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Captain America #44 [Review]

Posted on November 28, 2008 by Walt

Time’s Arrow – Part 2 of 3

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Penciler: Luke Ross
Inkers: Fabio Laguna & Rick Kagyar
Colors: Frank D’Armata
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Production Joe Sabino
Assoc. Editor: Jeanine Schaefer
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover: Steve Epting
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Bucky (Captain America, really) and Black Widow decide to split up to tackle their “problem” from two different angles–each taking the angle their strengths play to. While “Captain America” might get some results, Bucky is able to fall back on his reputation as the “Winter Soldier” to get answers, and eventually get his rematch with Batroc…and then face a figure from his past.

I’m not terribly familiar with Luke Ross–by name–in terms of prior work; but what we have in this issue, I really like. There’s a very realistic feel that lends something extra to the story. Though this plays in a world with super-spies and super-heroes, it feels like it takes place in a real world much moreso than a comic book world.

Brubaker continues to provide a strong story that goes beyond “simple” super-hero vs. bad guy, and exploring the world he’s crafted with Captain America now as a “legacy character.”

Despite this, I find myself checking out a bit. There was a certain excitement and interest locked up in the epic The Death of Captain America, and now that that story is behind and there’s no imminent sign of Steve Rogers returning, I feel like we have a new status quo that is interesting conceptually, but more well-suited for collected volumes. Barring learning something particularly engaging about the next story, I’ll likely finish out this arc, then let this title go for a bit, and possibly just wait for a collected volume of the next arc.

On the whole, definitely a solid issue of the title, and well worth getting if you’re interested in seeing the new Captain America in action, with the status quo left by the end of the aforementioned epic. This is, after all, the first “original” story OF the new Cap.

Especially if you can find the previous issue, this is well worth picking up–this is part 2 of just a 3-part story (a nice break from the 6-issue “acts” of an 18-issue epic).

Story: 8.5/10
Art: 9/10
Whole: 8.5/10

Filed under: Captain America, Comic Reviews 2008, MARVEL, Marvel Universe | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Captain America #43 [Review]

Posted on October 23, 2008 by Walt

Time’s Arrow – Part 1 of 3

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Penciller: Luke Ross
Inker: Fabio Laguna
Colorist: Frank D’Armata
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Production: nthony Dial
Associate Editor: Jeanine Schaefer
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover: Steve Epting

This issue opens with a flashback to one of Bucky’s adventures with Steve/Cap in China in 1942. We’re then in the present, which is a month after the prior story (and apparently post-Secret Invasion as well), as James finds himself restless and so heads out to clear his head. In typical fashion, though, the hero can’t catch a break and he finds himself facing one of Steve’s old foes…rather unprepared. In the aftermath of the skirmish, we see both further difference in Bucky’s Cap compared to Steve, and learn that a an old foe who knows James as the Winter Soldier is preparing something…and is intrigued to realize that the man Batroc scrapped with is the man he knows as the Winter Soldier.

In a way, this reads like a first issue. Which is good–it IS a first issue, of an entirely new arc that presumably has nothing to do with the Red Skull, and is the first issue/first arc not part of the epic Death of Captain America saga. We see our hero in his down time, we get to see a bit of what drives him, what’s in his head–and that he does not operate in a vacuum, nor is he some “traditional” super-hero. His actions and motivations are much different than those of Steve Rogers, and that helps sell James/Bucky as his own character. The writing is strong, and totally fits the tone I’ve gotten used to on this series–this being my 19th issue since returning to it with the now-infamous “Death” issue #25.

The art is by a different artist–but I don’t think I even noticed that until I looked at the credits to do this review. The art is similar enough that there’s nothing particularly jarring to it from the previous issue–especially for being the start of a new arc and weeks having passed since I even read the previous issue. It maintains a rather realistic tone but keeps to the familiar looks of the characters from earlier issues. In looking back over it, perhaps it’s not quite up there with the prior team…but it works just as well in this issue, and I have no problem with it.

This is (as much as any) a good point to jump in if you’ve been holding off on reading the title. At the same time, as we’re now beyond the 18-issue saga begun with #25, this could also be a jumping off point. Steve is not (yet? if ever?) back, and this story is very much the new Captain America. I’ve been along for the ride for this long, and I plan to continue awhile yet.

Story: 8.5/10
Art: 7.5/10
Whole: 8/10

Filed under: Captain America, Comic Reviews 2008, MARVEL | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

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