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by **Chris** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:32 pm

My favorite run on Cap of all-time.

Ends with #19.

Kind of sucks, but the good news is that he will continue to write Winter Soldier.

If I’m doing the math right, Ed Brubaker’s time on Captain America will end with issue #19 of the title. And while he’ll continue to write Winter Soldier “as long as I can,” the writer told Tom Spurgeon in an interview at The Comics Reporter that he plans to focus on creator-owned work versus picking up another work-for-hire project after his Cap run ends.

“I hit a point with the work-for-hire stuff where I was starting to feel burned out on it,” Brubaker told Spurgeon. “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.”

Brubaker’s run on the character started in 2005 when he brought the long-dead Bucky Barnes back as the Winter Soldier, a brainwashed Soviet operative who clashed with Cap and eventually remembered who he really was. When Steve Rogers was killed in the well-lauded “Death of Captain America” storyline, Barnes took up the shield and became Captain America–at least until Rogers was brought back to life and eventually put the uniform back on. Those fantastical superhero plots seem secondary, though, to the overall tone of Brubaker’s noir-ish run on the title, which included everything a good Captain America run should have–intrigue, spy vs. spy plots and some real-world political references that piss off real-world political folks.

Brubaker’s final full arc of the series is being co-written by Cullen Bunn and runs in issues #15-18. After that Brubaker told Spurgeon he would write one final issue of the title.

“It was less of a decision and more just following my instincts, trying to make sure I’m only writing things I really want to write,” Brubaker told Spurgeon. “I used to have a lot of ideas for superhero stories, and they scratched a real old-fashioned pulp writer itch for a long time. But the past few years, I’ve wanted more and more to just focus on my own projects, and most of my ideas have been for new things, or things outside comics. I remember just sitting there with my Cap notebook, trying to figure out what to do after the next arc was finished, and suddenly I just was like, ‘I think I’m done here’ and it was this huge relief. I talked to Dan Buckley at Marvel, and told him what I was thinking, and he was really supportive of me, really great about it. I mean, I know I’m still going to be doing the Winter Soldier for a while, potentially a long while, but this feels like a major change, anyway.”

by **Stephen Day** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:37 pm

Too bad, hopefully I'll like whoever continues after him.

by **Chris** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:37 pm

Sounds like Cullen Bunn, since he is co-writing the last arc.

by ****** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:39 pm

As soon as I saw the Bunn co-writing thing I figured it was probably coming.

Hopefully Winter Soldier doesn't end anytime soon. Bru's Cap run has been more of a Bucky run than a Steve run so it's not like it's really ending.

by **MikeinLA** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:42 pm

Probably for the best. The book has been ok, but Brubaker has been spinning his wheels creatively on Cap for a while. As for Winter Soldier, if it wasn't for the Jackson Guice I doubt I'd be getting it. Fatale's great, though.

by **Chris** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:50 pm

Current run of Cap has been full of throwback fun. No wheel spinning right now, IMO.

by ****** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:55 pm

Werd. The Madbomb arc was the best pure-Steve arc in Bru's run.

by **MikeinLA** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:00 pm

You mean the storyline where one of Cap's greatest enemies (Zemo) with a new character (Mistress Hydra, or whatever she calls herself) stirs up civil unrest with the aid of weird technology (the Madbombs) and an old ally from the Second World War? That doesn't sound familiar to the opening arc of his run, except it was the Red Skull, Lukin, the Cosmic Cube, and Bucky?

by **chap22** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:05 pm

amlah6 wrote:Werd. The Madbomb arc was the best pure-Steve arc in Bru's run.

if you count it, i'd argue that the Steve: Super-Soldier mini was better. but yeah, Madbomb redux was the shit.

by **Royal Nonesuch** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:08 pm

Focusing on more creative-owned things. Good for him.

by **Chris** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:16 pm

Here's what I want to come out of this re-focusing on creator-owned books:

1. Finish out Fatale with Sean Phillips.. I'm assuming it's 12 issues? Once it's done, continue Criminal with Philips full-time, or at least more frequently than one arc per year, or every couple years as is now..

2. Find a new artist for Incognito, and do that more frequently as well. Chris Samnee, IMO.

by **Zero** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:35 pm

I dropped the book once the Bucky stuff finished (in another title no less) and wasn't keen on the relaunch's old school heroics. He'll go down as one of the all-time Cap greats and whoever's on the book next has big shoes to fill. Cullen Bunn would be a great choice.

by **mrorangesoda** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:38 pm

Good for Brubaker. Glad he wants to stay on Winter Soldier and I look forward to his other work.

by **Dragavon** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 4:12 pm

Sad news. Aside from his first arc after the restart, it's been good.

by **HNutz** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 4:49 pm

MikeinLA wrote:You mean the storyline where one of Cap's greatest enemies (Zemo) with a new character (Mistress Hydra, or whatever she calls herself) stirs up civil unrest with the aid of weird technology (the Madbombs) and an old ally from the Second World War? That doesn't sound familiar to the opening arc of his run, except it was the Red Skull, Lukin, the Cosmic Cube, and Bucky?

Yeah, that's pretty much why I haven't been reading Cap, but I LOVED his Secret Avengers and his Winter Soldier is one of my favorite Marvel books these days.