Well then.

Looks like the mighty Marvel Bullpen had to wait until I was trapped in an Intensive Care Ward, hands unmovable, before taking the winsome Wasp and splattering her against the windshield of Big Event Comics with nary a second thought.

Did you really think I'd let them get away with that?

But before I launch into the rich and honorable history of Ms. Janet Van Dyne, there are a few things I have to say first.

WARNING:  Personal note to follow, mostly comics related, spoilers to my recovery ahead.

It's sad to have to preface things first these days, but just in case, my husband and I have recently hit our own Crisis (boy, do we hope it's Final) in the form of a federal disaster that took our home and very nearly our lives.  Kids, don't play with fire.

From this has come one of the most amazing, spectacular and - dare I say it? - truly Friendly Neighborhood actions on the internet I have ever been proud to hear and witness first hand.  A wise man once said something like anonymity plus an audience equals most internet stupidity and sometimes we all get a little bogged down and frustrated with our favorite pastime (I mean really, what did the Wasp do to these guys?  Eaten alive??), but none of this really matters.  Comic fans are a rare breed, avid critics of our medium in the way that some predators eat their own young, a finicky people who've been endeared to the public as overweight, childish naysayers (thanks, Simpsons).

We're also family.

Look at Marvel, they've always done their best to make readers feel welcome, if not part of their own super special society.  From the days of the letters columns, we could write to one another, found our own fan groups, and create our communities.  Maybe the adage goes the other way, that not being anonymous and having an audience (that still boggles me) creates a sort of internet family and some truly inspirational moments.

This is why I named my column The Fifth Color because we the fans make the difference.  Comics traditionally come in four colors but our experience reading the final result, the way we color a book with our own likes and dislikes or experiences, that make or break the story.  We the Readers of Marvel Comics (and those other guys), in order to form a more perfect story, provide for the common fan.  Without us, they are nothing but pictures and words.

So, thank you to those who Faced Front and helped a fellow fan out; you know who you are and you know what you've done, from a donation to a spare thought or well wish, and all of it has helped us immensely.

Eleven months later, we've all gone on with our lives, even me and the Mister, and yet the spirit that I was lucky to be a part of still abounds.  All it takes is one look at the incredible rallying done in the name of John Ostrander, to help him keep his sight and bringing back an inspirational comics writer into the spotlight.  Even artist Len Wein lost his house in a California fire and fans and friends worked to rebuild what had been a glorious collection of his work and awards.  That's just two examples I can think of from this year off the top of my head, let alone others, from humble and private efforts that we don't see to Comics for the Troops drives I've seen at comic shops.  Fans are a very passionate people and force for good when we can set aside our differences regarding some deal with Mephisto and celebrate ourselves and the medium we all have in common.  We can be heroes too, in the Mighty Marvel Manner.

When Bendis puled him out of the Vault for his New Avengers, the stakes had already been changed.  The balance of good an evil was gone, just an implanted a virus from Mastermind and possible delusion villain The General that created psychological problems and the existence of the Void, which was just another extension of Reynolds himself.  We lost our philosophical battle and our more peacable idea of wrong and right to be able to tear Carnage in half in space.

Okay, there's nothing wrong with that.  Bendis even brought in Paul Jenkins as a character in the book to explain everything, kind of having him sign off on the project.  Despite his immense power and complexity, the Sentry was going to be an Avenger.  Hey, they've worked with gods and demi-gods before, what's the difference?

The difference is that Loki only guest-villains.  The Void is the Sentry is the Void and if one's going to live over your roof, the other is sure to follow.  Sentry: Reborn put Jenkins back in the driver's seat and we were driven back to introspection-ville with some absolutely beautiful work from John Romita Jr.  In this mini, the Void sends Bob on this funhouse chase throuh his own creation, turning the tables on him by saying the Void was the real byproduct of his origin and that the Sentry is just his guilty leavings.  Drinking an unknown serum could take one in either direction, from villany to heroism, and it's the person in that moment that makes the difference. Peter Parker, all Spider Totem BS aside, could have been anyone. Anyone can be a mutant. Any soldier could have been super, he just had to be at the test at the right time and really want it. Not to get too off-topic, but there is nothing particularly special about a Marvel character for the most part, they are written with everyone in mind.

At the end of this, there is a beautiful farewell where the Void admits to needing him as the Sentry comes to cope without him and the Void is thrown into the sun.  It's great comics and gets to me every time I read it.

The problem still remains, however: what about Bob?  Well, he comes back to Earth and continues to work as an Avenger as the story needs him to work.  Best used by Bendis as more of a scary cardboard cut-out, if you see the Sentry backlit in a doorway or used in a splash pag, you know you're doomed; but if he tries to act against you, you can probably outsmart him.  Just trigger his psychosis and leave him babbling in the street, bring up the Void and watch him freeze in terror or run away, mention off-panel that he's dealing with his agoraphobia or, in Ronin's case from Dark Reign - The List, wait until something more important in the world is going on and sneak into the Avengers' Tower right past his cape.  He was recruited into the Mighty Avengers by Stark because he wasn't a good hero, but he was powerful and I think it does the character a great disservice to be described in such a way.  Besides, a couple issues later when Yelena Belova absorbs the Sentry's powers and gets her own equal-and-opposite Void, Bob is extremly patient and clever when he tells her he'll set her free of the Void, but only if she answers their questions.  Incredibly calculating of the man, but in another few issues he'll be back to his bumbling self.

Since writing for the character, Bendis has wanted a Superman he can play around with and that is not the Sentry.  It's taken a while (and with decompression coming into play, he can say he's planned this all along), but we might be returning back to something like the original concept for the guy.  If say, he'd been given a few issues to contain all this story in, maybe it would have been easier to follow.  There are some moments, especially now under the Dark Avengers banner that he seems to be getting that second original concept down (I'd say first but it's been a long time since we've seen the dog), a man with powers of both good and evil and it's the human at the center that makes the difference.  Lindy Lee, his sad Rapunzel-eque wife who's haunted the books seems to be taking action in Dark Avengers #9, where action is shooting him in the face.  We're all smart cookies, we all know that's not going to work and we know that the Sentry will be back and fine in issue #10.

And after OVER A YEAR of waiting, this shot to the face might just reveal the Void that's been there all along.

Miles Burnside-Clapp of Santa Barbara, CA invites you to read some fine literature.

Local comic shop Metro Entertainment in Santa Barbara, Calif. held a costume contest yesterday in honor of the season, and the results were amazing!  Visit their Facebook photo gallery and see a fantastic collection of comic, TV and game-inspired costumes... maybe even a cheeky columnist from Robot 6?

As much as I would love to chase him down with a bunch of dudes in HazMat suits, Mark Millar is our Patient Zero in the visual juggernaut that is 'Marvel Zombies'.  Who know where he got it from, the end of a bottle of alcohol, the late night viewing of one too many George Romero movies, some internet clicks and a savvy mind for a play on the not-so affectionate terms for the True Believers, but it is here and it's here to stay.  What Millar wrought, Kirkman forged and Arthur Suydam perfected, three men taking us on a wild ride since 2005 and it shows no sign of stopping.  As long as zombies entertain the pop culture brain, someone's going to want to eat those brains.

So, in no particular order, here are some simple signs and helpful tips to the wide multi-universal world of The House of Undead Ideas.
Rule 1)  <strike>Cardio</strike> Covers

If it wasn't for covers, we would not be discussing this because if there is nothing the cover is there for, it's to judge the book.  Mr. Suydam was handed over the official title of Marvel Eye Catcher and the man has completely out done himself at every turn.  The depth and breadth to which he has gone to recreate our history, just in a sloppy, oozing mess, and yet still retain that charm of the original work is just astounding.  Marvel has a gallery of covers here and, please, do take a moment and look back (at least until 2006, since the gallery hasn't been updated in awhile) and see what works have been done.  You might have seen these on the shelves, even bought one or two for the Wow! factor, maybe you even complained when the undead and underage Mary Jane variant was released, but even if you didn't slavishly collect each one or groaned at the sight of yet another unrelated book sporting an Zombie veneer, you remember these covers.  They stick in your brain like the infection itself and they stay there in all their flesh-eating glory.  Marvel's Zombie covers are why we've just ended our unofficial fifth installment of the Earth That Went Bad.
Rule 2)  It Ain't Over

Much like the classic zombie flicks, Marvel's zombie comics always end with a red-paint dripping "The End?".  After reading the first original Marvel Zombies in what is coming up on four years ago, seeing the Zombies devour and then become Galactus, I thought to myself, 'Now that's an ending!'.  Once you've converted yourself into a Galactic Devourer of Worlds, there's no going back, right?  WRONG!  You can do anything you want once that tag's been torn off and Marvel proceeded to then do so for the years to come.  We've seen Ash fight Marvel's undead hordes, Black Panther officially brought them into the universe proper as a real-live alternate dimension for the Original Universe, the Frightful Four have met both their Ultimate and their Original counterparts.  Doom threw himself into their dimension, never to be seen again looking that way in particular.  We've had Zombies fighting Robots, Living Vampires becoming Zombies (Vambie!), anything goes and will go until the market says otherwise.  A undead talking head from the Zombie-verse even has a co-starring role in a major ongoing series (Deadpool and Zombies is like printing money in 2009!).  Nothing is impossible because the best of this absolutely abusurd.
Rule 3)  This is Not Serious

The Goon: Chinatown has a great opening page where it is stated with absolute clarity that "This Ain't Funny."  Exactly the opposite in Marvel Zombies; remember the undead talking head?  Yeah, there's no angst here about the loss of life or social comentary on how we're all just a little dead inside.  While zombie movies can have that metaphorical edge that film students can observe from their desks about how the zombie is a replacement for the cultural homogenization of society where the mall is a centeral hub of power, the single minded need for brains relates the short sightedness of man, how we become our own Dangerous Game at the top of the food chain...  You get the idea.

Marvel Zombies wants nothing to do with that.  And couldn't!  They make a point of joking about it as Spider-Man, satiated in his hunger for flesh, would resort to angst over the brutal murder of those he loved most.  Marvel Zombies is at its best when it is outlandish and over-the-top.  Dead Days is the weakest in the series in my personal opinion  because it tries to understand the cause of all this monstrosity and terror when, bottom line, we do not care.  This Ain't Serious.  Time Magazine had a list of Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2007 and at #4, above Jack of Fables vol. 1 and below All-Star Superman vol. 1, is Marvel Zombies 2.  He describes the series in Times Magazinian fashion by noting that the most popular heroes of this universe eat flesh, understand their eating flesh, but just can't stop.  "The result is a genuinesly subversive orgy of Sadean cruelty, wherein most of the living beings in the universe perish," says Lev Grossman.  "Good clean fun."

Let me say that again:  Good clean fun.  Not 'Woe be to the heroes that subside of the people they once protected!'.  Not 'This reflect the change in society where we no longer trust the forces of good to be the clean cut heroes we remember from our youths.'.  This is fun, plain and simple.
And so it has been and so it shall be.  Love 'em or hate 'em, Marvel Zombies are a new staple of the House of Ideas and for this spooky season, I raise a glass to what they've done and where they'll go.

We have three major plotlines coming to fruition or at least the first blossom of a long road ahead:  the Siege, Fall of Hulks (wait, wasn't this War of Hulks?), and the start of the new era of Captain America.  No one is surprised that Steve Rogers is back in the old costume, but what he does next will have to rock the foundations of the Marvel Universe as did his passing.  2010 will one of those years we'll look back on as a point of interest on the Marvel superhighway, but for now, we can plan our trip along it's crazy, windy route and hope for a next rest stop along the way.

First, let's start of with Siege.  Like Sting or Cher, it's just SIEGE, no 'the' wanted or included as Doom goes to war against Asgard.  "The SIEGE of Asgard has begun! And Norman Osborn and his Dark Avengers are leading the charge! Osborn's savvy use of the media fueled his rise to power – but the very tools he’s been using may turn against him. It’s time to expose Norman’s true face to the world and uncover the secrets behind the attack on the gods! Witness the changing of the Marvel Universe firsthand!"  I know, your usual Wednesday 'Nothing will ever be the same again' and as expected, it's going to run through all of Bendis's books along with Gillen's Thor, Way & Liu's Dark Wolverine apparently (yeah, he's going to be a big one in this) and Gage's Avengers: the Initiative, all of them showing a rather snazzy looking cover style that will be easy to file into your back issues (thanks, Civil War).

Now, SIEGE: STORMING ASGARD - HEROES & VILLAINS may look like your usual program to the event book, quickie redone handbook updates like we've seen in the past (see Dark Reign Files), but it also claims to have interviews with the writers and architects of this major Marvel turning point, so it might be interesting to flip through while browsing the shelves that week (but no reading, this isn't a library), if only to find out how this all started from Avengers: Disassembled.

Another thing to look out for are the books that have no SIEGE dress, but might be subtly tied in: MIGHTY AVENGERS #33 and X-FACTOR #201.  On one hand, you have the subtle slip that Layla Miller is now working for Doom, which considering he's also leading the Intelligentsia against Team Hulk, isn't that big of a stretch of overusing a guest villain (or is it?) and on the other...
COSMIC CUBE.  Mr. Slott has never shied away from giving up the goods in his early solicitations so everyone, please take a moment to pick your jaw off the floor and let's look at that again.  Yep.  That's Norman Osborn and yes, that's THE COSMIC CUBE.  Ok, maybe not 'the', maybe it's just A Cosmic Cube, but still!  That's huge!  That could explain a lot of what Osborn's getting away with here and I'm really curious as to why this isn't getting a SIEGE bump.

There are three major books to start the new year with some quality Steve Rogers business.  Some gung ho action, American resolve and the fight to win!  Raise your flags high at CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN #6 and CAPTAIN AMERICA #602 as Steve Rogers returns concretely and then takes Bucky on a mission to go find someone else who got his glad rags on!  Both written by Brubaker, it's just business as usual as the momentous battle for his soul is just one step and the fight for his title and name the next.  Yeah, I know he's in NEW AVENGERS #61 too, "Steve Rogers makes his triumphant return to the Avengers, but is he too late? With the SIEGE on Asgard begun, he must act swiftly, but who can he turn to and trust in a world with Norman Osborn in charge? When the gods fall, what chance does a Super Soldier stand?"  This doesn't sound like the Rogers I've come to expect and fall back towards the slightly unsteady surrendering Steve from Civil War.  Despite the tight editorialship before, I think the character is going to diverge depending on who's writing him.  While Brubaker will continue to keep the tight reigns and focus of Captain America, no matter who bears that name, in his own books, when Cap's lent out to the other titles it's just not going to have the same shine.

Speaking of shine, let's look at IRON MAN: I AM IRON MAN #1 (of 2) and lament that the second issue won't be called IRON MAN: DANANANANANANA-NA-NA-NA.  Okay, that was pretty bad and probably wrong, but that's not a bad way to start in on this one.  From what I can tell, Peter David and Sean Chen will be doing the... comic adaptation of the Iron Man movie.  "Gear up for the hottest movie event of 2010! Superstar creators Peter David (DARK TOWER) and Sean Chen (MIGHTY AVENGERS) bring the blockbuster IRON MAN to comics…just in time for IRON MAN 2!"  Yes, we're getting his origin again, at the very rare moment when your grandmother probably know who he is.  It's only two issues and maybe someone doesn't want to just rent the movie before seeing its sequel, but at $3.99, I can't say this is a good idea.

Nor can I say releasing three TPBs to equip you for the major storylines is that great an idea when the free 'Saga' issues we'd been getting did a good enough job at recap and encouraged people to go find those old issues or trades on their own.  No matter how good FALL OF HULKS is going to be, I really don't seem myself buying HULK: ROAD TO FALL OF THE HULKS TPB for $24.99.  Sure, the CAPTAIN AMERICA: ROAD TO REBORN TPB is only $19.99, but that's still a hard price to pay when they could have handed me a quick pamphlet and let me be on my way.

Nope, for TPB value, I'd rather get AVENGERS: WORLD TRUST PREMIERE HC for the same price as the Road to Siege book and lay on my bed, playing Cyndi Lauper's When You Were Mine' over and over....

There's a lot I missed and just didn't talk about for time's sake, but really, go look at that January list and watch the tide overshadow you.  Leave a note for your family to tell them where you've gone that month and start exchanging those Christmas gifts for cold hard cash at your local Comic Shop.

Excelsior!

Boiling each X-Man down to their essential humanity seems super easy in the case of Cyclops.  He's the blind guy at the steering wheel.  The one guy who can never truly control his powers yet tries to control the entire world around him, and can't see the world outside a single shade of red is in control of the X-Men team.  Yes, yes, there's a lot more to that and it could be easily disagreed that this isn't his essential point (I eagerly await your comments below), but for today, let's humor the lady and say he is a man who can never see anything but red trying to lead possibly the most colorful organization in town.

How's he doing?

Looking at Uncanny X-Men since #500, I have to say that Scott Summers has done well for his fellow man and the changes brought to the title have been a success.  Moving out of Westchester has been detailed by the writers and editors for quite sometime and I can continue to agree.  No one likes living at a 'school' that doesn't seem to teach much with a big graveyard in the back and had spent some time as an internment camp during the 198 mini-series.  When all is said and done, I also would like to have leveled that place to the ground and never look back, though a very touching memorial story was done with Hank McCoy in the Divided We Stand mini.

For the record, it really sucks not having these comics at my fingertips in order anymore because there have been a lot of shot minis, major events packed into short pockets of time one after the other that are covered in a dozen books.  Just want to note it's nice to see that publishing trick calmed down for the time being.

Anyways, yes.  Xavier's Mansion was no longer home and Xavier himself was also given the boot.  Sure, he was shot at the end of Messiah Complex but they gave up on him long ago after Deadly Genesis (see what I mean about the minis?).  The only thing keeping Cyclops from being complete in control was his mentor and with no one to look back to as an authority, he quickly became his own authority and moved west.

Again, smart idea.  Look at New York!  Constantly invaded by aliens, Avengers going nuts, Hulk tearing up this or that, the Bendis years have been none too kind on the Big Apple so why not get out while the getting is good.  You can only claim to be in study hall so many times while NYC falls into madness yet again.  Editorially, the X-Books and Marvel Proper have had a division of sorts as of late, so why not make that division more concrete?  San Fransisco has a reputation of being the capital of 'fruit, nuts and flakes' as the rest of the state, as well as having historical tolerance for that which is different.

Grant Morrison had wanted mutantkind to be a movement, a people we hated and feared as much as any pop culture trending topic, rather than a metaphor for racial inequality.  He moved the idea forward that so everyone knew what a mutant was and could choose to hate and fear them on their own terms, rather than your usual 'pitchfork and torches' mob we normally visualize.  Then again, I don't claim to know exactly what Grant Morrison is thinking at any given moment or time, but for now, this viewpoint seems sound and fits my current point.  San Fransisco was the only place for to make a new home and a new name for themselves and, at least by what I saw in panels on pages and panels at Wondercon this year, San Fransisco welcomed them in.

This was going to be great, a society of mutants living in society at large, no more holing up in a big house somewhere, they were going to be less a team and more a community.  Stories could go anywhere and our need to see our favorite metaphor on the human condition on stage and playing out their theme had a wonderful backdrop to play against.  Issues were a little shakey at first, but that what growing pains are for.

A visit from the Dark Avengers isn't.  Suddenly, the book went from the known, to the unknown, to the WTF we're on a floating space station off your coast.  This new era doesn't seem as concrete as it did a moment ago.  Even Cyclops admits to his fellows that he has no idea where this is all going, but drives on ahead knowing that his decisions count for everything now; just because the road is dark doesn't mean the road's not still there.  This week's rather over dramatic return of Magneto (who is that man kidding?  "I think of myself as not given to hyberbole, Scott"??  Tossing Cyclops his helmet as a 'sword laid at his feet', bowing in this great big gesture and quoting Shakespeare, he's like a one-man opera...) continues to shake the ground as well, they're now living on a big satellite he built to shift the poles of the Earth.  He used to rule an island sanctuary for mutants.  This could all slide right back down into familiar territory and prove that no lessons were learned in the making of this picture.

This is what happens when the one-eyed man is king.

Having been chosen specifically by the Ancient One for the power/responsibility gig of the century, Brother Voodoo (again, no offense to the Doctorate but Brother Voodoo is a much cooler moniker and his actual brother's spirit is such an essential part of his character; besides, it's not like anyone calls Speedball 'Penance'...) has taken the role rather quickly and with little fanfare.  He still wants to go back to his job at the clinic, he grabs whatever magics he can (even scary dark stuff) to patch up holes in the barriers between this world and the next and if Doctor Doom shows up, well he'll add him to his To Do list.  There's no messing around in his first issue, no lingering doubts no fond retelling of his origin, it's right to business.

It's about time.

So, for those of you on the fringes or who didn't really get to that arc of New Avengers or who read X-Books and are confused by the whole thing, Doctor Strange willingly left his old job.  Because of "abusing his powers" to "aid the Avengers", he tendered his resignation with the Ancient One.

Okay, I have to take a moment and stop this right here because much like the Doctor/Brother Voodoo thing, I can't really get behind this one.  I know I've mentioned before how much weird, wild, crazy, mind-blowing powers shouldn't be dumbed down for the rest of us, but his time with the Avngers he didn't really... do anything.  His house was disguised as a Starbucks, he kept the on-the-run Avengers from Iron Man (who really didn't make finding them priority one or anything), he blasted some bad guys, he worked as a holographic emitter to show the Hood's gang a nice splash page of some heroes and this somehow broke his own rules of conduct?

Apparently.  Doctor Strange has standards so high and unfathomable that he feels it necessary to hang up his cape for his surely not-questionable actions and that takes balls.  Sure, Spidey tries to play it off as no big deal, everyone makes mistakes but we don't give it up but Strange holds himself to a set of ideals that no one understands.  Or should.

Now, remember what I said last week about change?  Change is the only constant within the Marvel Universe, whether it's making sure nothing will ever be the same again or putting things right back to where we left them.  The House of Ideas did some spring cleaning to their Magical line of heroes and villains and the first to go was the old guard.  Hey, don't shoot the messenger, that's just how it works.

Doctor Strange is classical magic, Lovecraft and archeology to unearth tomes of ancient lore.  Brother Voodoo is none of that.  Voodoo as a religion is a hidden art, born from slavery and tucking their history into the saints and rituals of slave masters to own their own identity and culture.  It's the MacGyver of magic, taking what it can and putting all cards on the table.  You ask favors, the Loa ask them in return and a balance is made.  He thinks in ways and uses magics and handles his Gods the way no one is used to in the mighty Marvel Magic Society.  In all their talks of 'Ancient Ones', formal curses, weapons of power, demons and contracts, Brother Voodoo is a new angle on the whole thing and was even created to be more of a fighter than a proper magician like Strange.

Brought up very well into issue #1, Brother Voodoo serves two masters.  He could have had a slick mini-series like Daimon Hellstrom and we could have gotten a better understanding of the Loa and his role with and through them, but no.  He's hitting the big time, the tough job and if some ancient darkness is on it's way, they sure as Hell won't be expecting that man. The Ancient Ones know their stuff.  They picked for a reason and I think it's because Voodoo is such an unknown amongst the classical magics and classic characters of Marvel that Brother Voodoo is the best damn Sorcerer Supreme to have in these uncertain times.

Is this temporary?  Isn't everything?  Will Strange get his mantle back?  I'm all for a Captain Strange: Reborn mini sometime down the line when this latest crisis is adverted but then again... maybe I won't be.  All we can count on is change.

Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield One-Shot #1

Kind of looks biblical, doesn't it? Well, it is! Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield One-Shot #1 isn't just a mouthful of an awkward rhyme to get your mouth around, it's titanic in scope and importance. It means Captain America: Reborn will shock no one with its conclusion but will leave two men to wear our star-spangled tights and, unless they start switching off on Tuesdays, only one will be raising that shield come 2010.

And in a moment of horrific honesty, I will tell you I don't want to see Steve Rogers back.

Wow, you clicked to read more! My terrible blasphemy of preferring Bucky Barnes as the new Captain America has either intrigued you enough to read on or repulsed you enough to want to leave me an angry comment right now. Either way, here me out: From Brubaker's start, we have been groomed as a reader to accept Bucky's new role. Like a frog in a frying pan, the heat's been turned up so slowly that the big transition didn't come as shocking or as jarring as it should have been for readers and we've been cooking slowly in the meaty juices of the comic's constancy. Even calling him 'Bucky' feels so shallow; the man who originated as Cap's plucky sidekick has grown into his own man with his own views and struggles and motivations. All three of those come from a conflict from a bygone era, a man not out of time but a man grown out of time like an anachronistic pair of short shorts.

We think back on WWII as America's finest hour, our Greatest Generation. People write books about it that aren't drawn by Steve Epting, vets wax rhapsodical over what they were there to see and the History Channel tunes you in nearly 24 hours a day. It was a defining moment for our country, declaring us a global superpower and bequeathing us some solid decades of prosperity and victory. This is why Steve Rogers has been the quintessential Cap for so many decades; he was birthed from our finest hour and was solid gold as a superhero and a man to represent our country in the truest form of patriotism. No rhetoric, no fast talk, just a man who fought hard against real world evils and won.

With the new century, America is different, WWII remembered from tales of grandparents and the threat of nuclear war closer to the forefront of our memories. Yes, the Greatest Generation did their part but what followed after from their children's lives was Cold Wars, senseless wars and a lot fear and mistrust of our own government. This why Bucky has been a fantastic symbol of the new era; someone taken from a seedier element of that great heroic war, plucked from the time of prosperity and used against us in secret as the Winter Soldier. Now deprogrammed, gifted his old life back to him by his mentor, he fights in that mentor's honor with the lingering baggage of what when wrong and is forced to do right for himself and for the symbol. He doesn't become Captain America so much as represent him. Those big red bucket boots are hard to fill and James does Cap honor in his own way. We don't hand off a lot of heroic handles to new and different people, especially ones with such a legacy behind them, but it's as if James knows this and has chosen a new costume and a new way of portraying our country's hero as no one could become Steve Rogers but Steve Rogers.

And so he will be reborn. Retreating back into our history isn't exactly the Marvel Way, but why deny ourselves the best stories of our time? I know over at the Distinguished Competition, they are re-rolling a lot of character's previously dead status by returning the Silver Age to the present day books. Marvel dares to retract a couple decades worth of history for ol' Web-Head and it's Mutiny in the streets! And here we have a shocking, world-wide event that regular Joes who enter an average comic shop (say, mine for instance) and they will point at a rack of Cap trades and ask, "Isn't he dead?" Steve Rogers' death is legendary and we accept this back with open arms.

Brass tacks say there's going to be a Cap movie on the horizon. Sorry, James Buchanan Barnes does not fit on a lunch box. The widest burst of popular culture knows Steve Rogers' story and it will cross generations to see that man rise to movie stature. While everybody knows that Cap is dead, no one really bothered with what came next because the Average Joe is kind of stupid and the comic reader is voracious for what comes next. I believe that, while James' story can't just end, not now, not when he could truly be as great as his predecessor, it has to end. Or at least change because Steve Rogers is a status quo the Marvel Universe really needs right now.

Everyone knows when Norman Osborn is in charge, it isn't going to stay that way. If you believe Batman is really dead, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. Culturally speaking, we don't like our heroes to lose. The current villainy run rampant would not fly if Steve was under that cowl and by force of presence alone, a new 'classic' Avengers of Tony, Cap and Thor showing up to obliterate this Cabal nonsense would bring about not just a brand new day but a better day that the House of Ideas has needed for a long time.

Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall but one thing remains the same. Steve Rogers will return because he is the Stretch Armstrong of Marvel U's national heroes. (And shut up, Britain, You have Captain Britain and Union Jack so get back to me when you sort that out.) Bucky is new and, just like this century he represents, isn't as defined just yet. If Marvel is going to stand it's flag on the new shores of film development, it's going to be with the standard we all know and treasure. Steve Rogers will rise again.

Oh, Dark Reign!  How will miss you!  Your only vaguely reasonable introduction brought us a bevy of brand new teams that make me ponder when Force Works is going to pop up next.  You dismantled SHIELD in favor of his own private army 'HAMMER', an acronym that not only hasn't been explained, but hasn't really done much when you think of all those 'dark' superhero teams at Osborn's disposal.  And they haven't really done much when you consider that Clint Barton ran amuck through Osborn's hand-picked Avengers team in their own base until he got to the God of War.  And Ares.

Really, what has Osborn done for us besides hand out frustration and stalemates and have to use a crappy acronym like GRANPA for a global supernatural/superhuman monitoring organization (like the Weird Happenings Organization wasn't doing anything)?  He's been a fantastic and obnoxiously unbeatable object of hate, a red-haired target for all our heroes as he held are the cards.  Perhaps Spaceballs was right, perhaps evil will always triumph because good is dumb.

Which brings us to SIEGE: THE CABAL!  That's right!  When the heroes can't be bothered to mop up the super-villainy in town, leave it to the nature of a group of super-villains to implode upon themselves.  From the very start, the Cabal was pretty much ready to draw its own battle lines and now that Loki's got his/her hooks in the Hood, Namor has Emma and a possibly not-so-forgotten allegiance with Doom, the Siege honestly couldn't get here soon enough.  We'll get a free program to the Real Event with ORIGINS OF SIEGE, an interesting and bold move by giving the proper spotlight to AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE and it's own one-shot SIEGE: THE CABAL which will cost you money.

$3.99 to be precise, along with 50 other titles, not including the licensed products or the ones that go over to the $4.99/$5.99 side of things.  A quick scroll-through shows that most of these books average out at 32 pages, some more, some sadly less.  Dan Buckley was very firm at Comic Con this year saying that he was the Decider when it came to issue's price points, so we know where this all is coming from, but still not the why.  It's not page count, as SPIDER-MAN & THE SECRET WARS #1 (of 4) costs the same as AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #616, both coming in at 32 pages.  It's not limited series versus regular ongoing status as seen above either; I could see a limited series being more 'rare' like a Pokemon card and requiring more money to get it, but that's neither here nor there and it's a terrible metaphor.  So, we'll have to leave some questions be, like what is love and why Doom is raising two teams of super-villainy for two distinct projects.

Over in Jeph Loeb's happy place, World War Hulks is going to start just you wait.  Despite my recollections of this big even starting at the end of this year, all four Hulk-related titles (that's HULK #18, FALL OF THE HULKS ALPHA, FALL OF THE HULKS GAMMA and INCREDIBLE HULK #605 for those of you keeping score) threaten the outbreak of the biggest Nerds vs. Jocks battle in history (led by Doctor Doom who- really, that's gotta be a Doombot), but won't get down to business until next year.

Strangely, HULK: WINTER GUARD has a 'Hulk' at the start of it but doesn't really seem to deal with ol' Jade Jaws himself:  "Hot on the heels of their acclaimed series 'High Moon', David Gallaher and Steve Ellis unite to reveal the secrets behind Russia's elite superhuman strike force! Red Guardian, Crimson Dynamo, Ursa Major & Darkstar -- As the Winter Guard, they have sworn to protect the people of Russia. But, who will protect them when The Presence's schemes threaten to claim one of their own?"  This is a cool story and I'll hate myself for picking it up (56 pages, a reprint for #3.99, oy), but did they really need to tack the 'Hulk' on there?

So, remember when I said that Disney took all their popular female heroines and have them their own licencing deal?  Ladies and gents, BLACK WIDOW & THE MARVEL GIRLS #1 & 2!  YAY!  Ok, not t-shirts or direct-to-DVD movies yet, but this is a fine idea that I will be excited to see come Christmas time.  Looks to be ongoing, looks to be written by Paul Tobin and looks to be kind of awesome: "She's the most efficient spy in the world and one of the world's deadliest women, but before there was ever a Black Widow, there was the Red Room, a brutal KGB training ground for assassins, undercover agents, and the most ruthless of spies. Now, tasked with removing a rogue weapon's dealer from an impregnable safe house, the Black Widow remembers her escape from the Red Room training facility, an escape only made possible with the aid of the most unlikely of allies, the Asgardian sorceress known as Amora...the Enchantress."  Her second issue even teams her up with the Wasp, so mark your calenders for a bi-weekly, 32 page adventure for $2.99.  BUCKLEY!!!!

There's a lot going on this holiday season from the House of Ideas; the Punisher is joining the Legion of Monsters, Nation X is getting their own soap operatic tale not handled by Matt Fraction, as he's busy with a bi-weekly Uncanny X-Men and the little bit fo the Void trapped in Emma's skull.  Some stocking stuffer What If?s will arrive, from the super cool (WHAT IF? DAREDEVIL VS. ELEKTRA) to the 'didn't I buy this before?' (WHAT IF? WORLD WAR HULK).

A very important and pre-orderable ED HANNIGAN: COVERED arrives to not only show us a rare glimpse at Marvel's art direction and incredible covers in the late 70's-early 80's, but also helps the Hero Initiative help out the man who gave us all these images in the first place, Ed Hannigan himself.

There's the book you can get for that Brian Michael Bendis in your life, the BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS: 10 YEARS AT MARVEL TPB and the book that should be under everyone's tree, the THOR: AGES OF THUNDER TPB.  Like I said, something for everyone!  Go check out the list yourself make that Christmas checklist twice!

Wait.  That's probably not true.  But it has been said, mostly cited as a reason for why his Mary Jane-focused series-mini-series-then-series-again comics were such absolute joys to read for fans of all ages and genders.  By the time we got Mary Jane Loves Spider-Man (a very Joanie Loves Chachi title for me but that reference was so not in the target demographic), we had to say goodbye as our Pal left for the Distinguished Competition.  Never fear, I thought to myself, some good could come from this!  Maybe they'll put him on Supergirl, another can-do gal who could easily be put into that rich and delicious McKeever high school setting that feels oh my gosh, just like <i>mine</i>.  At DC, the plucky can-do gal can fight super-villains at the same time she's trying to get her best friend on speaking terms with the friend's ex and oh, the stories just write themselves!  Sean McKeever can really set the stage of high school life without making it feel hackneyed or childish so I expected they'd really let him work with the DCU.

Short answer:  it didn't go very well.

But we're not here to talk about that!  We're here to talk about something else that didn't go very well:  Heroes Reborn.  Personally, I have a strange little affection for that strange new world but I find it very hard to believe that anyone can crack open a page of Liefield's all new, all different Captain America and not have that hiss of breath-wince response.  From the over-enthusiastic scripting to the well, do I have to mention the artwork?  Heck, some are still steamed about replacing the A on Cap's mask with an eagle.  It was an idea that honestly came ill-formed and too soon; later, the Ultimates line would take the whole 'updating familiar characters as modern heroes' right, but this was the '90s and we were ridiculous.

In 2006, we decided to honor that ridiculousness by bringing back Jeph Loeb and Rob Liefeld for the Onslaught Reborn mini-series.  Despite some stalling, the tribute took us back to time where a long haired Hulk was the coolest thing we could come up with, the battles were etra super loud and the end of the world could be the only possible answer.  A fine shadow of Ultimatum, the story made the strange choice of taking Rikki Barnes and dropping her off in our universe.  For one, while the story was a quick romp through four-color, feetless Franklin-verse, there was no expectations for some sort of lasting change to the goo ol' Marvel U.  This was a classic "fight the villain and set everything back to normal" story, why take a random character back with you?  Why not Thor instead?

And why then sit on the character for three or so years?  Ed Brubaker brought this little continuity gaffe as an interesting example of what the world should or could have been to our current 'dark' future now in Cap #600 (sorry if she'd been used before that, Rikki Barnes seems to be missng her Marvel encyclopedia info).  Rikki and Patriot share a moment on a rooftop where this brave new world's laid out for her and I honestly though this would lead to some more interaction between the two Cap-'inspired' characters.  Someone serious, someone fearless.  It'd make a good buddy cop kind of comic, again these stories just write themselves, but again, other plans were in store.

As Sean McKeever is now a free man, he's continuing work for both the Distinguished Entertainment and has come home to the House of Ideas.  And here's where I think the genius kicks in: the man writes from a fresh perspective that often gets him placed on 'younger' characters or strangely enough 'female' characters.  It's obvious from his work elsewhere that he's not in this for the teen drama set and can do remarkably work outside what fans have come to know him for.  He's a big Captain America fan but there's no possible way to get in on that story without sitting on Brubaker's lap while he types and plots, the tale of Captain America only coming from one writer.

So why not find a displaced character with the right connections, work one's mojo into into a mini-series to create a new hero that can dovetail nicely into that world, lading to grittier and stronger stories, allowing McKeever to branch out into new work himself?  It's like using Mary Jane Loves Spider-Man to tell the All New Adventure of Spider-Woman, Agent of Whoever At This Point (WATP).

The first issue is out and Rikki Barnes is fantastic.  Very Natty Gann (if I can throw another odd reference out there), her isolation in this new world of hers is felt as she tries to get in touch with things and people that are just shadows of where she came from.  She wants to meet Cap, as much as the Black Widow and Patriot say no, she wants to be a hero, as much as her false identity and shoddy job will let her, and she wants to be a kid, as much as her adopted high school full of mysteriously brain-washed kids will let her.

I fear this book won't sell well.  I fear most will take a look at that stunning cover and drop their hand at the mention of the Heroes Reborn universe.  But please, go get a copy.  If not for Rikki and her determined hope to be a hero for herself and her country (that's not even her country anymore), but do it for Sean McKeever.  He had a rough time with the Teen Titans and Birds of Prey and Countdown and I believe with all my heart that this is the book we've been waiting for from him.  The next four issues are going to be great and you, the reader, are going to miss out.

And so will the quorum in his basement.