Bucky Barnes v. Jason Todd
As we know, being dead in a comic book means nothing. Heroes are brought back to life more often than Nicholas Cage does a bad movie (yeah I'm looking at you, "Ghost Rider"). Whether it be magic, clones, alternate dimensions, mystical deities, evil twins, etc, characters have a tendancy to "show up" lookign great after they have taken a dirt-nap for a few years (with the exception of Spidey's Uncle Ben and until recently Captain America's sidekick Bucky Barnes... but more on that in a moment). Death is generally used in story-telling to add dramatic sub-text to characters that tied to the deceased and in comics it's no different. And even though death has become somewhat of a joke, we (as fans) don't seem to mind, in fact, when it's done right, we embrace it.
A prime example of this is the return of Bucky Barnes. As most fans know, Bucky was Captain America's sidekick from World War II. We find out in Avengers #4, after Cap has been thawed out after being frozen for twenty years, Bucky died as the two attempted to stop a rocket full of explosives from taking flight. The last thing Cap sees, before he plummets to the water, is Bucky explode with the rocket. This moment became a defining moment for Captain America. It's one of the few times he failed and lost his friend in the process. This was canon for over 40 years (our years, not comic years... that is a blog for another time). Cap carries this guilt and it's weight helped give a pretty much one-dimensional character some nuance.
However in 2005, Ed Brubaker took over the writing chores of Captain America and one of the elements he wished to visit was the return of Bucky. When news of this leaked out to the comic community, there was an outpouring negative criticism. As stated above, Bucky was one of the few deaths and that "stuck" in the comic book realms. It seemed like a ploy to drum up sales for an otherwise lackluster character (author's note - I actually have always enjoyed Cap, however except when there is high-caliber talent is attached, his books have never been critical or financial successes). Instantly, it seemed like fanboys around were going to take up pitchforks and torches against the offices of Marvel (or at the very least take to the message boards to register their anger). But something happened. His resurrection was good and more importantly, it made sense.
This wasn't some alien coming down to Earth and using a flux-capacitor to re-write history or whatever. In a nut-shell, we find out that Bucky survives the explosion minus one arm and is left with amnesia. His body (or what's left of it) is recovered by the Russians and they slowly rebuild his body and basically make him into a covert assassin with no memories of who he is. It's revealed that Bucky has been named the Winter Soldier and has been working for the Soviets behind the scenes in the Marvel Universe, killing off characters (including Nomad and Wolverine's wife Itsu) and actually aiding in Wolvie's escape from the Weapon X program.
Soon Captain America finds out that Bucky is alive and confronts him. With the aid of the Cosmic Cube, Cap forces Bucky to remember his past and the rest as they say is history.
On the other end of the spectrum is Jason Todd, the second Robin. Known most famously for being the victim of fanboys' hate, Jason was actually killed as the results of a telephone poll in which DC asked their fans whether or not they wanted to see Jason Todd live or die. The results were close, but they were not in favor for his continued existence. After being bludgeoned to near-death by the Joker and a handy crowbar, Jason was then reduced to little Robin bits after the Joker set off a bomb. And thus ended the short career of Mr. Todd.
Now, I personally never saw why there was so much hate for Jason Todd. DC basically created the anti-Dick Grayson (the first Robin). Instead of growing up with loving parents, Jason was an orphan who had turned to a life of crime. In fact when Batman first meets him, Jason is caught attempting to steal the wheels off of the Batmobile.
And like Cap, after Jason Todd meets his untimely demise, Batman carries this guilt (I can't count how many times we see Bats staring at the uniform of the deceased Robin).
However with time, hate turns to nostalgia and in Jeph Loeb's 2005 Batman arc, "Hush," Jason Todd makes a reappearance as a villain. Not only did this leave the Caped Crusader shocked, it had us as fanboys with our jaws left on the ground. No one (and I really mean no one) saw this coming. However soon we would find out that in actuality that Jason Todd was one of Batman's shape changing villains, Clayface, who took the appearance of an aged Jason to mess with Batman's guilt. This would be later ret-conned to reveal that it really was Jason the whole time. And this is where it really falls apart.
DC (I'm sure) wasn't expecting the fans to be excited by this and soon allowed Jason Todd to start running around the Batman world without a real explanation as to why or how he had come back. Much later we would find out that alternate dimensional evil Superboy would bring back Jason Todd to life after he (Superboy) began to beat at the walls of his dimensional prison where he had been exiled and somehow "alters" reality. Yes, that is how Jason Todd is brought back. I didn't make that up.
And therein lies the problem. No game plan. In Cap, Bucky's return was calculated and executed well. It's a testament to the writing and answering the little questions (Has he aged? Where has he been all this time? Etc.). Brubaker took the time to answer these questions. (He has aged, but only a few years because he was left in suspended animation between jobs). It gave the character a depth as if he had been in the Marvel universe the whole time, just behind the corner waiting to slit some poor slob's throat. Jason on the otherhand would be aged in one book and then look as young as the current Robin in the next book.
It's too bad, because I really thought the idea of bringing back Jason Todd was really intelligent. He could have been an evil Batman (all the training of Batman, but out to make Batman's life a living Hell for letting him die). A real counter-point to all of the good that Batman represents. Eventually DC would make him essentially a Batman who kills (but I always thought an amoral Batman fighting for evil would have been so much more fun). Imagine if his return had been plotted out? This dark figure in that background pulling strings and taking apart Bruce Wayne piece by piece (which is for all intents and purposes what the story of Hush is, but instead instead of creating a new villain that no one really cares about, make it personal for not just the character, but the fans as well).
I had the pleasure of meeting Judd Winick (who really spear-headed the return of Jason after Jeph's "Hush" arc ended) and I really enjoy a lot of his books (if you want to laugh yourself silly, check out Barry Ween). However, it was clear, that the writers were just riding on the nostalgia of bringing back a character instead of fully investigating what questions need to be solved before such an act should be taken. Death is serious. And if you cavalierly just bring back heroes (or villains) with no real explanation of how they returned you might find yourself losing readers which will ultimately lead to the death of your book.
I guess in the long run most people will have forgotten how Jason Todd came back to life and just accept that he is now a staple in the Batman mythos. However, no one will ever forget the return of Bucky. It really speaks to the writing and ultimately proves that no one can really die in comics, but they can piss off the fanboys by blowing us off or they can make dedicated readers out of us by doing a character's return justice.
That being said, if I see Uncle Ben come back to life, Spider-Man will be dead to me.
Brian Compton
For additional reading, check out the Batman books "Hush" and "A Death in the Family" and the Captain America book "Captain America Omnibus."
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
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