Blogotional

Batman was not the first superhero to tragically lose his teen sidekick, that honor belongs to Captain America. That sidekick was Steve Rogers unit mascot Bucky Barnes, or as he was known in costume, simply "Bucky."

Bucky was the teen sidekick that I wanted to be. Oh sure, Robin had the gadgets and the popularity, but Bucky, well he was obviously loved by Steve/Cap so much.

Bucky showed up the same time Cap did back in the war when such sidekicks were practically mandatory for superheroes, but in the Silver Age revival Bucky did not come along. Much of the early character turmoil that helped define Cap was based on his "failure" at the loss of Bucky. It predated and foreshadowed the angst of Batman at the loss of Robin II by nearly 30 years and was part of what made Marvel so doggoned good in the Silver Age.

The Bucky costume made a come back in the Silver Age when perpetual sideman Rick Jones (Also the guy that Bruce Banner saved when he was accidentally exposed to gamma radition and...well, you know the rest) Everybody liked Rick and when the Hulk got too wild to have anyone human close they needed to find something for Rick to do.

It was a great storyline as far as I was concerned. Cap was overprotective of Rick in the costume and that created some great tension. Rick was also far more independent than Bucky had ever been.

But in the end, there was only so much that could be done. Rick moved on eventually becoming the cosmic hero Captain Marvel where he still is today, along with playing a role in some Avengers stuff from time to time. Cap moved on to partner with Red Falcon which also created some great stories on racial lines.

The Silver Age also saw the "retelling" of some Cap and Bucky war tales. This was the Bucky that I truly loved. In comparison to Robin he was very immature and very unpolished, more hero-worshipper than hero, but he went along, did what he could and Cap always looked out for him. He did for me exactly what he was supposed to do -- gave me a place to put myself, as a kid, into the story. I could picture myself doing what Bucky did, whereas I never really could Robin.

The best way to describe Bucky would be in the context of a lot of old war movies. It seems the unit the movie followed always picked a kid somewhere that hung out with the unit, helped wherever he could, and usually met a tragically heroic end, inspiring the unit to great heights. That really is Bucky to a "T" the only difference being that he accidentally walked in on Steve Rogers putting on his Cap outfit and insisted that he join Cap on his adventures.

Bucky met his end on the same adventure that put Cap into suspended animation to be recovered by the Avengers all those years later. This panel is a classic, Bucky stays on the robot plane to try and defuse the bomb and dies in the attempt. Cap lets go and falls in to the frigid sea to be frozen. During the Silver Age this panel must have appeared dozens of times as Cap tortured himself over the death of his sidekick.

Bucky has very much been lost to the shadows of comic history, but he is one of the great all time sidekicks -- certainly the one I related to best as a child. Just writing this makes we want to dig out all those old books.