Loading ...I wondered why Lois Lane got so much attention and so many votes while Captain Marvel, Jr. lay there, largely ignored. Then it hit me! Captain Marvel, Jr. was too serious. He wasn’t sexy enough. All Lois wanted was some super-loving from a man of steel. All Cap, Jr. wanted was for a harsh uncaring world to show him some love. So I decided to post about comic book characters that had a sexy edge! And to help keep our R rating, I decided to make it about bondage. So here it is – The Bondage of Bucky Barnes!
Everyone has heard of Wonder Woman’s fascination with bondage. Every single issue featured some of Wonder Woman’s “loving submissionâ€. And everyone knows about the strange and somewhat quasi sexual (or sometimes outright sexual – I mean, what is up with the expression on Batman’s face?) but ultimately fucked up and completely heartbreaking relationship between Batman and Robin. But less has been said about the curious relationship between that other 1940s male fighting Duo, Captain America and Bucky Barnes.
Although popular at the time, Captain America and Bucky didn’t survive the test of time like Batman and Robin. In fact, Captain America was cancelled twice before the 1960s. But during their day, these two were inseparable!
Quick background – Steve Rogers was a complete wimp and washout as a soldier until he took the “Super Serum†and became the Nazi smashing Captain America (ironically embodying what Hitler said was the ultimate soldier, a blond haired blue eyed home nation-worshiping Superman, so to speak.) Bucky Barnes was the orphaned son of a soldier killed in action. The other men in his father’s battalion picked him up as a “mascot,†and he befriended the camp loser, Steve Rogers. That friendship survived into Steve’s Captain America phase.
By the way, although Bucky wore a mask, his super-hero name was Bucky Barnes! That is a brilliant way to protect his secret identity.
(As a side note, “Bucky†comes from “James Buchanan Barnes.†Apparently Bucky was named “James Buchanan†because President Buchanan was an acrobat – ok, whatever. But, perhaps like Bucky, old James Buchanan was most likely gay. He was certainly in love with (and lived with) former Vice President William Rufus King, who people around Washington called “Miss Nancy†and “Aunt Fancy.†King County, home of Seattle, Washington, is named after William Rufus King. In 1986, the city voted to change the name of the county to protest King’s 1852 pro-slavery position. To register the extent of their protest, they decided to name it instead after Martin Luther King. So they renamed “King County” “King County.†The “name change†was ratified in 2005 by Washington state. Neat trick, huh? Now back to Cap and Bucky!)
Cap and Bucky were the most jingoistic of all comic book characters in the 1940s (and that is saying something!). I mean, even his name was Captain America (but not General America – he still had bosses). All they did was fight for America. And fight they did. The strange thing is, if you look closely, you’ll notice that during this fighting, Bucky is tied up on almost every single cover!
And he seems to enjoy it!
And it isn’t always just your mundane torture scene. The scenes became more complex and impractical as the bondage scenes went on. I mean, what enemy had time to completely mummify victims before killing them?
It just isn’t efficient.
Sometimes the bondage positions were downright sexual. Sometimes the torture was more localized and subtle. And sometimes, it just got completely bizarre. Torture portraiture anyone?
Even bondage clichés crept in.
Strange injections?
Check.
Water torture?
Check.
Mouth gag and feeding tube?
Check.
I mean, Batman and Robin occasionally had some bondage, but even their wildest pales in comparison with what Bucky went through. In fact, in the first 32 issues, Bucky is tied up on half of the covers!
As the war ended, so did the Bucky Bondage covers. Bucky was allowed to show a little sadism (via a well placed kick to his assailant’s balls) as well as masochism. But this didn’t quite work, and the publishers didn’t know what to do with Bucky. People were beginning to make the comic hero couple = homosexual couple connection, and Bucky had to go. Right before they kicked him out of the book, he got a couple more shots at bondage, this time a little more heterosexualized.
But the bloom was off the rose. Bucky was no good unless he was tied up. So Captain America left Bucky for a woman, bitch slapping him in the process. One issue later, Bucky was shot (by a woman, thus physically symbolizing his replacement by Cap’s side by the distaff sex). Although he didn’t die, he had to give up his heroics. Captain America replaced him with Betsy Ross, his Golden Girl. But the public hated that more than they hated a heterosexualized Bucky. The Golden Girl vanished after a few issues and Captain America became involved in Weird Stories. This too was a failure, and by the next issue, his book was canceled.
Interestingly, Stan Lee hated kid sidekicks and retconned Bucky’s departure into a death while fighting at Captain America’s side. Because Bucky died in action, no one in the Marvel Universe was allowed to have a kid sidekick. It was just too dangerous. Bucky therefore became more popular as a metaphor than he ever was as a character. (Marvel has since revived Bucky and killed Captain America, diminishing Bucky’s importance once again.)
Just like Wonder Woman, whose sales plummeted once her bondage-loving creator died and stopped writing the issues, Captain America wasn’t as popular once Bucky stopped being tied up and tortured. It took the 1960s and the Avengers to make Cap popular again. Ironically part of what made him appealing was his constant brooding over the death of his beloved Bucky.
So I guess the lesson is if you want to be popular, you better love getting tied up.
Or you could just die and represent something larger than yourself.
Either way, you better be a victim, and you better be waiting for your big blond-nation loving man to come save you!
Buy me a beer!
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This entry was posted on Monday, July 16th, 2007 at 9:31 pm and is filed under fanatical, seminal, subliminal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I do apologize for the “Red Ryder” comics which sometimes appear instead of my intended comics. I’ll have to just post the pictures in the future!
I’m thinking the Red Ryder comic is a default that shows up during their move to a new server. I doubt it’ll be an eternal problem or anything. I got to see all the pics though.
Poor Bucky.
I’m particularly curious about this issue:
http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=1937&zoom=4
I mean, how many people were actually checked into that hotel? Who was there to save? I mean really, who is going to check into a place called the Hotel of Horror.
Oh, look hon, the Hotel of Horror. Lets stop here - its right across from a Denny’s.
And even if you do stop, don’t you think you might just change your mind once you are asked to sign the Register of Death?
“Sign here please”
“Sure… ah… it says register of Death.”
“Yes, just sign on the dotted line”
“But why is it called the Register of Death?”
“Oh no reason, just ignore that. All we need is your signature.”
“Why are you dressed like a Reaper?”
“Oh, this ole thing? I’ve had it for years.”
“I think we’ll go to the Motel 6 up the highway.”
“But… they’re not near a Denny’s”
My favorite golden age bondage cover had nothing to do with Captain America and Bucky. It is actually Doll Man (sort of a Golden Age Atom, a guy who can shrink).
I just love this cover. Couldn’t figure a way to easily put it in the post, but here you go.
http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=5407&zoom=4
I loved the cover so much, I bought the comic.
Surely there was some way you could put that cover in the post. Its brilliant, in a sick, twisted kind of way.
And for a little tiny fella, he’s got quite a package on’im. I’m not quite sure what the story on ole Doll-man is, but I notice he doesn’t wear a mask.
But I guess if your Superpower is to become very small, no one you work with at your day-job is gonna say, “Oh look, there’s ole Bob in a Superhero costume”.
I’m quite curious as to what’s going on with Batman and Robin on that teetter-totter. Or, to clarify, I’ll be needing close up shots.
I don’t know about the torture, but the tied-up bit works for me. Alas, poor Bucky was utterly mistreated and not in the good way. Poor Bucky. And we hardly knew ye (well, apart from his being a bondage queen). I guess he did it all for the fame, dahling, the fame.
Talk about parental guidance… they grew up reading these
Brilliant post Richard! I think it’s safe to say Marvel Comics have tuned down the violence a bit later. It’s nothing like the odd issue i’ve seen from later dates!
Ohh, and should you be looking for some particular issues: we have some three specialized shops selling comics, new and vintage, here in my hometown..
Three shops!? I think Richard is packing to move to the Netherlands right now…
Oh Bas! You have just said the best thing I have ever read on Shattered Prayer (no offense to any poster or commenter!) Three whole shops specializing in vintage comics!
And it is probably the worst thing that anyone has said on the Shattered Prayer in Mojo’s opinion.
And Mojo, I just could not believe the expression on Batman’s face on the teeter totter cover. I mean, what WAS he doing?