iron Man

[gryeyes]

Shocker! I hope Bucky remains cap, he is far more interesting as a character.

[Azazel]

what. a. (fucking.) surprise. 

[Triforcer]

What are the odds Bruce Wayne lasts longer mouldering in the cold earth?? 

[Simond]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_1602 

And Bruce Wayne was never dead, just sent back in time/trapped in a personal prison-universe.

[Triforcer]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_1602 

And Bruce Wayne was never dead, just sent back in time/trapped in a personal prison-universe.

There was a body in the "real" D.C. universe though.  And the religious among us would argue that leaving a body and traveling to a prison-universe often happens when somebody dies   

[Velorath]

Shocker! I hope Bucky remains cap, he is far more interesting as a character.

I like what Brubaker has done with Bucky, but I think you can only go so far with the "Bucky tries to live up to being Cap" thing.  I liked him a little better in his "steal Cap's shield/try to kill Tony Stark" days.

[Special J]

Does that mean he is or isn't "Bucky Dead'?

[Khaldun]

The amazing thing to me is that the media covers this kind of thing. It's like a short news item that a character from a soap opera has an evil twin or had a secret pregnancy. O RLY? "This just in! Superman's adventures revealed to be IMAGINARY STORY!"

[Velorath]

The amazing thing to me is that the media covers this kind of thing. It's like a short news item that a character from a soap opera has an evil twin or had a secret pregnancy. O RLY? "This just in! Superman's adventures revealed to be IMAGINARY STORY!"

Most big newspapers and news sites have an Entertainment section.

[HaemishM]

And Editor in Chief Joe Quesada is a HUGE media whore.

[Khaldun]

Sure, so is Didio, he's just a bad whore, the kind of crazy-crack lady who will suck you off for $5 but keeps saying weird shit that kills the arousal. I guess. Given that DC has tried just as hard to pimp their confusing "big events" and gotten shit for it.

It doesn't hurt maybe that the Captain America stuff has been honestly well written. I think Brubaker could announce he was writing "Continuity Porn with Shit on Toast" and I'd probably pick it up just to see. But if you're talking, "what would get you to buy comics", I'm not sure this kind of stuff really has much effect. I dunno. Captain America dying did seem to get a pretty big audience, but other big events haven't. I know I'd buy titles if I saw a notice that Dracula was about to invade Great Britain from the moon while killing the shit out of Captain Britain, but that's just me.

I'd sort of like to see the reject pile for Entertainment sections of newspapers/magazines. Because you know they reject shit that gets sent to them. What doesn't make the cut?

[NowhereMan]

The sad thing is that they've said things about planning Cap's revival since they killed him (or at least have now said they've been planning on bringing him back since they killed him) that just makes the whole thing feel weird. I guess it's given Bucky a chance to shine but really it doesn't seem to have done anything except act as a publicity stunt. Maybe it's one of the appealing things about characters like Deadpool that anything that happens to him seems to genuinely because writers feel it's either going to develop the character or allow for some interesting story telling about them since they have no real general following. On that note I'm going to hope that there isn't a good Deadpool movie or every single thing relating to him will suddenly become a massive thing intended to attract attention in this kind of fashion.

[gryeyes]

Deadpool that anything that happens to him seems to genuinely because writers feel it's either going to develop the character or allow for some interesting story telling about them since they have no real general following.

The entire "Im not who i think i am" storyline was pretty fucking stupid. Deadpool is also resurrected with magic at least once after actually "dying". Each of those arcs was just as contrived and bland as how Captain America got offed. But i agree when first string comic book characters die its for attention. The timing of Captain Americas death was rather poignant given that period of times political situation.  If deadpool was an icon like Cap it would feel equally contrived.

[Triforcer]

Has Cap learned his lesson and likes Myspace and stuff now?  I dimly recall he lost because he didn't have a facebook account, or something. 

[Azazel]

The sad thing is that they've said things about planning Cap's revival since they killed him (or at least have now said they've been planning on bringing him back since they killed him) that just makes the whole thing feel weird.

You appear somewhat surprised by this? 

It's as contrived an arc as when he gave up being Captain America and that aggro dude in the Black Cap uniform took over. Or when, you know, any comic character dies in the last decade or so.

[Velorath]

I know I'd buy titles if I saw a notice that Dracula was about to invade Great Britain from the moon while killing the shit out of Captain Britain, but that's just me.

That sounds remarkably similar to the end of Mutant X.

[Velorath]

The sad thing is that they've said things about planning Cap's revival since they killed him (or at least have now said they've been planning on bringing him back since they killed him) that just makes the whole thing feel weird. I guess it's given Bucky a chance to shine but really it doesn't seem to have done anything except act as a publicity stunt.

It accomplishes the same thing that killing Superman did (aside from the sales boosts).  It helps define the character by showing what things are like in their absence (both in regards to how people close to them deal with the situation, and it affects the world in general).  Planning his revival ahead of time just means that it should be better planned out than the typical comic book resurrection.

[HaemishM]

but really it doesn't seem to have done anything except act as a publicity stunt.

That has been Joe Q's entire fucking reign as EIC. Marvel has stumbled from one shitty event to another and unfortunately, DC has sort of followed suit - just not as successfully.

[gryeyes]

I liked Planet Hulk and WWH then they ended and hulk is just as boring as ever. But House of M,Civil War and especially the One more day (what the fuck was he thinking) were awful. I dont read comics enough to really judge what else the guy has done. But most of his events are pretty awful. Dark Reign does not appear to be much better.

[NowhereMan]

What I can't get my head around is that world war hulk was not only better written but had a somewhat more nuanced and convincing account of the two opposing sides than Civil War. And WWH was basically Hulk and his friends coming down to smash earth because hulk's girlfriend got blown up. Considering the premise of Civil War was one that had the potential for some great grey areaing and genuine dilemmas it's a fucking crime that it got reduced to, "Register or get thrown into Reed's Negative Zone Gulag. Also Iron Man is now wearing jackboots and the new Avengers symbol will be the Swastika."

[HaemishM]

But they all beat the shit out of "IT'S A SKRULL!!!! KILL IT!!!!!"

[NowhereMan]

You forget the nuance they counterbalanced that with. "Is it a Skrull? LolIdunno, kill it just in case." And of course the fan favourite, "Am I a Skrull? I'll kill some Skrulls to make me feel human again."

[gryeyes]

Don't forget "Ignore the last 6 months because I was just a Skrull". I was fairly amazed Tony Stark's Hitler phase was not blamed on being skrulled.

[Simond]

Warren Ellis was telling the truth about Nextwave after all - anal skrulls et. al. 

[Velorath]

First issue of Reborn is out now.

[gryeyes]

Yep, as fucking horrible as one would expect.

[Khaldun]

It's weak, yeah.

I'd really rather have had the situation of the Batman titles, where it's explicit that Bruce Wayne isn't dead, just that everyone has good reason to think he is. That way you can honestly have the return/rebirth scenario percolating in the background as an actual subplot that can be written with some skill instead of the "let's see, he gets cloned/lost in time/Galactus revives him/etc." when it comes time to do the inevitable revive.

I'm actually liking Captain Bucky as a character, so I hope they figure out something better to do with him than stick him back in limbo or re-Winter Soldierize him.

[Velorath]

Yep, as fucking horrible as one would expect.

It's not horrible, it just suffers from being an "event" rather than just the next arc of Captain America.

[Khaldun]

If they use "unstuck in time" as a way to catalyze some character development for Steve Rogers, that would be good. I'd really, really like it if they find a moment to utterly bitchslap the ridiculous, offensive bullshit from the Civil War: Frontline issue about MySpace and NASCAR in the process--to make the Steve Rogers Cap come out fighting against that vision of America. BuckyCap, interesting as he is, has no real drive as a character besides guilt and confusion--Rogers can give him a vision, but maybe the post-Winter Soldier Bucky can give Cap some meaningful perspective, too (not stupid bullshit about MySpace).

[gryeyes]

It's not horrible, it just suffers from being an "event" rather than just the next arc of Captain America.

Its an event? Captain America reborn 1 of 5 seems like an arc to me. Is Dark Reign an event? I recall Quasimodo claiming it wasn't but it sure seems to be.

[Velorath]

It's not horrible, it just suffers from being an "event" rather than just the next arc of Captain America.

Its an event? Captain America reborn 1 of 5 seems like an arc to me. Is Dark Reign an event? I recall Quasimodo claiming it wasn't but it sure seems to be.

For all intents and purposes it's just another arc, but because it's marketed as an event we get the odd narration meant to bring the new readers they were anticipating up to speed, the book gets stuck with overrated event artist Bryan Hitch doing some strange hybrid of Ultimate and Regular Cap in the opening sequence, and a forced Dark Avengers crossover.

[gryeyes]

That makes complete sense. Im not really knowledgeable on the distinctions.

[Velorath]

Issue #3 of Reborn is out.  I still don't know what to make of the arc as a whole but I'm actually enjoying what Brubaker is doing with the Cap reliving the past stuff.  Also the Bucky and Falcon vs. the Thunderbolts fight wasn't bad either.

Brubaker and Epting fans should also be checking out The Marvels Project, a Golden Age story which is currently on its second issue out of eight.  The story seems to be focusing on the original Human Torch and the Angel (the Golden Age character, not the X-man), both of whom were introduced in Marvel Comics #1 back in 1939 if I'm not mistaken.