Marvel held one of their famed Next Big Thing press calls recently, this time talking about the upcoming Captain America #1 by longtime Cap scribe Ed Brubaker and Civil War artist Steve McNiven. Big changes are in store for the character, most notably that Steve Rogers will be taking up the mantle once again come July. In addition, the current Captain America book will be retitled to Captain America and Bucky, depicting the WWII adventures of the famous duo.
When we asked about Bucky’s role in the present now that Rogers is back in the saddle, the team evaded the questions, with editor Tom Brevoort saying “He will be appearing in Captain America and Bucky. The first arc is the life story of Bucky Barnes, pretty much from the army bases and streets of Depression-era New York all the way up to the present. But quite honestly part of the reason we’re doing that is we don’t really want to say anything about Bucky and what’s going on with him just yet.”
When asked about why Steve is coming back to the mantle, Brubaker said, “Steve was always this guy that tried to do the right thing even when he was the 98 pound weakling. In the 70th Anniversary issue, I had a story where he said he never really wanted to be Captain America. He was just supposed to be part of a troop of super soldiers; he was supposed to be in a band of brothers of guys. Once it fell to him, he had no choice but to become something bigger than himself. I think he enjoyed his time away from that, but I think he knew that once Bucky got put on trial and everything that it would come back to him. He was just sort of holding out hope that it would be Bucky, and it would be Bucky’s way to find redemption.”
Brubaker continued, “I feel like I was just building up steam and my idea of killing Cap was going to come later. And he wasn’t going to be dead that long. I never wanted to not be writing Steve Rogers as long as I did. It was just the circumstances of moving storylines around in my plans. So really, this is the first time since Civil War where I really get to cut loose with Steve Rogers again. I mean, everybody says ‘Bucky is my favorite character’ and he’s certainly mine, but Steve Rogers was my first Marvel character as a kid. I always have wanted to write that character.” Brubaker went on to discuss how his original plans ended up elaborating on the Bucky story after he saw the good reaction to the time during Steve’s death.
Had a feeling Steve would be Cap again and the new success in writing would continue with Brubaker. He certainly has a good grasp of the character and how he would react in to day’s world. This one should be a hit by all Marvel standards. Stay tuned comic faithful for more. 🙂 Walt