When I started reading comics, the one constant that could be counted among death and taxes was this: Bucky is the only hero that every truly stays dead. Then Ed Brubaker brought him back as the Winter Soldier before the Marvel Civil War started. Being a longtime Cap fan (of the character, not the crappy stories that seemed to accompany him until Brubaker…), I’ll admit, I was skeptical. But, he actually wrote a great story that not only introduced the reader to a new character, but also delved deeper into Cap’s character. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the storyline, it’s available in two trade paperbacks.

Then came Civil War. One of those all encompassing storylines that the editor-in-chief has to enforce with his writers to get them all to tie-in together – making the casual reader confused and the comic addict broke.

Was Civil War a good story? Yes. Did it shake up and re-define the Marvel U for years to come? Yes. Did it sell books? Yes. Did they need to kill Cap to make their point? Nope. Whether Brubaker had this planned or not, I can’t say. But I can say that it feels a lot like the switcheroo that’s been tried with Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman and Spider-Man. Let’s see, how many of those replacements are still the main guy in the book? Ummmm…. NONE! Yes, some of them are still in the stories, but none lasted very long in a title role. Why? Because nobody wants to see a different person in the tights. It’s okay if it’s a What If? or Elseworlds story or a future story that can’t come to pass. Those are cool because you can go back to the regular comic with the regular character you’ve grown to love. You can’t even say it worked with the Flash anymore because Barry Allen is back from the dead and in a new book starting in March.

The shock treatment that seems to happen in a major book every ten years now, tends to build sales and new readers for a few issues and maybe get some news coverage, but it also drive away the hard core readers. I don’t see the tradeoff as a benefit.

Bucky Barnes, other than Clint (Hawkeye) Barton, one of the few people in the Marvel U that can fling the shield and try to fill the big shoes left behind. Here’s what my big problem is: CAPTAIN AMERICA DOESN’T CARRY A GUN AND SHOOT PEOPLE! Batman doesn’t carry a gun and Cap doesn’t carry a gun. Period. Yes, I know Cap carried a gun in WWII and shot people with it. He was a soldier then; he’s become a symbol over the years. He’s evolved as a character. I don’t if this was a Brubaker thing, an Alex Ross thing or a Joe Quesada thing; but the bottom line is: somebody made a bad decision. I realize the 90′s are gone, but there are some that don’t remember when everybody became an ‘anti-hero’ and carried something deadly (Thank you to Rob Liefeld and the like…). I will admit that I found it cool when Cap-Bucky flung the shield at an enemy and as they watch it bounce around, the enemy realizes that it won’t come back to hit him a la the REAL Cap and turn back to Cap-Bucky to taunt him and then gets shot in the face. That was cool, but not for the man in the Captain America uniform. For Taskmaster: cool. For U.S. Agent: cool. Yes, we live in a different time, but that always seems to be the excuse for this crap.

Geoff Johns learned his lesson after being vilified for turning Hal Jordan evil and putting someone else in the tights. He’s still on the book and writing one of the few good stories at DC as he lays the groundwork for ‘Blackest Night.’ But even DC is trying to put someone else in the cowl again as Batman is dead/missing. Whenever this story idea comes up, the writer or editor or somebody needs to leave the book and let some new blood have a go at the character. It seems to be the last resort of a weak writer and the first suggestion of the egoist. ‘Hey, let’s kill him and I’ll make sure that he can’t come back!’ or ‘It’ll be great story and it will sell books (with my name on it)!’

I’m still waiting for Marvel to retcon Nick Fury and turn him permanently into a black man…