Ed Brubaker Shares His Thoughts On CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

Well, originally, the book was going to end around #14 or #15, because sales weren't as good as we'd hoped they'd be. I'd been planning for that end for about three or four months. Then I guess sales stabilized, and the Cap movie [sequel] was announced, and everyone really likes the book and likes the character, so they want to keep it going. But in the meantime, I'd taken on outside comic work that was making my schedule harder and harder to keep up with, and so when Tom [Brevoort] told me they were keeping it going instead, I just felt like I needed to let it go. I struggled with it, and Tom and I discussed several possibilities of me staying, some of which I can't really discuss openly, because they concern internal workings of the company, but in no way was this an easy decision, and I feel bad if my readers think I'm bailing, because that wasn't the case. The end of issue #14 would have been the end of the book, as it is. It's not a cliff-hanger, but it was left open-ended with the hope that eventually I'd come back and tell more Bucky tales. And I still do hope to do that, down the line, when my schedule clears up more.

I'm not sure what I can say about it. I've heard from friends of the directors, and I've talked with Kevin Feige about meeting with them at some point. I know the screenwriters, so I'm a little bit in the loop. But not a lot of people knew what the name of the movie was going to be, so I wasn't offended when I found out about it the same way everyone else did. I was walking back to my hotel [in San Diego] when I started getting texts from people and thought, 'I guess two days after the Eisners is a little late to congratulate me, but okay.' And then someone mentioned the movie, and I was like 'What?!?' So I was a little surprised.

I got to meet the guy who played Bucky in the first movie, and he knew all about the Winter Soldier. He said, 'I guess I have you to thank if they make any more of these.' That was pretty amazing. The thing I think is great about Marvel having their own movie studio is that they're up on everything that's happening in the comics, and they're using that to make a movie universe. Good on them for signing on Joss Whedon to be involved with all of that. It's like someone finally figured out a way to use Joss to make billions of dollars.

I hope to know more things soon about the movie that I won't be able to talk about. People thought it was a slight that I didn't get a cameo in 'Captain America' like JMS, Walt Simonson and Stan Lee got put in 'Thor.' They were actually trying to fly me to London to be on set for a week at Marvel's expense, but my dad was on his death bed at the time. I didn't want to be on a movie set in London when my dad died. They were going all out to get me there, though, and Marvel has been really cool with me on the movies. And Chris Evans -- who did an amazing job as Captain America -- was out there giving interviews. I saw where he'd quote interviews with me! I was like, 'Wait...this guy didn't just read a few comics. He really did his research and read everything I was saying about the character.' It's pretty amazing.