Where's Your Bucky Now?

I've never been a Captain America fan ("More jingoism please!"), but that sure didn't keep more people than I can count from emailing me this news: Cap dies this week.

Like I said, I'm not a fan, but luckily whenever anything newsworthy happens in comicdom, I'm surrounded by people who know me all too well (and my love for comics), and who race each other to tell me the news before it breaks wide. I may not like Captain America, but I love my pals for climbing over each other in their haste to tell me that his 50-year run ends this very week. Right when we need a fictional, 4-color hero most.

Look, we all know he'll be back. Hell, Marvel is in pre-production for a Captain America film, so we can all look forward to "Captain America #1" hitting stores the summer the film opens to lukewarm reviews of Daniel Craig's portrayal of the tiny-winged one (while his portrayal will almost certainly be loathed, I'm sure no one will comment on the fact that maybe -just maybe- he's a bit too Aryan for the role of America's protector... though it could be argued that Cap is the Aryan American) and lines around the cineplex.

Despite all that, it's still staggering news. To date, I don't think there's been a comic book icon with a longer, continuous run than Captain America. Sure, he's had books stutter to a stop, but as long as there's been a Captain America title, there's been a muscle-bound myopic in stars and bars beating the crap out of the Red Skull with unbridled patriotism and unmatched will. Even Superman, while first (and that's right, still the world's finest) super hero, left the pages of his comics for an entire year after he died. He got better, and so did his books, but while we lived in a world without a Superman, Captain America soldiered on doing... you know... patriotic things. I guess. I know he threw his shield around. And stuff. That's what I heard, anyway... I had other comics to read.

Wonder Woman? She's taken breaks (and not just when she turned back into clay, either!). Batman? Reamed, retired, returned. Spider-Man? Spider-Man gave up the webs to his clone one summer... or, wait... he was the clone, and he gave up the webs to the real Peter Parker who didn't throw a clone into a smokestack after all, see, but rather the clone -after the Jackal forced them to do battle in an abandoned stadium- threw him down the smokestack, only he wasn't incinerated, but rather crawled out, thinking he was the original when in fact he was the clone who wasn't actually a clone but-- well, the point is, even Spidey has left the pages of his books for a spell. Meanwhile, Cap stood tall. I guess. I mean, I'm sure he stood around, anyway. Square-jawed and resolute. Or something. I never really payed attention.

So, regardless of his possible (that is to say, really, really likely), eventual return, it is the end of an era. There's probably a metaphor in here somewhere... Cap getting gunned down on the steps of a courthouse after he'd defied the government he'd pledged his life to protect, and stood for what was right while that government and countless other super heroes toed the line and told him he was wrong. Well, told him and beat on him. You can't really have one without the other in the funny books. You also can't order x-ray specs from that ad on the inside of the back cover anymore either, but you know, there's a lot of things we've had to learn to live without.

Like I said, I never read his books, but damned if he didn't soldier on anyway. Love him or hate him, he stood strong; proud and resilient. He may have fallen, but you have to believe that he'll get back up in time. I probably still won't follow his story... but it's good to know it's there, and that it takes more than one guy to end a dream.

Huh. There was a metaphor in there.