Just saw this and at first glance I was taken aback, but after looking at the sketch, I dig it.

www.marvel.com/news/co...rica_Lives

the sketch:

www.marvel.com/comics/...7_full.jpg

Yeah BIIIG surprise, Cap's not dead . . . . wonder what other (rehashed) gimmicks Marvel has in store for us.

Yeah. I saw this a couple days ago at Marvel. I guess I'm not really surprised by this. Cap's too much of an iconic figure for them to just kill him off without getting a lot of negative feedback. It's just an easy way for them to redesign and recreate a character that the fans dared them to change [remember how DC did with Superman?]. Anyway I do like the new costume design...I don't like the fact that Cap is no longer Steve Rogers and I really hate that they're giving him a gun. It was okay for WWII ... but now? As probally the world's biggest Captain America fan i couldn't be happier that the character is back, but I'll always still feel that the Cap I knew and loved is dead.

Okay let's all calm down, I can't imagine you don't KNOW that this is the usual gimmicky crap the big companies pull . . . the new costume will stick around for awhile then you'll start seeing stories with some "shadowy figure" in a trench coat or beard or some shit in the background, then they'll bring the original Cap back with his same old uniform and that will be that.
Trust me I'd be willing to bet this is how it will happen.

Well Let's see I Cap's holding a Gun?
Kinda all makes sense with something I saw and read?
There was this article with a picture of Frank Castle (The Punisher),
he was donning a Captain America suit all the while saying,
"There will always be a Captain America!"

???So could this be???

The new look and attitude seem interesting although I gotta say, I'm with KER on this one, back in the 70's, they musta went through about a half dozen different Caps when Steve Rogers gave up the job back then but inevitably Steve Rogers came back. The character is so well developed and still full of possibility that I still can't imagine them ultimately taking any other direction in the end. Still, if the Frank Castle thing is true, then props to the guy calling himself "Content Killer" who did a page titled "Rising Son: Redemption" forcasting this scenario pretty accurately!

I'll say the same thing here I said on another forum... Nice Alex Ross artwork, Crappy new costume!

I never saw the Punisher article, but it does sound as if it supports the new artwork. My theory though is that it's Hawkeye taking up the Cap mantle due to the last issue of New Avengers that I read where Dr. Strange cast a spell on the NA to indicate who they really were inside to show wheter or not any of them were Skrulls, being that a Skrull invasion is a possible cause of the Civil War. Well anyway, when Strange did the spell, Hawkeye was shown to be Captain America, and when asked about it by Echo he told her to drop it. Hawkeye looks up to Cap more than anyone in the Marvel U, and since he sees himself as being someone excactly like the man who training him then it's not that much of a stretch for him to drop his current Ronin persona for the Captain America one, plus Hawkeye is not just an archer but an all around weapons expert with his superior "hawk-eyesight".

Hawkeye was offered the mantle (& sheild) of Captain America in one of the Fallen Son issues, but turned it down.... I guess he could have changed his mind... I wouldn't mind if Hawkeye were Cap for a while... Until Steve Rogers comes back (& only while Ed Brubaker is writing it)

Honestly, for me it's no big deal. It's all par for the course. Typical shit from the Big kahuna's. If the story is good, whatever works. I don't read CA comics and besides his role in the Civil War, I don't follow him. I was just very surprised by Ross's design as he usually likes to keep the iconic characters true to their Golden/Silver age look. He's a purist, so this new costume is a bit strange to see coming from him.

The gun and knife...I dunno, depends on the story. Bottom line for me, I like the costume and I'd like to see it in action.

Well, according to the newsletter that I get from X-World Comics, their review states that they think that Bucky is going to be the new Cap since he's the star of the show in the series right now and being Cap's (former?) sidekick it's logical for him to take up the mantle. So, that makes 3 suspects so far who might take up the shield. They also mentioned in the newsletter how much the new costume design by Ross looks just like his movie Spidey concept.