| Posted: 25 Jun 2012 14:30 |
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Talking to comicsreporter.com Ed Brubaker talked about leaving the writing chores of Captain America after almost 8 years. Brubaker relaunched the series back in 2004.
Here's a couple of excerpts.
Quote:
Now, you told me that you're wrapping up on Captain America.
Yeah. By the time this interview comes out, I will have written my last issue.
Congratulations. And that's... eight years on Cap?
A little less than eight years. I think I started in August or September of 2004 writing my first issue, which came out in November of that year.
So why now?
Partly, it's the beginning a shift from work-for-hire to books I own, instead. I hit a point with the work-for-hire stuff where I was starting to feel burned out on it. Like my tank is nearing empty on superhero comics, basically. It's been a great job, and I think I found ways to bring my voice to it, but I have a lot of other things I want to do as a writer, too, so I'm going to try that for a while instead.
Now are you keeping Winter Soldier?
Yeah, I am. That's going to be my only Marvel book soon. I'll do The Winter Soldier as long as it lasts... or, I'll do it for as long as I can. [Spurgeon laughs] Because I don't know if it'll last, but I'm really proud of that book and the second and third storylines on it are some of my favorite stuff I've done for Marvel, ever.
What do you like about it? What do you think is laudatory? Are you in that place where you can say, "I did that, and I did that very well."
I think I got to tell a long story. In the early days, I got to create a big soap opera about Steve Rogers and Bucky and Sharon Carter and keep this thrilling adventure ride going. And each arc bled into the next. Then we did the "Death of Cap" thing and I go to really do an 18-part story that still didn't end with Cap coming back to life yet. [laughs] I got to do some stuff that was really challenging. I got work with some great artists. Steve Epting, he probably drew 35 issues of my run in the early days. I think we developed a really great collaboration. And I always liked that kind of epic storytelling.
Quote:
Don't they team you up with a writer to transition out of these titles? Like baton pass it to them?
That's not on purpose for this one. That was a situation with scheduling. Marvel is trying to do this thing now that with some of their better-selling books they want to get out more copies per year than 12. They want to get out 15 or 18 issues. Amazing Spider-Man's been doing more than one a month for a while now; someone I know does Uncanny X-Men or one of those books, and that comes out 18 times a year.
I couldn't keep up with that schedule, honestly. I knew I was getting to the end of my run. I wanted to wrap up my run earlier. And [Marvel Senior Vice President Of Publishing] Tom [Brevoort] was like, "Well, you're going to leave a bunch of plot lines dangling... do you want to go out like that? It'll seem like you threw up your hands and said 'I can't keep up with this schedule.'" I was like, "No, I don't want to go out that way." So we brought in Cullen Bunn to write an arc with me. I gave him a list of a bunch of stuff. "Here's all the dangling plot threads and here's where we need them all to be by the time I get to my last issue." And then we figured out a storyline together.
It's strange. I did all these issues as an uninterrupted run. Then there's four issues co-written by someone. Then there's a last issue. [laughs] It's a little odd.
So what do you guys think? Is it time for a change? What do you see happening with Captain America stories in the future?
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| Posted: 25 Jun 2012 18:43 |
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Time for some new blood.
The future?
New number one issues and restarts.
Stories as dictated by editors.
Corporate wanting the comics to be more like the movies.
15 issues a year.
More events.
Everything changes and yet nothing does because it is comics and they never want to write that end chapter. 
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| Posted: 25 Jun 2012 21:50 |
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8 years run is a good run. I thought Brubaker would take some time off and come back with a new fresh look and take on Cap.
Also in the interview, Brubaker said he'll stay on Winter Soldier, which the series I feel is doing well.
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| Posted: 28 Jun 2012 13:57 |
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It's a sad thing to watch someone as talented as Ed leave a book like this. We fans saw him take one of Marvel's limping series and turn it into a top seller. I noticed a change in his writing on Cap when he took on the Winter soldier book (which I love reading).
I wish him well in his future endevores and hope maybe to see him pop up on the Cap title if there is ever a crossover storyline with the Winter Soldier book. I won't gripe as we've had eight great years of his storytelling on Cap. He's definately gonna be a hard act to follow.
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| Posted: 02 Jul 2012 21:42 |
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Latest news I read over on Comicbookmovie, ... Rick Remender and John Romita jr are 'suppose' to move in to the Cap book. Remender took over the Secret Avengers (which I didn't like what he did to the original Human Torch), and JRjr -- love his work on Spiderman and Daredevil.
John Romita sr worked on the Cap books in the 50s and did some Cap books in the 60s and 70s, but never stayed on for a good length of time. Romita jr had a great long run on Thor, so, hopefully JRjr will stay with Cap for a very long run and bring a lot of new readers and fans of his work to Cap book (I'm hoping to see some of those moody, off-beat covers JRjr did for Amazing Spider man done for Cap).
This news isn't certain or confirmed or going to happen, we--the readers and fans--are just in that wait and see mode, ...but we can certainly yak about this.
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| Posted: 03 Jul 2012 09:20 |
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Sorry. JRJR as the regular Cap artist will really test my patience as a Cap fan. Not my Cuppa!!
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| Posted: 03 Jul 2012 14:31 |
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John Romita Jr. isn't a bad artist. I like the old school drawn comic look he has. Makes a comic seem like a real comic.
These days more and more I guess I'm longing for the old days of comics anyway. I'm almost about ready to quit buying new comics as much and focusing on just filling in the gaps of my older collections.
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| Posted: 04 Jul 2012 01:54 |
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AAAAAAAArrrrggggh
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/JoshWildingNewsAndReviews/ ...
I didn't have time to grab this pic and paste it here:
It's about what Marvel is doing after Avengers versus Xmen, ...
They're changing Cap's costume--which I don't mind--but it's those feathers on his mask, ... they have to PROTRUDE, or come out, they're not flat or painted on, THEY'RE OUT THERE!!!
Plus, the New Nick Fury (Who is actually Real Nick's little boy/offspring/son/heir/pride) he SHOULDN'T BE WEARING COMMANDER ROGERS clothes!!! Give him some new duds, or look, or something cooler than Rogers Hand-me-downs.
So, we're going to be on the websites screaming and complaining about the feathers on Cap's mask again.
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| Posted: 04 Jul 2012 14:45 |
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I posted the pic here. It's a little bigger.
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| Posted: 05 Jul 2012 04:10 |
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I've just about given up working up any outrage over these things anymore. It is the pattern of Marvel and DC to shake things up every 6 months to a year with costumes, events, creative teams, and new number ones. It gives them their spike in sales. But, of course, this stuff is always short term gains as, long term, the number of comic readers drops.
My concern though is that they become so enslaved to these things that a new creative then never has the time or freedom to tell some good story arcs. They always get interrupted by some event or a corporate mandate. George Perez recently mentioned about the problems with working at the New DC with corporate intervention where they don't get out of the creator's way.
So really, this new look for Cap and the others is a temporary thing to spike sales, create new action figures, and the like before the pendulum swings back the other way.
I always thought the Commander Rogers uniform was too cool to be packed away so I'm glad someone is using it. But the new Fury and the new Cap costume do smack of a corporate edict to get all ducks in a row with the movie universe. My fear is they will do the same with the upcoming return of Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy series and the new Bendis and Loeb stuff won't be anywhere near as great as the Abnett & Lanning run.
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| Posted: 05 Jul 2012 07:12 |
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I don't mind Marvel and Dc shaking things up after a certain amount of time. With Spidey it's easy, create an animal-based baddie or a goofy friend or girlfriend, put him in a new job or new area of New York, Voila, new Spidey.
With Cap, it's going to be hit-and-miss (Hence the "Don't know what to do with Cap" periods--After Steranko, before Englehart, before Stern and Byrne run, before Guenwald and before Brubaker).
The thing is, this is because of the MOVIE. The alterations and changes to make Cap visually exciting and accepting to the GREATER AUDIENCE (Some who will be certainly visiting a Comic shop) are being applied to the comics. But what works on screen doesn't mean it'll work in print. If that's true, Space Ghost, Biiiirdman, and other Hanna Barbara's tv heroes (Also Scooby Doo) would work in comics. I even asked if people here would like the Tv Gargoyles translated to Comic book.
For Captain America comics to continue, they have to stay true to the comic form, come out with great stories and art and direction that works in print, ...and hopefully those new people who pick up a Cap book would fall in love with this character and adventure and larger-than-life universe.
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| Posted: 05 Jul 2012 10:11 |
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You do know about the Gargoyles comic from about 18 years ago, right? Amanda Conner and Marty Pasko use to work on it. I wasn't sure if you did from your thread on it.
Yeah, I guess we are due for a "Don't know what to do with Cap" period after the Brubaker run.
I understand the reasoning behind the thinking of making things look like the movies. Certainly, I have more students this year in my classes who now know who the Avengers are when they didn't last year. And it probably gives them a little bump in sales but not a huge impact.
It is like the San Diego Comic-Con. I understand why they included all the Hollywood and non-comic stuff: to boost sales and the industry by putting them side-by-side with other forms of entertainment that were still thriving. But as successful as these movies are and as much as conventions are packing people in, that really hasn't translated over to a boom of comic readers, has it?
I agree. The comic should be true to its self and not beholden to the movies. They need to stand on their own as their own stories and not just serve as adverts for the movies. And people aren't stupid enough that they can't tell a classic costumed Cap from a Chris Evans-costumed movie Cap.
I just think we are in an era where the Big 2 are top heavy with non-creative suits dictating creative choices. Comics are big business where they are concerned with quarterly profits and quick jerks (events, reboots, renumbering, etc) to stimulate those sales rather than the old days where creators had time to have a slow build in telling their stories. The long runs of a Brubaker on Cap and Bendis on Avengers already seem like the rare exception of the past ten years and will probably be even more rare in the next ten.
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| Posted: 05 Jul 2012 15:47 |
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I think comic sales will never go up till they stop making comics that aren't fit for kids to read, and get comics back on the newstands and maybe wal-mart and places like that.
I think comics can be fit for kids and still be intelligent enough for adults. In fact I think kids enjoy intelligent stories more.
Some of daytime TV crappy stuff Marvel and DC has been putting out lately is only fit for a Jerry Springer show. Only hard core fans read comics these days, and it's not ever going to change till they make comics accessible and readable for the general populace without giving up on the quality. They may lose a little here and there pushing comics on the newstands, but in the end they win more by having more new readers introduced to comics, but right now if I had a younger kid I would never let them buy X-men for example.
Even if it's not the sex stuff, the violence goes over the top in today's books just a bit. Too much blood. Arms getting ripped off, heads flying off all the time, I mean is it superhero stories or horror stories they are making?
I agree that they don't need to change Cap's costume to fit the movie. I think the movie version should try more to fit the comic.
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| Posted: 05 Jul 2012 22:25 |
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Space ghost, Flintstone and Scooby Doo had comic runs, but didn't last. Cartoon network brought back a raunchier new version of Sealab and try to update Space ghost in a talk show format and Birdman in a lawyer setting. Again all format had a run, created a buzz and craze to make them all successful, then fizzled away.
I could only think of Star Trek, whose comic run seemed to last (Dell, Marvel, Dc, back to Marvel, Back to Dc, now sitting at IDW).
Remember Hunger games. Big hit, made oodles of money, made a star out of Jennifer Lawrence and delayed shooting Xmen First class sequel so she would do Hunger games 2. Everyone I knew who read the book kept telling me, "Read the book".
No matter how good the movie Cap is, the comic book should be better and remain true to the Captain America mythos. Because movie craze would die down, and when that does happen, hopefully it won't drag Cap down with it (Back in the 60s, Dc made the Batman comics liken to the tv show, took Neal Adams run to lift Batty out of that image).
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| Posted: 05 Jul 2012 22:31 |
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True, comics are different than movies. There has to be more focus on art and how a costume appears on the printed page. Costumes come off different visually in a comic than they do on a movie sometimes.
Personally, I think some of the best comic art came out of the 70's from Marvel. I just like the way old comics look I guess. I've noticed that the way they print comics has a lot to do with how an artist work looks. Old artist work doesn't look as good in the new formats as it did in the old.
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| Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:33 |
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Thank goodness. Brubaker's stuff bored me to tears. I stopped buying the flagship title a few months ago. Maybe now I'll check it out again.
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