“Because Captain America is not just for the good days. He can’t be. I can’t be. If Captain America can’t stand for the dream on the very worst day–when America is fallen–then there is no Captain America. Because our worst day is only where we start from. Where we rise from. And if the man in the flag is too special to fall and rise and struggle with the rest… Then God help us all. If I’ve got to work harder now? Prove more? That was always true. And that’s a weight I’m proud to carry.”
– Sam Wilson, Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #4 (Vol. 1)
That’s the original version of Bucky from the 1940s, back when child endangerment was the most popular part of superhero comics. When Captain America was brought back decades later, however, teenage sidekicks were considered deeply uncool, and Bucky was unceremoniously written off by explaining that an airplane exploded on his face. That’s how few fucks Marvel gave about the character: Not only did they kill him off-panel, but they actually allowed him to stay dead.
That wasn’t enough for 9-year-old fan Ed Brubaker, though. Bucky was his favorite character, and he spent years looking for the issue where he died. When Brubaker found out that issue didn’t actually exist and Bucky had essentially been killed off in a footnote, he made a solemn promise: “If I ever write Captain America, I’m undoing this mistake.”
Cut to about 30 years later. Brubaker made a name for himself writing gritty crime comics, but was finally offered a job as a Captain America writer. Guess what the first thing he did was.
5 Famous Storylines You Didn’t Know Were Written By Kids
stuff I never posted: this Cap and Thor as Jaeger pilots commission (I forgot whose it was, sorry!!)