Holy shit! This is Good News

[kijikun.livejournal.com]

CNN: Captain America, thought dead, comes back to life.

Some quotes:

Rising from the dead after being killed off over two years ago, Captain America is being resurrected by Marvel Comics.

Though the circumstances of his return are being closely shielded, the star-spangled superhero returns July 1 in a five-comic-book series, "Captain America Reborn."

Many felt Captain America's death in 2007 was symbolic of the time. And his return now?

"The tenor of the world now is when we're at a point where we want to believe in heroes. Someone who can lead the way," said Breevort. "It just feels like the right time."

And what of Captain America's sidekick, Bucky Barnes? After taking up the shield and mission of Captain America for the past year, it'll be time to relinquish the mantle. Is there room for two sentinels of liberty? Stay tuned

Let's hope CNN is right.

Comments

[mercy-slays.livejournal.com]

I want to say about time but I also want to say... it feels too soon.

I don't know. I love the idea of Cap coming back and hopefully fixing the Civil War/Secret Invasion/Dark Reign fallout but I also kind of wish they give Bucky another year or two (or three) before bringing him back. Granted, Cap's not coming back now (just next month...?) but, it would be nice for Bucky to have the mantle for a little while more (maybe five real world years?).

[kijikun.livejournal.com]

Honestly? Bucky has had the mantel for how long now? He needs to find out who he is without Steve's shadow over him. I'd read that book.

Also the movie is 2011, Steve Rogers was going to be Captain America again by that point no matter what. Marvel isn't that stupid and Joe Q wants to keep his job.

[mercy-slays.livejournal.com]

That true, though I'm still uncertain about this revival, probably because I'm just skeptic of revivals in general for all comics. However they do it, Steve coming back and Bucky's reaction to that and the aftermath of said revival... I'll read that too.

For some odd reason I thought it was 2010 but I was probably thinking of the Iron Man sequel due to all the news about the filming going on. You're right about Steve needing to be revived by the time of his film debuting in theaters, though I rather he was revived at the time of the Captain America film, than this year.

[kijikun.livejournal.com]

I doubt he'll come right back and pick up the cowl. This is Steve we're talking about, he's not going to feel he can just pick up the cowl and go on like nothing happened. Bucky will probably wear the cowl for another year or so.

I doubt Bru is going to let Bucky just disappear, he'll probably get his own book.

Just don't harsh our squees okay? *G*

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

I rather he was revived at the time of the Captain America film, than this year.

Yeah, but this year means that they can have some TPB staring Steve on store shelves when the movie comes out, and they can use the buzz over Steve being back as part of their marketing. If they brought him back when the movie came out, they wouldn't have any comics with Steve in them to sell, beyond about one/two single issues.

[marinarusalka.livejournal.com]

Bucky has had the mantel for how long now? He needs to find out who he is without Steve's shadow over him. I'd read that book.

Hear, hear! I've always thought that Bucky should never have been Captain America in the first place, it's not good for him. The guy was brainwashed and reprogrammed, his original identity was basically erased, he's supposed to be building a new one. And you don't do that by stepping into somebody else's huge, iconic role. It's not healthy. If Steve comes back, Bucky can stop trying to be Captain America and start actually being himself.

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

I've always thought that Bucky should never have been Captain America in the first place, it's not good for him. The guy was brainwashed and reprogrammed, his original identity was basically erased, he's supposed to be building a new one. And you don't do that by stepping into somebody else's huge, iconic role.

Word. IMO, no character should ever step into another character's huge, iconic role. It cheapens and disrespects both characters to do that. But in Bucky's case, it's also personally bad for him, because it means that he never got a chance to learn who James Barnes was after coming back -- he was too busy pretending to be Steve.

I'd like to see him create a new identity forhimself out from under Steve's shadow. Preferably with a new costume and superhero name of his own that no one else has used beforehand.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

If, and it's a big if, they intend to clean up the authoritarian mess that is the current MU, Steve needs to be back before, both in terms of good story-telling and for the long-term health of the character. Considering how badly they messed him up during Civil War -- "my idea of how to fight fascist behavior and illegal attacks by government agencies: run around tying up criminals!" not to mention having him burst into tears and give up at the end -- you simply can't have him come back and everyone say "well, we had some problems with Osborne but we tidied up everything while you were gone, and fixed the SHRA. Guess we didn't need you, o 'conscience of the MU'"

I know a lot of people are upset at how they've screwed up Tony, and I agree, but the thing about Tony is... he screws up. It doesn't ruin the character in the long term; he can go evil, he can erase people's memories, he can have alcoholic breakdowns, because the heart of the character is the duality the incredibly powerful suit and the flawed man inside, between the guy who has everything mentally and financially yet screws himself over so often. So he screws up, and then struggles to fix what he screwed up, and help the people he endangered; that's one of the ur-Tony plotlines.

While for Steve, one of his basic story engines is the clash between his ideals and the world as it is. You have the confrontation, you have the rejection, you have Steve question himself and withdraw for a while to think and study the world, and you have the return, renewed. Sometimes it's because he's rejected by the people: this happened with the Committee storyline in the 80s, when John Walker took over the title, this happened when he was framed for treason and exiled from the country in the 90s, it happened with the SHRA.

Sometimes it is simply the clash between the world as it is now and the world he grew up in, as in the 60s when he struggled with finding his place in a world he was decades out of. You can see it in miniature in some of the very first CA stories, where he is unfrozen and confused goes out trying to explore this new world, wondering if there is a place for Captain America. You can see it in his very first arc with Tony; where Tony admires his past, but thinks he's useless for real superhero work, and Steve thinks he may be right. Only for both of them to realize it's not true when Steve saves Tony from a giant robot.

We've had the Rejection; we've had the Retreat (Steve giving up and then dying); the Renewal and the Return come next, and for them to work the problem that drove him away still has to exist, so that he can overcome it.

This.

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

I want to say about time but I also want to say... it feels too soon.

It really does. In both real life and Marvel time. The wound is too fresh... and damn it, they need to wait until Tony gets a better artist! :P

But I agree.

[geuna.livejournal.com]

It's... it's almost too sudden. I mean, July 1st? As in THIS July? That's only a few weeks away!

I'm sure Cap would take one look at Norman Osborn and think, "Oh crap, so this is what Tony was talking about..."

[cygna-hime.livejournal.com]

I'm witholding my squee and glee, mostly on principle: this sounds like exactly what I want and think should happen to achieve the best story and meta-story, but Marvel likes to jerk me around and not allow me nice things, therefore as soon as I become too invested the story will tank and/or prove to be just another chain-jerk. (That said, WANT WANT WANT OMG.)

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

this sounds like exactly what I want and think should happen to achieve the best story and meta-story, but Marvel likes to jerk me around and not allow me nice things, therefore as soon as I become too invested the story will tank and/or prove to be just another chain-jerk.

Motto. I'm terrified to let myself believe it, because I'm afaid it's the publishing-house equivalent of your abusive ex trying to get you to take him back just so he can hit you again.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

What you said.

[posyvanilla.livejournal.com]

I just love that CNN is reporting this. :) Also, I did figure they'd bring Steve back before his movie premiered, but I honestly thought they'd take a little longer than this (although I am definitely not complaining). I will so be picking this up in July.

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

I'm going with the too soon Brigade. Bucky is ONLY just now getting a grip on being Cap, Marvel U is kinda crappy right now anyway and yeah . . . I'm skeptical of resurrections. I worry. I worry a lot.

But right now, more than anything. I feel yanked around. I'm pissed at Joe Q and Brubaker flouncing around saying they new this was coming and it had been planned and it completes an arc.

WTF. two years ago you morons were yapping about how this would NOT be a medial stunt, would NOT be a superman thing and now you are saying that has you told us it was not fake, you knew you were lying

two faced media whores GRRRR
I mean not that I did not expect it, but I seriously have lost respect for Brubaker over this. If he did have this shit planned he shouldn't have acted like he was some brilliant edgy writer, because WHATEVER.

*sigh*

I am happy to get Steve back though. Don't get me wrong.
I just . . . feel cheated.


And I don't want Bucky to be side-charactered again. *pats his head* he's cute. I'm very happy I can go buy his comics in a few weeks and in my protest of not buying Cap until steve was returned.
Because I want to own that Namor team up like yesterday ^^;;;;

Oh and if Brubaker kills Bucky to bring Steve back, my LJ will explode in anger.

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

if Brubaker kills Bucky to bring Steve back, my LJ will explode in anger

Considering that Bucky is his Mary Sue to a degree I've rarely seen outside of Mercedes Lackey novels, I highly doubt he'd kill him -- I suspect he'd quit first, like Straczynski (sp?) bailed on Amazing Spider-Man over Brand New Day.

Only CNN telling me otherwise keeps me from being *sure* he's not just playing a "haha! Tricked you!" again over Steve coming back and planning keep Bucky in the costume after all.

Plus, at this point he bloody well owes us a Steve & Bucky team-up storyline. I'll be irritated if we don't get one.

[melisus.livejournal.com]

TOO SOON.

Sure he's been dead for two years in the real world but uh... barely ANYTHING has happened in his own comic. Way to give Bucky the shaft, Marvel.

[kijikun.livejournal.com]

I doubt Steve will be back in the cowl for a while. Maybe by the time of the movie, but Bucky'll be in the cowl for at least another year or two. Bru loves Bucky so I don't expect him to give up his favorite character - if Bucky doesn't get his own book in 2011 I'll be rather pissed myself.

[melisus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but to bring Steve back when Bucky is still only beginning to come to terms with things just completely screws over the character. I feel that to bring Steve back already when the people in charge said that this death was meant to last (at least for a good several years) just cheapens its impact into any old comic book death. And killing off Captain America SHOULDN'T be like any old comic book death because he's CAPTAIN AMERICA, you know?

[bethany-cabe.livejournal.com]

Hmm. It is too soon considering the promise that Steve would be dead for years and years, at least a decade guys, no seriously, we don't want to cheapen his death, we're not going to just bring him back oh, by the way, he's back next month. But...

When the Skrullvasion began, everyone started making their guesses as to who would turn out to be secretly green and wrinkly and Marvel just sort of winked at everyone and said 'Oh, you'll see!' The one character they made an exception for was Tony. Everyone and their dog thought Tony was a Skrull, so Joe Q very quickly said Tony was not a Skrull, as that would cheapen the character and all of the interesting development he'd had in the past few years.

They were sort of right. It would have been a bit of a get out of gaol free card. But I don't think I was the only Iron Man fan to be insanely disappointed by that, because as far as I was concerned, it would have been an excellently quick way to make Tony good and well-loved again. I've reached a point where I really don't care about the how - as long as hero!Tony comes back and replaces twatty!Tony, I'd be very happy.

I don't feel quite that strongly about Steve, maybe, but since most Marvel readers erroneously blame Tony for Steve's death/the War/cancer in general, the only way most of those readers will ever forgive him is if Tony and Steve have a proper reconcilliation. They can't do that if Steve's dead. It's an obstacle.

But also, bringing Steve back now perfectly fits Marvel's current MO. Joe Q puts too much reality into the MU, which starts out fine but when done to this extent is incompatible. This means, though, that however he feels about the world/politics/his Mam's new haircut at any given time, he tries to incorporate it into the MU. This is also why we get giga-crossovers all the time now. A few years ago he was feeling somewhat sad about American politics and Guantanamo Bay and such. Suddenly, we get CW, in which Super Guantanamo Bay is built and George "W" Bush cameos as a Deadpool villain, at the end of which America is symbolically killed in the form of Steve. Then America votes in Obama (good work, guys!) and suddenly the world is a much brighter place, and the Dark'n'Edgy MU is no longer really applicable. He's probably just noticed that it's become just a bit depressing. So to reflect this lovely new Obama-led world order?

He resurrects America in the form of Steve. America is alive again.

Which may well mean poor Bucky gets dicked on, actually, because Joe Q doesn't listen to what writers think about how characters should be handled, as we know from JMS. Sigh. Still. I'm going to focus on the potential silver linings while keeping my inherent cynicism on stand-by for when it doesn't happen.

[helva2260.livejournal.com]

This. But shhh... he thinks he's being subtle in putting the modern world allegories in!

In some ways I like the idea of the MU reflecting real life, but there are so many problems it can cause - all of which we've seen with Civil War and the aftermath. Not to mention it doesn't really make for original plot lines. Also, I like to think of comics as a haven from real life, so in practice when things are getting me down and the comics universe is also getting screwed up, it just means that they've lost a reader for the duration.

[bethany-cabe.livejournal.com]

Yes! I agree completely. Thing is, I like realism in comics, just not reality, and Civil War rather ably demonstrated it to me. I've got a Daredevil comic from the Sixties where Matt, in full costume, gets knocked out during a fight with one of his LameSixties Villains (I don't know, Stilt-Man, maybe? Could have been.) Anyway; at this point in the plot the police think the Heinous Crime of the Week may actually have been committed by Daredevil, so on finding his neatly unconscious body they whip him into a pair of handcuffs and cart him off to a cell. Three hours later, Matt wakes up in said cell to find a policeman looking in at him. Dialogue is something like:

Daredevil: Wait; my mask! Did anyone look under my mask?

Policeman: No! We've got every lawyer in town trying to work out if that would violate your civil liberties!

Now, in real life, Matt's just been arrested. The police have not only the right but the obligation to to find out who he is if they think he's committed a Heinous Crime. That would make for a lame story, though.

Now, in real life, if people genuinely could breathe fire and levitate cars and then took to the streets to fight crime, I would want to know that they knew how to use those powers responsibly and wouldn't be likely to accidentally set me aflame or drop a car on me as they did so. That's a staggeringly unfun thing to put into stories about superheroes, though. It doesn't belong in the fun comics universe.

Not that comics can't be a bit dark sometimes, but they should be fun at the same time. Like the Red Zone. That was dark but fun. But when watching the world escalate into gritty, horrible war, I don't want to pick up a comic and read about gritty, horrible war, you know? There should always be a degree of black-and-white heroes and villains to comics, in my opinion.

[harmonyangel.livejournal.com]

I'd just like to note, for the record, that Brubaker's original plan was to bring Steve Rogers back in issue 30. It was supposed to be a brief death, like any other brief comic death. It was only because of Jeph Loeb's urging Marvel to make an event out of the story that Brubaker was encouraged to lengthen the time Steve was dead. (This was revealed, by Brubaker himself, this weekend at HeroesCon.) Therefore, if you're going to be mad about Marvel "jerking people around," Brubaker is not the person you should be mad at. Blame Jeph Loeb and Marvel's marketing department.

(I, for one, am ecstatic to see Steve returning, but that goes without saying.)

[kijikun.livejournal.com]

Therefore, if you're going to be mad about Marvel "jerking people around," Brubaker is not the person you should be mad at. Blame Jeph Loeb and Marvel's marketing department.

Did you mean for this comment to go in reply to someone else's comment?

Because I haven't said anything about Marvel "jerking people around". I've always just maintained that Steve could be back and most likely wearing the cowl again by the movie.

[harmonyangel.livejournal.com]

Sorry -- it's sort of a general reply to the threads all over the post about people assuming that Brubaker is going back on his word and that this is "too soon" and makes the death not meaningful. This was very much the plan all along on the writer's part, and while people are certainly entitled to their opinions on the matter, I wanted to clear up the facts.