Late thoughts on Steve Rogers' return

I know I'm a week and a half late, but I told you I would weigh in on "Captain America #600" and the return of Steve Rogers, so here I am.

I have two very different thoughts regarding this issue:

1) It's just too early to bring Steve Rogers back from the dead. Whether Marvel predicted it or not, Bucky Barnes has turned into a dynamite character, and a very different but almost equal Captain America as Steve Rogers was. That's not to say Steve shouldn't reclaim his mantle down the line, but for now, Bucky is just finding his footing. Unfortunately, that footing is still very closely tied into Steve's shadow. To suddenly bring Steve back into the fold is going to stop Bucky from blossoming into his own man and his own character. Given another six months to a year, after we get a few Bucky-as-Cap stories, then the character would be more ready to move onto his own Solo title, or, better yet, a title co-starring with Black Widow.

But the problem runs deeper than simply my affection for Bucky's very human Captain America — Marvel is too darned ADD for my taste lately. Ever since Wanda Maximoff went insane, Marvel has been burning through ideas like dry wood in a wildfire without ever giving us time to breathe and actually live in the new status quo these events produce. This is just another example of this. We're set up with a new direction, a new idea, a new world to live in — and yes, the sales numbers are there — and yet Marvel would rather jam another "This Changes Everything!" event down or throats than actually letting an event run its course. And guess what? Word is, "Captain America: Reborn" is going to serve as the beginning of the end of "Dark Reign," another event Marvel is looking to completely do away with way too quickly.

2) As a newspaper man, I am disgusted with Joe Quesada's use of the mainstream media and disgusted with some of my colleagues for not seeing him for the used car salesman he is. When Peter Parker unmasked, Joey Q just had to make it the biggest thing in the world, even though he was already planning "One More Day," which Quesada once again went to the media and convinced the big city papers to give a damn. I'm sure when Peter and Mary Jane are back together again, we'll read about it in the Daily News before Wednesday arrives.

With Cap, Steve Rogers died, but Ed Brubaker was always saying his death was part of a bigger story. Heck, Quesada himself just said Rogers was actually supposed to come back sooner. So why was the horn blowing so loudly to get CNN involved back then? And why did we need another news flash when Rogers came back last week, when it was so obvious that he always was going to be back?

And for God's sake fellow newspaper people — At least this time around, how in the world could you treat Steve Rogers' resurrection as actual news?!? It was only three years ago that Rogers "died" — can't you see yet that all this is just slimy money-hungry publicity whoring?

I don't even want to picture what the comic-reading world would have been like if Marvel was always so eager for mainstream attention. A four-page spread in the New York Times when Jean Grey died? A series of features in the fashion section when Spider-man put on the Black Suit? Black is very slimming, after all.

These are comic books, people! There will be deaths, there will be resurrections, NONE OF IT IS NEWS! It's times like these that I applaud Dan Didio for his handling of Bruce Wayne's "death."

Oh well, it could be worse. We could have President Obama show up to be saved by Spider-man again and get another nine printings of the issue.