In this feature we examine comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically "overturned" by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent). Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of The Abandoned An' Forsaked. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.

Today, based on a suggestion by reader Steve M., we take a look at Bucky's changing origins...

The first origin of Bucky came in Captain America Comics #1 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...





In Tales of Suspense #63, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia gave the same basic origin, only adding in the explanation of WHY Bucky was the camp mascot...





In Captain America #109, Lee, Kirby and Syd Shores repeated the origin again...





It wasn't until the final issue of Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, however, that we really got to know Bucky Barnes. In Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #12 by Mark Waid, Doug Braithwaite and Dan Green (plus Anthony William and Scott Koblish), we see Bucky as he was on the base before he got his new identity...











And we see how he became Cap's partner...





The issue also had some great insight into HOW Bucky's father died...





The final word on the original Bucky origin came in Captain America #26 by Robert Morales, Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend, where Cap has become involved in a political campaign and the press is using the death of Bucky to hit at Cap, so Cap explains that he never wanted Bucky to be his partner...











Okay, so heading into Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America, that's where we stood with Bucky's origin. On the next page, learn how Brubaker "Anatomy Lesson"ed it all...

In Captain America #5, Ed Bruabaker and Michael Lark showed Cap and Bucky in action and that's where we learned Bucky's secret - he was Cap's partner because Bucky was a trained commando who could go behind enemy lines and gets the nasty stuff done that Cap couldn't do as a symbol of America...



In Captain America #12, Brubaker and Lark showed that Bucky didn't happen upon Cap's identity, but rather that he was chosen as Cap's partner...





In Marvels Project #7, Brubaker and Steve Epting reiterated that origin, only now adding in the part about how the whole "discovered Cap's identity by accident" story was a fabrication invented by the military...





Brubaker's retcon was one of the best ones of the past decade or so.

Thanks to Steve M. for the suggestion! If anyone ELSE has a suggestion for a notable comic book retcon, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com