Alex Ross' Bucky Cap Costume Designs

In March of 2007, Marvel Comics caught lightning in a bottle when a slow news day picked up the "death" of the iconic American hero Captain America. Of course, we'd find out later that he wasn't killed but struck down by a time bullet that sent him hurdling through his past (Brubaker??? Really? A Time Bullet??). But before those events were revealed in CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN and the recent Death(?) of Bucky Barnes in FEAR ITSELF in 2011, 2008 had Steve Roger's first partner, Bucky Barnes, taking up the shield and the title. But to distinguish himself from other Caps, a new updated uniform was needed and Marvel tapped artist Alex Ross to design it.

At the time, the costume chosen got mixed reviews. Many thought the design "too shiny" and perhaps it was. In theory, it was suppose to be an update on the old chain mail uniform design which is kind of funky too when you think about it.

Other beefs some fans had were of of pistol and knife. "Cap didn't use a gun" was the rationale which wasn't quite true despite the Mark Gruenwald story from the 1980s. Cap did on occasion use a gun and kill during his war years in the Golden Age. But despite that, the biggest reason that the complaint did not hold water was because this was NOT the Steve Rogers Captain America but a new Captain America with slightly different values on what weaponry to use.

At the time, it wasn't revealed to be Bucky Barnes as the new Captain America but it was strongly hinted and while it might be the obvious choice, it was also the BEST choice that made sense. And given that and what Ed Brubaker had established with Bucky's past, both as a WWII sidekick and as the Winter Soldier, the addition of a gun and knife made sense. Brubaker had tweaked Bucky's past to present him as the guy that did the dirty work when it might have looked bad if Captain America was seen doing it. Bucky did the dirty jobs, working a knife and, as seen in many Golden Age covers, working that Tommy Gun. As the Winter Soldier, he became the cold assassin. Given those factors and knowing Barnes to have grown up in the military world, it just made sense. And, without the Super Soldier Serum coursing through his veins, he needed the extra compensation.

Besides the shiny aspect of the new costume, much more black was used in the look. This also fit with the darker past of Barnes. Fans also noted the triangle design on the chest and its similarity to the old Archie Comics hero THE SHIELD, which was probably the first patriotic hero pre-dating Captain America. In fact, it was because of that first character and the publishers threatening to sue that Martin Goodman had Jack Kirby and Joe Simon change Cap's first triangle shield design to the circle by issue two.

The shorter gloves harken back to Dick Purcell's 1944's CAPTAIN AMERICA serial. But what of the forehead "A" and wings? Different designs were used until the final design that said Yes on the A and No on the ears. Some of the different designs really highlight the chest looking like a shield too. And while it is easy to like many of the drawings because of Ross' art, some of the designs just don't work well.

Regardless, Alex Ross' 2008 Sketchbook presented fans with an inside look at the alternate designs. Here is what they looked like....

Captain America in Australia

No, it isn't time for a new prescription on your glasses! That is indeed a REALLY bad blurry pixelated image above. My apologies for the less-than-stellar image. But it is the only evidence I can find out there on the web of the 1950s Australian Captain America run going to at least a second issue. Couple it with the first issue I saw on eBay the other month and I am slowly piecing together the history of these Atlas Era finds.

Captain America in Italy

Throughout the 1970s, Captain America was published in Italy by Editoriale Corno. Fumetti, as they call comics in Italia, the Italian runs of Cap are really nice books. Other countries might have gone on the cheap with newsprint covers, black and white interiors, and bad printing but not so with the Italian runs. The covers were of a sturdy stock with full color newsprint inside. Back up features might be used as well like above's CAPITAN AMERICA #2 from 1973 which has the X-Men inside.

As you can see above and below, the run started with the Tales of Suspense stories from the 1960s.

By 1974's CAPITAN AMERICA #33, you can see we are well into the post-CAPTAIN AMERICA #100 era with the introduction of the Falcon.

Always one of my favorite covers with Cap and Falcon meeting Spider-man. This one is from 1975.

By 1976, CAPITAN AMERICA is already up into the 90s as it wraps up the Nomad saga. Still a little behind from its American counterpart but that is a lot of issues for a few years. I'm not sure what the publishing schedule was but perhaps it was twice a month?

From 1977, CAPITAN AMERICA #111 which uses an INVADERS cover.

We're catching up! Kirby returned in 1975 (dated January 1976?) with the Mad Bomb cover above but Corno gets to it by 1977 with CAPITAN AMERICA #115.

So here is where things get a little different. THOR E CAPITAN AMERICA #188 above shows a merger of Thor and Cap with a book. This happens with other international books. But the date is 1978 on this and, even with twice a month shipping, the number is too high for the regular Corno Cap run to absorb Thor into the title and to keep numbering. So perhaps the reverse happened and there was a Thor title that absorbed Cap? Perhaps there are some Italian fumetti experts who can verify?

And this last one from 1979 as the numbering goes over 200. That is an Avengers cover used above though. I don't really have any evidence yet of this title going into the 80s but another Corno Cap title would emerge in the 1980s. More on that another time.

2011 First Avenger Radio Controlled Motor Bike

Item: First Avenger Radio Controlled Motor Bike
Year: 2011
Company: SilverLit

Comments: Is this the first radio controlled Cap vehicle or have there been others? Perhaps there is but this is the first I've run into and it is pretty nice. This was out early a few months before the FIRST AVENGER movie was released. Even before the figures but not by much. Very cool!

Captain America's The Avengers: United They Stand Appearance

In the fall of 1999, the Fox Network introduced a new Avengers cartoon for Saturday morning. THE AVENGERS: UNITED THEY STAND debuted at the end of October with a...LIMITED...line up. No Iron Man (except for one appearance)! No Thor! No Captain America....except for a guest appearance in the show's 6th episode "Command Decision" which aired on December 11th, 1999.

The regular Avengers United line-up consisted of Hawkeye, Tigra, Vision, Falcon, Wasp, and the leader Ant-Man/Hank Pym. Wonder Man made a few appearances as well. The plot behind "Command Decision" consists of Captain America returning to the Avengers and the team naturally looks to Cap as the leader which doesn't sit right with the real leader  Hank Pym.

The Avengers cartoon had a lot of villains, including heavy Ultron for a number of episodes, but "Command Decision" featured the appearance of Baron Zemo.

Voice actor Dan Chameroy played Captain America.

Voice actor Phillip Shepherd was the voice of Baron Zemo.

While it is unfortunate that Captain America was not a regular character, fortunately the Falcon was. Voice actor Martin Roach played the character for all 13 episodes.

The cartoon series did spawn a comic book based on the show which ran for 7 issues from November 1999 to June 2000.

As of this writing, the series is not available on DVD for Region 1. However, I did find these other DVD covers below for 2007's Region 2 UK release of the entire series. The first four episodes were, however, released on an Avengers collection. Marvel's other shows are making it to DVD so one can hope the entire series will be released in the near future.

Despite the short run by the comic book series (7 issues) and the short animation run of only 13 episodes with the last running in February 2000, a toy line was designed for the series, which isn't so surprising if you think of these cartoons as 30 minute toy promotions. TOY BIZ released the line for all the main characters including Falcon in his newly designed outfit (which did make an appearance in the regular Captain America Marvel comic book as well). And despite his one appearance, a Captain America figure was released. If the figure is loose from its original packaging, you can tell that it is an Avengers United figure by the Avengers "A" used on the figure's belt buckle. An air glider and Sky Cycle toys were also released with the figures. I'll have a later post on the toy line with photos.