The New York Daily News has broken the major Marvel news story scheduled for today in an article by Ethan Sacks that reveals that Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, is returning in the Captain America: Reborn miniseries by Ed Brubaker and Bryan Hitch, which debuts on July 1st. Sacks’ article, “Captain America Is Coming Back to Life in a Comic Near Your,” is the kick-off for the major media event promised for June 15th that was described by Marvel as “possibly on par with the media coverage we received during Civil War.” Under pressure from retailers, Marvel actually changed the Final Order Cut-Off for the first issue of Captain America: Reborn so that adjustments could be made in light of today’s announcement (see “Marvel Changes FOC Date”).
Captain America: Reborn
Quesada Variant
In his
article Sacks quotes Marvel EIC Joe Quesada, “
The original Captain America is finally coming back. We've been patiently planning for this moment for 21/2 years.” In Captain America #25, which was released in March of 2007, Cap was apparently gunned down, but as Sacks points out (with a corroborating reference to DC’s Superman), “Death in comics, of course, is almost never as final as it is in real life.” Retailers were blindsided by Cap’s demise, having placed their orders for Captain America #25 before his “death” was revealed, which contributed to the discontent over this latest revelation that spurred Marvel to change the FOC date for Captain America: Reborn #1 so that retailers could take into account the effect of today’s story, which Marvel hopes will echo through the rest of the mainstream media.
The seeds of Steve Roger’s return have been planted in a 40-page Brubaker story in Captain America #600, which Marvel, in an unprecedented move, saw fit to allow retailers to sell today, two days ahead of the normal Wednesday release. But in what is perhaps an example of the difficulties inherent in arranging this sort of a mainstream media news event, the story in the Daily News failed to disclose the tie-in between Captain America: Reborn and Captain America #600, which is on sale today in many stores and which certainly could have benefited from a mention.
