People: Bye-bye, Captain America guy?
Captain America has undertaken his last mission – at least for now.
The venerable superhero is killed in the issue of his namesake comic book that hit the stands this week, gunned down by a sniper as he leaves a courthouse.
It ends a long run for the stars-and-stripes-wearing character, created in 1941. Over the years, some 210 million copies of Marvel’s Captain America comics have been sold in 75 countries.
But resurrections are not unknown in the world of comics, and Marvel Entertainment Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada says a Captain America comeback isn’t out of the question.
Still, the slaying came as a blow to co-creator Joe Simon.
“We really need him now,” says Simon, 93, who worked with artist Jack Kirby to create the character as a foe for Adolf Hitler.
Even if he has met his end in print, he may not disappear entirely: Marvel is developing a Captain America movie.
Bad actors – and role models
On the celebrity police blotter:
“”Prison Break” actor Lane Garrison was charged Thursday with manslaughter and drunken driving in a car crash that killed a 17-year-old boy last year.
“Jason Wahler, of MTV’s “The Hills” and “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County,” was sentenced to two months in jail for punching an L.A. city worker and tow truck driver.
“Supermodel Naomi Campbell will mop floors at New York City’s Sanitation Department on March 19 as part of community service for hitting her maid with a cell phone.
Tale of two faces
Michael Jackson says he wouldn’t change a thing, despite “deliberate attempts to hurt me.”
“I’ve been in the entertainment industry since I was 6 years old,” the reclusive pop star, acquitted of child molestation charges in 2005, said Thursday during a trip to Tokyo.
“As Charles Dickens says, ‘It’s been the best of times, the worst of times.’ But I would not change my career.”
About 400 people paid $3,500 each for a buffet dinner, a show featuring several Japanese Jackson impersonators and a chance to take photos with the real thing.
Take a flying … jump
It won’t exactly be warm fuzzies when Van Halen is inducted into the Rock and Roll of Fame on Monday.
With brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen in lock-down mode since their plans for a summer reunion tour with David Lee Roth collapsed last month – Eddie reportedly is seeking help for alcohol problems – bassist Michael Anthony might be the only original member to show up.
Sammy Hagar, Roth’s later replacement as lead singer, also plans to attend. Velvet Revolver will play some Van Halen classics.
Says Roth, whose offers to perform were rebuffed by organizers: “I don’t make speeches for a living. I sing and dance for my dinner.”
The birthday bunch
“Good Morning America” host Charles Gibson is 64. Actress Linda Fiorentino is 47. Actress Juliette Binoche is 43. Actor Emmanuel Lewis (“Webster”) is 36. Actor Kerr Smith (“Dawson’s Creek”) is 35. Rapper Chingy is 25. Actress Brittany Snow (“American Dreams”) is 21. Rapper Bow Wow is 20. Actor Luis Armand Garcia (“George Lopez”) is 15.