Scott McPherson's Web Presence

It has been two years since the death of Captain America. 

Killed by a bullet fired by his brainwashed girlfriend amidst a plot fiendishly hatched by longtime enemy the Red Skull, Cap died in June 2007.

Or did he?

Of course, the shield was picked up capably by former sidekick Bucky Barnes.  But Marvel has not forgotten the huge storm of media surrounding the assassination of its greatest hero.  And so, in just a couple of weeks, Captain America #600 comes to newsstands.

And it arrives two days early.  Normally, comics are released on Wednesdays.  But for this event, Marvel is allowing dealers to actually sell the comics on a Monday.  Clearly, Marvel is hoping for a slow news day on the 15th, and shipping the prelude to a new five-issue miniseries called "Reborn" will help create news.

I am all about creating news for Marvel, so I am doing my fair share here.  If you have not read the amazing Captain America Omnibus, which is $100 and can cause a hernia just picking it up, I recommend grabbing it (with a forklift), or read the ongoing Death of Captain America series via some other route.  But read it! Start at the beginning -- Issue #1, writtten by Ed Brubaker, released just a few years ago  -- and take it from there.  Don't freak:  Issue #600 is also kind of issue #51 in the current arc, so you're not 599 issues behind.  The current and ongoing story arc is some of the best prose out there in any format. 

And the twist that brings Bucky back is absolutely electrifying.  There used to be a saying in Comicdom that you could "never bring back Bucky."  Wellllll, not exactly.  And the way Brubaker accomplished this was incredible.   Ed, you're a genius, dude.

Bucky as Cap has done a great job representing, and the picture at the top of this blog covers that nicely.  The costume is improved, for one.  So I am hoping Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, comes back in some other capacity, at least for the time being.  He can come back as Nomad, the costume he wore for a period of time.  Or he can come back to take over the protection of the nation from Norman Osborn's Dark Reign.  What?  you don't know about the Dark Reign, formed following the Civil War and the Secret Invasion?

Get busy reading.