As Rik Offenberger has already pointed out in his wonderful overview elsewhere on the First Comics News site, patriotic heroes are a staple of American comics. Some of these characters are popular and well-known, and others not so much; but you have to admit even the lesser-known lights look fetching in red, white, blue…along with the occasional yellow. Here, left to right, the sartorial splendor of the Eagle, Roy the Super-Boy, and Miss Victory:
But enough with the proverbial digression! I mentioned that some of the patriotic heroes are still around today and as most True Believers know, two of the most famous, Captain America and Bucky, figure prominently in several current Marvel Comics series. Only now Cap (Steve Rogers) is no longer officially known as Captain America, he’s more of a Super Soldier; and Bucky (James Buchanan Barnes) isn’t called Bucky, he’s now Captain America. Got that?
But while Mr. Barnes is quite the macho dude today, things were very different back in the 1940s, when he was always getting tied up or about to be experimented on by a creepy villain- -in short, Bucky found himself in one perilous situation after another. Take a look at these golden oldie covers (courtesy of the great Coverbrowser.com site). Some of these covers are faded, but rest assured you’ll recognize Bucky–he’s the one who’s usually lying down on the job:
Bucky shouts some encouraging words to Cap–yeah, that’s really helpful, Buck.
And finally, what better way to spend an afternoon than by getting a manicure? Gosh, who knew Bucky was a metrosexual decades before the term was coined?
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