He's back! And so am I! It's been a long while be we're both back, me and Steve Rogers. Ifyou hadn't heard, Steve Rogers, the originally Captain America will be returning from the dead this summer. But how? Who knows? And where does that leave the current Captain America, Roger's WWII sidekick, James 'Bucky' Barnes? We also don't know. Cap 600 gave us an insight to Cap's world, as the New Avengers, Bucky, Black Widow, Sharon Carter (Cap's gf), Patriot, Josiah Bradley and a female teenage Bucky from an alternate world (more on that later). There are some Cap characters who are being utilized in other books, such as USAgent, a one time fill-in for Cap, in Mighty Avengers and a patriotic superhero who Cpa worked with named Jack Flagg in Guardians of the Galaxy. There are a few other characters that are not being used, such as Vagabond, Free Spirit and Battlestar, but the character I'm suprised and disapointed looks like is not going to be used is the IVF son of the secret, African-American Captain America, Isiah Bradley.A few years ago, in a mini-series called Truth, Marvel decided to exapand the idea of the Super-Soldier program to real world proportions. In X-Men they tied it to the Weapon X program that created Wolverine, as part of the larger Weapon Plus program. But they also applied he Super-Soldier program to Tuskegee Airman scandal, and proposed that the US govermnet would have tested the Super-Soldier serum on african americans before white americans. Out of that story came the first Captain America, Isiah Bradley, who was captured behind enemy lines, and who the unrefined serum sterlized him and drove him to a child like state. In the story, his wife and he had a daughter already, who ends up have a grandson Eli, who eventually gets a blood transfer from his grandfather and gains super-soldier powers, and goes by the name Patriot as part of the Young Avengers.
Now the was a great 7 issue series call the Crew by Chris Priest (writer of one of the best super-hero/political comics ever - check out his Black Panther series!) which basically were about a bunch of 'stree't level 'heroes' who were of classic Avengers types - Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Panther. However, he did not set up to a do a 'black' Avengers....His Iron Man was in fact a former Iron Man, James Rhodes, the War Machine, who had fallen from grace, and was investigating the murder of his sister who had become a prositute in one of the worst parts of Brooklyn, The Mog or Little Mogadishu. All he had left was a lifetime of experience, and the mask and power gaulntlet of his old War Machine armor. He was joined by Narcotic Dective Kasper Cole, son of a African-America police officer and white Jewish mother, who at one time took on the identity of the Black Panther when he disapeared to pursue actions against a drug cartel. Also adding to this list is the Hawkeye type character, Juanta, or Danny Vicent, a former NSA analyst who also has gravity powers which not only helps him to defy gravity but also can cause sickness in those he touches. Danny is torn between doing the right thing and getting in good with drug cartels and government agnecies who happen to be in bed with each other. Finally they are brought together by the IVF son of Isiah Bradley and his wife, the one embryo tht survived with his super-soldier dna intact. Living a very long life as a vagrant, solider in Vietnam, and black panther, he ran a mission for the poor in needy in the Mog, as a Muslim immam. So therefore, not only is Josiah Bradley, or Josiah X as he went by, the son of the secret African American Captain America, he was also a Muslim. Talk about a great charcter to use as part of bringing back Steve Rogers.
The one character who I am happy they are including is the female Bucky from the Heroes Reborn story line. In the original storyline, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the Inhumans as well as other heroes sacrifice againt a powerful enemy named Onslaught. At the last moment before they die, Franklin Richards, the mutant son of Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman shunts them to a alternate universe with them as the onyl heroes. Here top creators were able to re-do these characters from the ground-up. Eventually the heroes were brought back, and left the new heroes on their world, where in subsquent stories, kinda went to shit. The bright light was the female Bucky, Rikki Barnes the grandaughter of James 'Bucky' Barnes from this alternate world and her Young Allies who teamed up the Thunderbolts and Exiles in subsequent stories. Recently, there was a story that basically negated all that had been done with this alternate world, but did land Rikki Barnes on earth after Steve Rogers had been assasinated. So we will see how much the current writer of Cap does in incoporating her differing back stories.
Anyways, that's all from me for now!
