You know what’s always bothered me about comics? The constant need to keep things in an unbreakable status quo. Bruce Wayne will ALWAYS be Batman, so even when they tease us with a possible new Batman, we all know what to expect. We had Jean Paul Valley, but nobody expected him to stick around forever. Just like how when Superman died, everyone knew he’d be back. When Wally West vanished during Infinite Crisis, we all knew he’d be back. Writers and editors and publishers are afraid to shake things up.
Which brings me to the point of this column rather early.
Steven Grant Rogers is dead.
James Buchanan Barnes is Captain America.
Captain America is dead, long live Captain America.
I remember when I started reading Marvel heavily during the mid 90’s, my first real exposure to the Captain was Heroes Reborn. And despite the clunky book that to this day I roll my eyes at, the simple idea of a man who isn’t measured by his powers, but by love of his country is something that inspires me.
Heroes Return put Captain America into a place where I truly felt like I could understand the man, and in large part it was due to the brilliant writing of Mark Waid (which led me to hunt down Man Without a Country, which I read weekly until the book was lost/stolen).
Steve Rogers had been Captain America pretty much non-stop since the early 1940’s, and despite the Captain America of the 50’s, or his time as Nomad, or even when John Walker replaced him. You think of Captain America and you think of puny Steve Rogers who volunteered for an experimental procedure that turned him into a super soldier. A man who was willing to do anything to help his country.
After Waid left Captain America, well, I dropped out of comics not soon after for various personal reasons, but I still read my back issues all of the time, and I never got tired of them. It was just inspirational to me, he was the kind of hero that I could actually relate to. He wasn’t driven by tragedy, or by the need to do something with his great power. He was a man who just wanted to help his country, and became a symbol and an ideal because of it.
When Ed Brubaker was announced as the new Captain America writer, I decided to give the book a shot again. I’d been burnt out on the newer issues after years of mediocre work, and found the character was kept afloat by the work put into him on Avengers. So despite knowing that Brubaker was a phenomenal writer, I went in with low expectations and was quickly blown away.
What was it about his version that kept me so intrigued? That reawakened my love of the character? Was it his love for the characters, and the continuity? Maybe it was Steve Epting’s art or something visual.
No, looking back, having reread my Omnibus again, it was the combination of all these things as well as his desire to try something new. I mean, the first issue ends with the Red Skull being shot through the chest by a snipers bullet. The first issue. It’s an immediate shake up of the status quo, one quickly followed up by the introduction of the Winter Soldier; the return of Bucky.
Winter Kills
I remember the out cry about how Bucky was the only person that ever stayed dead, about how people hated it and thought it was horrible.
For the five people in the world who don’t know who Bucky is, back in the forties when Cap debuted, he was given a teenage sidekick. Bucky was the Robin to his Batman. When Marvel relaunched Captain America during the sixties though, it was established that Buck had died when a plane exploded thanks to Baron Zemo, the same explosion that froze Steve in the ice for the Avengers to find. Bucky was the first sidekick to die, and at the same time, his death was the first true retcon in comics.
Captain America and Bucky
I remember thinking to myself that the idea was brilliant, it was something no one had attempted, and if done right would completely reinvigorate the franchise in a much needed fashion. I remember thinking to myself that I was hoping he would return to the side of angels, that he would join Cap and the Falcon and the three would be the dream team.
I never thought for even a moment that three years later he’d be wearing the flag and carrying the shield. And if you’d told me that would be the case, I’d have called you completely crazy. I mean, Marvel had just disassembled the Avengers and still nothing had really changed. Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Luke Cage were on the team. So what? All they did was drive Wanda crazy and kill Hawkeye, and I knew that Clint would be back sooner then later (and I never really cared for Wanda). How is that shaking things up? Because they’re in a new location?
But bringing Bucky back, redeveloping the Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter relationship, and introducing Aleksander Lukin? Brubaker developed a credible threat to America, and had Steve fight it as the patriotic man that he was. When his beliefs were questioned, he stood tall and didn’t falter.
He fought the good fight, he protected his country. When the Civil War happened and his country turned on him, what did he do? Did he quit? Did he tell them off? No, he kept doing what he did best. He fought for the American ideal that he believed in, he stood his ground and voiced his beliefs. When SHIELD hunted him down and it was best for him to stay underground, when all of the registered heroes were looking for the unregistered ones to incarcerate, what did Steve do?
He kept fighting bad guys. He didn’t let up his battles against Hydra, AIM, or Lukin. Even when he was constantly being hunted down to be chained and jailed, he never lost sight of what was really important. And during the final battle of the war, when his eyes were reopened to see the damage that he had done to the people he had fought to protect, what did he do? He broke into tears, took his mask off, and surrendered.
But Captain America didn’t. Steve took responsibility under his own name, for his own actions. He wasn’t the symbol for America, only in spirit.
I believe along the way somebody said “Captain America didn’t lose sight of America, America lost sight of him.” A thought that I stand in full support of. A man who always fought for what he believed in, for what he thought was best for his country.
And when he died on the steps of that courthouse, I remember avoiding all of the spoilers that day. I kept the TV off, disconnected my internet, and saved the book for last. I remember crying real tears of loss for my hero. I remember asking myself “What can they do now? How do they go from here?”
A great man lies dead
But, at no point did I lose faith. Brubaker kept the book going just as strong, if not stronger, even without its main character. We saw the loss through the eyes of those that knew him best, and we felt it ourselves.
I remember waiting a few issues before thinking to myself “Is the new Captain America going to be Bucky of Falcon?”, the two most obvious choices to fill the gap. When I saw the concept art for the new Captain American knowing immediately, with a giant smile on my face. My friends were cursing about how it was a horrible idea, how it would never stick, how Steve would be a clone, or a Skrull, or any sort of excuse to bring him back.
And I remember being excited for what would come next.
You tell ’em Buck
Status quo is a funny thing. So rarely do you see it truly get shaken up, but when it does, and when it’s done right, you feel like you’re seeing something special. Bucky being Captain America is the same as Wally West becoming the Flash. A side kick finally stepping into the shoes of the man who inspired them. Finally living up to the dream. I can get behind that.
So Bucky is Captain America, and Steve Rogers is dead and buried. I miss Steve every time I pick up a book he would have been in, and yet, every time I see Buck put on the costume it feels right to me. It’s a change that I love, and one I would hate to see undone.
James Buchanan Barnes…..Captain America.
The Gold Standard.
