Captain America reboot question

Hey everyone,

I'm slowly catching up on some modern Captain America comics, beginning with Ed Brubaker's oversized Winter Soldier hardcover. A question I have about the "current" Steve Rogers. I know he turned into an old man and everything but a couple years ago Marvel started the "Uncanny Avengers" title with Cap and some X-Men teaming up to form a new team. In one of the first issues he tells Scarlet Witch that he "slept through the Cold War." Since when? What reboot happened that erased his time in the 80's? Does that happen as a result of his "death" or something?

The 80s (or even the 70s) weren't exactly the height of the Cold War, for one thing. The worst of it was in the 50s and 60s. So that's one argument.

But I think that there's this sort of necessary blurring of time that occurs within the 616 continuity ... sort of a way to acknowledge that, if Steve Rogers was brought out of the ice as a man in his 20s in 1963 (the first year of the Avengers comic), he'd be in his 70s today ... as would all of the Avengers, for that matter.

So we have two choices ... either suspend disbelief in regards to the passage of time, or suspend disbelief in regards to the fact that the Avengers never, ever age.

Also ... Brubaker's stuff is pretty badass, right?

Rook said:

Also ... Brubaker's stuff is pretty badass, right?

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I guess I'm just late arriving bandwagoner but yes it actually is! And I hear you about the Cold War it just wouldn't have been over during the 80's and his comment in Uncanny Avengers indicated that he'd missed it completely when in fact he had actually been a part of it. Okay so he wasn't officially rebooted then? It was just a glossing over of how much time had passed since his awakening in the 60's? I can understand that then.

Yeah theses ongoing comics get weird decades down the line with these ever young characters.

Khev said:

Okay so he wasn't officially rebooted then? It was just a glossing over of how much time had passed since his awakening in the 60's?

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That's how I read it, yeah. Of course, I missed all of the 90s, and that whole "Heroes Reborn" nonsense. Maybe something happened there.

Question for you, Khev. What Captain America comics have you read thus far that you would recommend? My wife and I recently have gotten into comics, and we don't have a whole lot of Marvel yet. We bought Guardians of the Galaxy by Dan Abnett and All New X-Men by Brian Mendis. We feel like we have a good grasp on what DC comics we should get, but not so much for Marvel. Out of the MCU, Captain America is one of our favorite film(s) and we really want to get some comics on him. We have heard good things about Civil War but that will be something that we will do later on down the road. That will be a lot of money probably to get all of those comics.

Hey twistedfreak, my favorite classic Cap tales are:

Captain America #110-113 (Jim Steranko)
Captain America #227 (Roger McKenzie/Sal Buscema)
Captain America #247-255 (John Byrne/#255 is a fantastic retelling of his origin plus issues #251-252 were inspirations for the opening action sequence of the Winter Soldier movie)
Captain America #332-350 (Mark Gruenwald's epic "Cap No More" storyline)
Captain America #357-364 (Mark Gruenwald's "Bloodstone Hunt" adventure and a fun introduction to the Crossbones character)
Captain America #444-454 (Mark Waid/Ron Garney's awesome run before everything went to pot with Heroes Reborn)

Any trades that collect any of those issues would be highly recommended by me.

Sweet. Thanks for the list there, Khev. I'm thinking I should start with #247-255, 332-350, and 444-354. I just hope I will be able to find these in print somewhere.

About time. That film series was getting so dull and predictable. Russos are totally overrated hacks. And Evans wasn't. . .oh, wait. Sorry Khev, I didn't read your first post carefully.

twistedfreak said:

Sweet. Thanks for the list there, Khev. I'm thinking I should start with #247-255, 332-350, and 444-354. I just hope I will be able to find these in print somewhere.

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No problem.

Here are some trades collecting those issues above:

Amazon.com: Captain America Epic Collection, Vol. 9, No. 1: Dawn's Early Light (9780785188667): John Byrne, J.M. DeMatteis, David Michelinie, David Anthony Kraft, Mike Zeck, Roger Stern, Gene Colan: Books

Amazon.com: Captain America: The Captain (9780785149651): Mark Gruenwald, Tom Morgan, Kieron Dwyer: Books

Amazon.com: Captain America: Operation Rebirth (9780785131267): Mark Waid, Ron Garney, Pino Rinaldi: Books

karamazov80 said:

About time. That film series was getting so dull and predictable. Russos are totally overrated hacks. And Evans wasn't. . .oh, wait. Sorry Khev, I didn't read your first post carefully.

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You know I knew you'd have some smart response and I assumed that you'd take the opportunity to recommend that twistedfreak either read Capwolf or Heroes Reborn. So good job keeping me on my toes.

My favorite Cap stories are the Dematteis/Zeck stories from the early '80s, shortly after the Byrne comics you list.

Reading Captain America: The J.M. DeMatteis Era (1981-1984)

I'm not sure if they are available in collected editions, but the issues can be purchased pretty cheaply.

Bloodstone Hunt was my first foray into Superhero comics. I don't know what that means to Serious Comic People but I still love that ****.

Thanks for the amazon links, Khev. Karamazov, I'm guessing the Demetties Era is the single issues?

So question and you guys can cuss me if you want but is Steve still an old man or have they fixed that yet?

karamazov80 said:

About time. That film series was getting so dull and predictable. Russos are totally overrated hacks. And Evans wasn't. . .oh, wait. Sorry Khev, I didn't read your first post carefully.

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spiderbo said:

So question and you guys can cuss me if you want but is Steve still an old man or have they fixed that yet?

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I haven't been keeping up but I think he's still a senior citizen.

YoNoSe said:

Bloodstone Hunt was my first foray into Superhero comics. I don't know what that means to Serious Comic People but I still love that ****.

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I picked several of those up as a kid. I remember getting some on the way home from Little League practice. But the stories didn't stick with me.

twistedfreak said:

Thanks for the amazon links, Khev. Karamazov, I'm guessing the Demetties Era is the single issues?

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Yeah, though there is at least one you can get as a collected edition:

Amazon.com: Captain America: Deathlok Lives (9780785100195): J.M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck: Books

karamazov80 said:

I picked several of those up as a kid. I remember getting some on the way home from Little League practice. But the stories didn't stick with me.

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They were definitely influenced by Raiders, more adventure-y than typical Cap. But they were a great gateway drug into the character for me and even re-reading them recently I got quite a kick out of them.

Khev and Karamazov,

How does Ed Brubakers run compare to the ones you've both suggested?