You knew this would happen sooner or later...

Marvel Comics revives Capt. America
By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - It turns out you can't keep a good man down - or even dead and buried - when he wears a red, white and blue uniform and calls himself Captain America.

Marvel Comics, which killed off the veteran superhero almost a year ago, brought him back to life Wednesday - sort of.

Captain America's alter-ego, Steve Rogers, is still resting in peace at Arlington National Cemetery, having been done in by assassins last March. But his good buddy and sidekick from the 1940s, Bucky Barnes, has picked up the bulletproof Captain America shield, put on a new uniform and taken his place.

What's that you say? Wouldn't Bucky be about 85 years old now? And without any real super powers to fall back on, isn't that kind of long in the tooth to be taking a bite out of crime?

Well, yeah. But remember, this is the comic book world we're talking about. Bucky was put in suspended animation by the evil Russians (back when they were evil) and stayed that way for the better part of 60 years.

"So he's probably in his late 20s right now," jokes Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada, who decided to promote him to Captain America.

Rogers' old sidekick had already returned to the Marvel pantheon of heroes some time back as the rugged Winter Soldier, redeeming himself for the years he'd spent under the control of the bad guys, who would occasionally thaw him out for evil deeds.

"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. "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."

Barnes never swallowed the "Super Soldier Serum" that transformed the wimpy Rogers into the super-strong Captain America in the months before World War II. So he's at a bit of a disadvantage in his new role. But he's bulked up himself over the years, become a master at special operations and he's also packing some serious heat these days along with that mask and shield.

But forget about defeating enemies in the fantasy world. The people he will really have to win over are those notoriously finicky comic book readers.

Quesada says he isn't worried, however, adding that killing off Captain America last year seemed to give him new life with readers. The editor was taken aback when newspapers even carried obituaries on the character.

"Not since the 1940s have we seen Cap being this popular," he said.

DANG... Where are all my fellow comic geeks?

Gee...didn't see THIS one coming.

Friggin' Marvel, I swear...

SnakePeel said:

C'mon, it isn't like Mephisto just made Peter's marriage to Mary Jane disappear & tossed 20 years of history in the trash.

BobGeorge67 said:

I never liked Peter and Mary Jane's marriage. I actually always hoped that Peter would hook up with The Black Cat. I never took the marriage seriously, in part because in Amazing Spider Man #289 - the one when you find out Ned Leeds was the Hobgoblin - the issue ends with the Black Cat jumping Peter's bones. Then in the next issue, Peter proposes to MJ. Even as a 12 year old kid, I was like, "Say WHAT?" I think their marriage is when the series jumped the shark.

The whole Ned Osborn fathering twins with Gwen Stacy bit was also the most ludicrous thing I'd ever heard. I stopped reading Marvel in '90, in part because of the return of the Red Skull and the whole "Peter's parents are alive, but are really clones" scenario.

And now BUCKY'S back!?!? Good GAAAWWD!

BobGeorge67 said:

i wonder if joe quesada at least sprung for a nice dinner and a movie before he started screwing marvel comics every way til sunday?

I'm so fucking sick of Marvel. I haven't even bought a comic in over almost 2 years. I still read reviews every week, though

Well thats how comics are, so you cant really blame them, i mean if they touched on reality too much then they wouldnt be as cool as they are, i mean if comics were more realistic then half of the heroes would have died in Secret Wars!

But i think they should have made Falcon Cap! I mean that would be the coolest thing ever! a Black Captain America!

kcwm said:

not a bad idea...

they were pretty tight, so he coulda filled the boots I think....

kcwm said:

especially if he kept the wings and incorporated them as some kinda american eagle design - that could have been very cool indeed.

Anxiety said:

imagine the cross dressing cross promoting opportunities with American Eagle Outfitters.....

Anxiety said:

the ironic thing is that when Joe first became EIC, he actually turned Marvel around creatively, got GOOD writers and artists on the flagship characters/books, people with ideas that wanted to do something different (or at least the appearance of doing something different), cancelled a bunch of deadweight books, took risks on storylines and tones, etc.

i think the turning point is when his partner in crime, Bill Jemas, was pushed out. they'd improved the bottom line considerably, but with Jemas gone, he started falling back on the same old stunts and events to sell books.

blah.

Lets just hope the Bucky as Cap thing runs dry and Falcon comes in and bitch slaps his ass and takes over as cap .....maybe i should apply for a job at Marvel

Anxiety said:

well said sir.

the old "someone takes his place until we REALLY bring him back" plot. How original.

JerseyKRS said:

why didn't bucky just visit mephisto and ask him to bring cap back to life in exchange for making everyone forget about the civil war miniseries?

lol because the whole Civil War event was mostly done pretty well.....except that they pretty much made Spidey's civil war stuff irrelevant after it ended, but other than his most of it is still having its impact today

kcwm said:

ok then

maybe we'll find out that aunt may really died and that the person pretending to be aunt may is captain america in drag but it won't matter because they're all skrulls anyway

and wtf is the deal with this Messiah Complex baby? i haven't read the story, but i heard it has ties to Scott/Jean/Cable/Rachel.

god, i hope not. from the sounds of it, it was a pretty decent story for being just a bunch of running around and fighting, but if they're going to muddy the whole Cyclops/Jean/Maddie/Phoenix/Rachel/Cable/Stryfe/Corsair/Havok/X-Man/Vulcan/Gambi waters even more, then i despair. i really do.

because i was going to start buying the books in TPB form, but i really can't get enthused about getting back into them if the "big event" that was going to get the x-books back on track falls back on all this stuff.

Raze said:

i don't even know what the hell is going on with all that x-men mess anymore. let me know when storm gets her mohawk back. otherwise, i can't spare the migrane.

worst thing ever was when Marvel went public. I made a bunch of money as the stocks split multiple times before I sold them, but geez, the quality really went down since then.

Raze said:

I would have to agree. As bad as people think Marvel is now, it was way worse before Quesada came on board. Although he did cancel X-Men - The Hidden Years which was the only good X-book at the time.

Raze said:

I don't know what the deal is yet with the baby. 'Messiah Complex' has been the best X-Men crossover since 'Mutant Massacre', but like you say, that could change depending on what the fallout is.

I miss Chris Claremont. Marvel is starting to suck and blow at the same time. Seriously.

Anxiety said:

Marvel is such a joke. "One More Day" was ridiculous. "Civil Wars" & "World War Hulk" - started out great, but fizzled at the end. Marvel's about shocking the fans instead of creating great storylines. Twenty years of Spidey history gone on a whim. And don't get me started on Red Hulk.


Joe Q is the devil.

2ndRevolution said:

Claremont's got problems of his own, but if you really look at what his problems are, they stem from editorial weakness, mandates, or a 180 degree change of course.

Unfortunately. I mean, he's not as great as he once was. I wouldn't even say he's great. But he is still good, bordering on great once in awhile. Most of his problems as a writer are things that are outside of his control.

I'm still waiting for the Dazzler to be brought back.

PurpleJedi said:

My dad wouldn't buy me the "Dazzler: The Movie" graphic novel because he thought the drawings of Alison were too sexual.

You gotta love the perverted minds of fundamentalist parents.

SnakePeel said:

PurpleJedi said:

She's been back for awhile now.