I know it isn’t exactly topical with this week’s books but you have to admit, it’s a little difficult to talk about Captain America. Can a book be so good that it becomes a constant of the universe? The sun will rise and set and there it is, turning with the rest of the cosmos as one of Marvel Comics’ finest ongoing series. It’s near indisputable at this point, the rock of Gibraltar of comic institutions at this point; pick up any issue and you’ll find quality crafted storytelling with some highly underrated artwork. Steve Epting has been nothing but solid during his tenure on the book, bringing both realism and the fantastic to the page.
See? You just can’t say anything about it but glowing praise!
Or maybe you can as I noticed something rather unique about the book that doesn’t have to do with its incredible consistency for greatness (see? there I go again!). It was so masterfully done (it’s like an infection!) that I didn’t really notice until I heard other people talking about it in the same slight wondrous tone of realization. It’s taken #41 issues of plotting, planning and pacing but the honor of Captain America has been passed down to the next generation.
it’s taken awhile; we had to be introduced to him, we had to get some background and some believability to the character. He had to grow and flesh out a bit from our memories of him, but James Buchanan Barnes really can’t be called ‘Bucky’ anymore aside from the past tense. He is just as much Captain America as Steve Rogers was and still is to some extent and before you call blasphemy, let me try and explain how rare this particular situation is in the Marvel Universe.
While the Distinguished Competition can line up a row of guys, shout ‘Hey, Green Lantern’ and have them all turn around, identities are unique to Marvel heroes. Ben reily shows up, says he’s Spider-Man and no one buys it. The idea of passing the torch to a new hero in honor of the old isn’t really all that prominent, if at all viable. If you hit the OHOMU, you can find something similar, but never really an honest-to-God “Here, take this symbol and do my job”. Heather Hudson became Guardian after her husband’s death, but stepped aside during his returns; you can’t really stand them next to each other and expect them to represent the same character. Clint Barton was Goliath for a time, but not only does Hank Pym have aliases to spare, it really wasn’t in honor of anything and was purely temporary. Both Patriot and Stature are inspired by family, but the transition between one generation to the next took awhile with no real feel for a continuous legacy. while Jim Rhodes took on the Iron Man job, he stepped aside for Tony Stark and got his own identity that we recognize him for. The Black Knight certainly has a continuous legacy, but that seems more of a curse than any actual passing of the torch.
In fact, if you think about it, legacies aren’t so much handed over than taken. Scott Lang stole the Ant-Man gear and then got to keep it due to his (at the time) misplaced heroism. Rita DeMara went through the same thing, taking the identity into the 30th century with the original Guardians of the Galaxy. And of course, most famously, a bout of insanity drove Harry Osborn to put on his father’s Green Goblin disguise, leading to a rather tragic ending. Identies are rather permanent things for Marvel Universe characters, the man and the mask tied distinctly together. For awhile, Peter Parker’s name was printed on the cover right next to Spider-Man (and Spectacular), both one and the same.
Which makes this particular passing of the torch so interesting in the pages of Captain America. Being a patriotic hero, Cap always had that symbolism to bear as well, no better embodied than in Steve Rogers himself. But at the same time, Rogers himself knew that he was a symbol and used the power of that to do good by his country and fellow man. He has a set of precepts to follow, guidelines set down by forefathers for his interpretation. Where as all of that came naturally to him through his belief in the United States of America, it was a role that could be followed by others of similar ilk. Which makes handing everything down to Bucky (can we even call him that anymore? Neil Patrick Harris doesn’t exactly go by ‘Doogie’…) all the more dramatic as he had been subtly groomed from his teens to carry the same beliefs as his mentor. Sure, Lukin and the Red Room got a hold of him and all that went by the wayside for a little while, but it is something he’s been trained for at one time or another. He knows how difficult the job is, he has great and deep respect for the man who carried that shield and he knows the more or less how it should be done thanks to the legacy of Steve Rogers. While the letter he left for Tony Stark might not have blatantly said “Give my shield to Bucky and make sure he takes over’, Rogers’ final wishes of keeping the Captain America legacy alive and finding redemption for his former sidekick coincide as handing the role to James accomplishes both at the same time.
There’s a certain satisfaction I had reading Cap #41 and seeing Cap take a missle to the shield then kick back and come to grips with the fruits of his labor, that he really is Captain America now and while Steve Rogers is dead, his legacy lives on. We all know that with the Captain America movie looming over head, we’re bound to get Rogers back on the pages of our funny books in one way or another but I can’t personally say that I really need that. I think Brubaker has done a masterful job of crafting this new chapter of the Cap legacy and if Steve and James (okay, you just gotta call him Bucky), if Steve and the older, wiser <i>Bucky</i> were to stand next to each other and someone were to shout out, ‘Hey Captain America’, both have the right and honor to turn and answer to that name.
October 15th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I do, however, feel that the book has lost a lot of steam in the past 6 months or so (a bit too much of punch punch punch-prove my worth-doubts in my thought bubbles-punch punch). And as much as I like Bucky as Cap (its…ok), I really miss us losing the character of the Winter Soldier, he’s a bit “too soft” now, and honestly it feels a bit too easy, how he’s relaxed into the role (in how he’s changed his approach to fighting and general attitude, not so much his actual trials or doubts).
Minus the strange Sharon Carter degradation-torture fantasy (which I ranted about in that Blog@Lady Bullseye thread), it’s still a solid book, a staple month in and month out; between Tony, Falcon, Bucky, Black Widow, Shield, and friends, it has one of the better casts in comics.
October 15th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Bucky…with the robot arm… an assasin for something like 30 or more years… “missing”. Never stumbled across a single super hero fight since WWII. He just pops up out of no where (with a robot arm). “The Winter Soldier”?
Ok, bucky.
October 15th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Steve Rogers will always be Captain America.
Brubaker’s story has been very entertaining but Bucky will never be “Cap”.
I’ve always preferred the Marvel U because the character’s have always been the focus, not the mask.
I’ve read and collected “Captain America” because I liked the character of Steve Rogers. He is why I buy the book still. It might be after Brubaker and Quesada have gone but Steve will be back and only then, will Captain America really be “back”.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Bucky is very much Cap (assuming Marvel doesn’t lost their nerve anytime in the near future and reinstate Steve), very much the way other characters have taken over different super-hero mantles, though that’s always been more of a DC staple than a Marvel. Still, I don’t think Steve Rogers should be treated with so much reverence that no one else can be Captain America; especially considering Cap is more about an ideal rather than a single person. I miss Steve, but Brubaker and Epting have created a masterful series that will easily be remembered in history as one of the most definitive Captain America stories in history, if not the definitive story.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Carla: You’re right. Barnes has earned this.
I say let it stand.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
I don’t get the swipe at DC… So there’s a crapload of Green Lanterns. Hell, there’s even been several Flashes. But, after that..? There’s probably a few other examples, but generally speaking aren’t most identities unique to the DC heroes? I mean, did anyone really accept Azrael as Batman? Whoever takes up the cowl after the crapfest known as R.I.P. isn’t really going to be accepted as Batman either.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
If the movies are handled correctly as a proposed trilogy, then the entire over-arching plot should be the rise and fall of Steve Rogers. Film 1: Steve Rogers in a period WW2 piece, with introduction and development of Bucky…who is believed dead at the end of the first film. Film 2: Cap revived in the present to deal with a special threat…the Winter Soldier, who ultimately finds himself responsible for the death of Rogers (programming by the Skull?). Film 3: Bucky’s redemption and assumption of the Captain America mantle. That way, there is no need to revive Rogers via some ridicluous editorial mandate. Brubaker then is free to continue crafting the most superb mainstream comic in a long time.
October 15th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Great article, Carla, and I totally agree with your gushing comments at the start about how this title delivers – and then some! – each and every month. Comes out on time, has the highest quality writing and artwork, provides thrills every month, takes its time to draw out interesting arc after interesting arc without feeling like it’s *cough Secret Invasion cough* padded… I don’t think there’s another Marvel title that comes close.
The one reason that I can’t totally, 100%, accept Bucky as Cap, though, is that Steve Rogers was just getting warmed up as a character when he met his twisted fate at the hands of Dr Faustus (via Sharon). It wasn’t like he’d run his course and there was nothing left to say about him… Bru had actually made the character more fleshed out than ever before, and provided more depth to him (preserving but not solely relying on the “fish out of water” hook that Stan had introduced in 1964) than we’d ever been treated to before, over 40 years. There’s so much more for that writer to tell us about Rogers that I have no doubt he’ll be back before too much longer.
I honestly think that this run of Captain America will be held up decades from now as the definitive one for the character. It’s just that good.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Shaun noted:
“I don’t get the swipe at DC…”
Because, Shaun, you can’t like both Universes. If you like Marvel, you HAVE to take shots at DC or you aren’t truly a Marvelite.
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Bucky is not Cap and never will be. I know a guy who quit comics completely because Steve Rogers was killed.
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Saw the preview issue of next week’s Cap today. Art was fine, but nothing happened of note; endless conversation.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:07 am
I love the Brubaker run. Bru is awesome and his Cap is IMHO the best ever. I love the Winter Soldier arc, the Death of Cap, everything. That said, Steve Rogers is Cap to me, for entirely the reasons initially described in the article. I read the book for Steve, and his exploits as Cap play second fiddle. I’m still looking forward to the next few yearws, but I have to admit, I’m getting a bit impatient, and may move on, a notion which I would have considered blasphemy a year ago, if Bucky sticks to the role. He’s just a different guy. Why give him the Captain America costume, just let him be his own man. America doesn’t need ‘Captain America’ it needs Steve Rogers.