David Sedaris is a **** ******, Captain America gimmicks his way back to life, and it's New Comic Day!

As I'm sure you've already heard, (since it's been mentioned everywhere from The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien to CNN) the original Captain America Steve Rogers is coming back. Beginning in July, a 5 part miniseries written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by Brian Hitch will tell the story of Cap's return. The title, called "Captain America Reborn," was apparently planned out as far back as when they originally shot Cap down two years ago.

My thoughts on this? It wasn't unexpected, of course, though I had sort of figured they'd try to keep him dead for a bit longer. Maybe a nice round five years, so that his return would have more impact than, say, the short-lived death of another cultural icon that occurred back in the nineties.

Obviously, there's going to have to be a pretty major deus ex machina here to make this work. Not only was Rogers originally sniped from afar and shot multiple times at point blank range, but his death was verified by everything from Stark's technology to Wolverine's hyper-sensitive sense of smell. Major comic characters have previously been brought back from the death by such over-the-top plot devices as; clones (many Marvel characters in the 90's), negotiations with the supernatural (Harry Osborn via Mephisto, Elektra and a handful of other heroes via the Hand's occult practices), an explanation involving the death not really being a 'death but more of a regenerative coma (Superman)... the list goes on.

While I've been a fan of Brubaker's work on Captain America to date, if he relies on one of the above devices to bring back Cap, I will stop reading the title entirely. You hear me, Brubaker? That's right, you face the wrath of one disgruntled fan, and I suspect I won't be alone.

Or maybe they'll go the same route as the DC Universe's current mirror 'death and return' story - Batman. While he hasn't returned quite yet, it's already been shown that the 'omega sanction' he was shot with didn't actually kill him, but sent him back into the distant past leaving only a corpse in his wake.

On other fronts, I had the pleasure of catching David Sedaris at a live reading here in Calgary over the past weekend. If you haven't read anything of his yet, do it now. You won't regret it. His dryly witty memoirs of life experiences that vary from the obscene, to the unusually mundane, to the legitimately ridiculous are laugh-out-loud hilarious. He read a new short story, (from the perspective of an embittered newlywed emailing her sister to sarcastically thank her for a wedding gift of pizza coupons) read a few excerpts from his diary entries, (which are astonishingly detailed) did the Q & A thing, and signed/met fans afterwards.

I approached him and asked if he would mind signing my copy of When You Are Engulfed in Flames, his most recent novel. After writing "To Kevin" across the top of the title page, he asked me what my last name was and how to spell it, then proceeded to make guesses about me that almost all fell short of the mark. "And you're... 24?" "26, actually." "Ah yes. And... a Gemini?" "Libra." "Well you don't have diabetes, I know that much." "That's true, I do not have diabetes."

After asking a few more questions while he digilently scribbled a message into the book, he closed it and smiled up at me, thanking me for coming to see him speak. I told him the pleasure was mine and that it was a wonderful experience, then walked away from the table grinning like a fool. As I walked away, I opened my book to see what he had written while I was distracted by his line of questions. Below is the message that David Sedaris had left for me:

Fucking brilliant. Only David Sedaris.

Oh yeah, and some of the new comics out today that I'll be picking up:

Ultimate Spider-Man: Requiem # 1 (of 2): Ultimate Spidey is dead and gone, (or just gone) and it falls to J. Jonah Jameson to write his obituary. Previously this would have been the last person a Spider-Man fan would've wanted to give truthful account to the webslinger's life, but ol' J.J. has recently undergone a change of heart. Spidey's actions during the Ultimatum event have given Jameson new perspective, and he now regrets every mean word he's ever thrown at the hero. Looks like a promising two-parter, with Bagley and Immonen dually responsible for present day/flashback illustration duties, respectively.

Captain America # 600: In addition to marking a hallmark number in the series by returnining to its original numbering, Captain America # 600 is a giant-sized special issue featuring several stories by different writers and artists. Notably, it features a flashback ministory with the art of Alex Ross, a golden-age Cap story , and - most significantly - a Brubaker tale that wil set the stage for the return of Steve Rogers. Technically this comic wasn't released today as it was timed for a Monday release to coincide with the announcement about Rogers' return, but we'll just pretend.

Also on the shelves are Jack of Fables # 35, (#8/9 in the Great Fables Crossover) Captain America: The Man With No Face HC, (collecting Captain America # 43-48) Invincible # 63 (still among the best monthlies in the Image lineup) and...

Marvel Zombies 4 #3 (of 4) - Fred Van Lente's work on Marvel Zombies has taken the Kirkman-originated concept to completely new levels. Which is good, since you can only run so far with a plot based around the same group of Marvel heroes-turned-flesheaters as they alternate between annihilating life and coming to their decayed senses. With Marvel Zombies 4, Van Lente has already brought in current Marvel villain favorite the Hood to join his mishmash cast of 616/zombified characters. This issue features an appearance by classic Marvel monster Man-Thing.

I've been enjoying the title so far, and while I wouldn't say it's on my must-have list, I'd certainly recommend it to fans of the other Marvel Zombies titles or simply anyone with an interest in zombies and/or superheroes.