Customer Reviews

Avengers Disassembled: Captain America

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's best to, much like the actual issues, contained here, ignore the headline of Avengers Disassembled. For those who don't know, its a poorly written mess occurring in the main Avengers title (500-503) that has little to do with these stories save a scant mention of 'trouble'. Since this trade is composed of two separate stories, from two separate books, I'll break up the descriptions:

Captain America 29-32: Captain America and Diamond back go up against Hydra, Mr. Hyde, the Serpent Society, Batroc the Leaper, and Red Skull, all while a coup takes place at S.H.I.E.L.D. The story is by comics newest golden boy, Robert Kirkman (Marvel Team-Up, Invincible, The Walking Dead) and artist Scot Eaton, with the fantastic Drew Geraci handling inking (Met Drew at a convention once, and he's one of the nicest comic personalities in the biz). The tale is a lot of fun, but feels far to cramped to be only a four issue arc. Of course, in this age of story decompression another writer (coughBENDIScough) could have taken a year to tell this much of an adventure. Its goofy in a way that can only be described as Silver Age; there's lots of action, and the plot points make you scratch your head, but when its all said and done you have a smile on your face.

Captain America and the Falcon 5-7: This tales a bit harder to describe, since it palys heavily off of the initial arc of the story. But the gist is that Captain America and Falcon are on the run after refusing to turn over an `Anti-Cap' produced by the Navy. Everything hits the fan here, and Captain America starts having strange visions that may or may not be real (Thuis gets cleared up a bit in the MODOK story beginning in issue 8). There are some great moments found though, including a possible start of a Captain America/ Scarlet Witch romance, and it was a beautiful cover of the two by Joe Bennet that fist drew me to the book.

Should you buy this book? If you're a Captain America fan, or a fan of fun-loving stories, there's not a reason not to. This isn't the heaviest or most thought provoking super-hero fare available, but it is incredibly enjoyable.

Collecting storyarcs featured from the last run of the current volume of Captain America and from Captain America & The Falcon, Captain America Disassembled finds Cap a little more than battle worn after what's been going on with the Avengers. Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) scripts the first arc, which is the main highlight here as Cap fights off against the Red Skull and the usual array of rogues. The Captain America & Falcon story is nothing special though, even though Modok makes an appearance (and every Marvel fanboy knows he's worth a laugh or two). The art in both collections is solid, and Kirkman's story makes this volume worth picking up for Cap fans. Captain America is getting relaunched yet again though, under the helm of Ed Brubaker, which is also worth picking up.

This trade collects two different storylines both somewhat connected with the Avengers Disassembled event. The first storyline collects Captain America and the Falcon #5-7, written by Priest and drawn by Joe Bennett. This story is about a rogue Navy "Super-Soldier" who the Cap and the Falcon have to bring in to get executed, which of course Cap can't let happen. While in the process of doing this he experiences very weird episodes, getting frozen in the back seat of a cab is one of the best, and Wanda aka Scarlet Witch makes random appearances and kinda starts a romance with Cap. This was the tie in to the Disassembled story and while it was kind of interesting I just didn't care enough about the story to really take it seriously. The second storyline is much better, this storyline collects Captain America #29-32, written by Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead, Invincible) and drawn by Scot Eaton, which were the final issues until rebooted a couple months later. The main part of this story is the return of Diamondback into Steve Roger's life. You find out the why and who was behind it later but to me it was very obvious. Overall this story was fun to read. It featured Cap and Diamondback kicking the crap out of a Hydra cell, Cap in a short fight with Blackroc, and of course a fight with the Red Skull with a cool exo-suit from S.H.I.E.L.D. The only tie into the Disassembled story is that Cap mentions at one point some troubles with the Avengers, thats it. Overall not a bad Captain America story but a lousy tie in and kinda stupid for the final issues.

This features, as previously stated, Captain America and The Falcon 5-7, and Captain America 29-32.

The issues with the Falcon, while somewhat off pacing-wise, suffer from being the second half of an entirely different story arc. In these issues, the actual connection to Avengers: Disassembled is made, wherein The Scarlet Witch makes several odd appearances, and some really weird things happen to Cap (like being inside a block of ice after getting into a Taxi).

The last issues of Captain America have little to do with Avengers: Disassembled, aside from characters, including Cap himself, referring to his recent Avengers troubles. It does feature the long awaited return of Diamondback, but she's again lost in the ether in Brubakers run, which has both excellent art and story, see the Winter Soldier trades for details. The final issues of Cap are engaging, and an entertaining read, but it definitely lends itself to being an ending.

If collecting the entire Disassembled arc, I recommend the Captain America and The Falcon arc is read prior to Avengers: Disassembled, and the final issues of Captain America are read afterward.