Captain America

On the CGC boards the other day, someone posted this: "Last March, beloved superhero Captain America was assassinated and fans everywhere thought it was all over. They should have known better." Really?! Please show me one fan that thought "it was all over", just one, go ahead, show me. They're just making this $hit up aren't they?

In response to this: Last March, beloved superhero Captain America was assassinated and fans everywhere thought it was all over. They should have known better. Marvel has worked out a new plot yet again and the Cap is back! While Steve Rogers, Captain America’s alter-ego, is still resting peacefully at Arlington National Cemetery, his faithful 1940s sidekick, Bucky Barnes, has answered the call to serve as the next Captain America. As Rogers’ sidekick, Bucky’s was frozen by Russian enemies nearly 60 years ago, and he hasn’t aged a day! Luckily for fans, the world of comic books allows Bucky to remain in his late 20s, unlike the “real world,” where he would be almost 85 years old. Bucky has appeared in Marvel Comics as the “Winter Soldier,” helping the other Marvel heroes with good deeds and thus redeeming himself for his actions at the control of his Russian keepers. "We were toying with the idea of someone new taking over the mantle of Captain America," Quesada said by phone from his New York office to Yahoo! News. "But we kept coming back to Bucky. Not only because he seemed such an obvious choice but especially because of the fact that when we brought him back as the Winter Soldier he was so incredibly popular." Although Bucky does not have the same superpowers Rogers gained from the “Super Soldier Serum,” it sure looks like he’s been hitting the gym, and he has become a master of special operations. In addition, the new Captain America will be carrying a gun on his adventures. The idea of a gun-toting superhero has become an extremely controversial topic, so let us know what you think about the issue by emailing samanda@gemstonepub.com. Don’t forget to include your feelings about the new Cap himself. Do you like Bucky taking on the role, or will the hero not be the same without Rogers? Quesada seems optimistic, as he mentioned that Captain America hasn’t been this popular since Bucky’s original days!

to which I responded (to the email address provided): Ed Brubaker’s current run on Captain America is, by most all accounts, the best Cap has seen in decades. He has managed to break a cardinal rule of comics by “bringing back Bucky,” and most of the fans, including myself, have been enthralled by the storyline. Your article, however, was nothing to write home about. From the opening sentence, the author comes off as an uninvolved 3rd party who neither knows nor cares about what is going on in the world of comics. If by “fans everywhere” you mean, “that one guy in Indiana who never read a comic before” perhaps it would make sense that said fans “thought it was all over.” Should we have known better? Is it surprising that “Marvel has worked out a new plot yet again?” Of course we knew better. Of course Marvel worked out a plot. That’s what they do. Or, more precisely, it’s what Ed Brubaker does. And does well. How can you attempt to write an article about Captain America’s recent past without mentioning Ed Brubaker’s name? The statement that Bucky “hasn’t aged a day” is simply wrong. I understand the need for brevity and the desire to be concise in these types of articles, but hyperbole and exaggeration are tools better left to grade-schoolers. In what circles do you travel in which “the idea of a gun-toting superhero has become an extremely controversial topic?” Superheroes have been carrying guns since, basically, their inception. Even Captain America has used firearms in the past. This is nothing new. And Brubaker himself has stated that he doesn’t plan or desire for Bucky’s decision to carry a gun to become a major plot point in his stories. It’s disappointing to read such a review of such a well-constructed story in the oft-maligned field of comic books. This reads like marketing dreck aimed at children barely old enough to read and, really, simply serves to perpetuate the idea that comics stories are juvenile, corporate driven, and lack artistic merit.

That is all...