Customer Reviews

Captain America Volume 3: Ice TPB (Captain America (Quality Paper))

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

 

 

Alot of people trash Rieber for his views but I love what he's doing, although I have to agree the writing is a bit odd and Jae Lee's art isn't helping at all. I can never get used to Jae Lee. When you put Jae Lee with the writer of "Books of Magic", you should know what to expect.

It's an interesting spin on Cap, I say go for it, but just remember Rieber was going to build something out of this storyline, and he was never able to complete it, thus the volume after this goes in a totally different direction and will likely never touch upon these topics again. As far as I'm concerned it's an uncompleted work.

While not delving into the political aspects of this book or the reviewer who appears to take issue with those who disliked this book, I have to say this story misses the mark. Captain America is merely a one-dimensional character in this storyline. The dialogue is trying at times and the plot is jumbled. I have to say, however, that the artwork was more than acceptable. If you are interested in this character, there are some much better offerings out there. Pass this one up unless you are a completionist.

This third collection of the so far stunning Marvel Knights Captain America book is definitely the weakest so far, as well as, thankfully, the last by scribe Chuck Austen.
Austen was all over the place in the early 2000's, but only, I imagine, by controversial writing choices and inexplicable fallacies for a guy involved in such high-profile projects.
In a nutshell, the Captain, who came back to the Marvel comics universe when the Avengers super-group found him frozen in a block of ice (sic) has now reason to believe he was sent on purpose to his death or accidental hibernation by his own army command, because they realised he wouldn't be manipulated into killing and so they had to get rid of him or he'd get in their way.
A perplex moment of silence afterwards, the reader has also to go through Austen's trademark rants about sexual freedom, moral relativity, how bad it is to live in a repressed culture, and in this particular case, what it takes for one's beliefs to break. A pity that Austen's handling of these themes diverges widely from the tone set by previous writer John Ney Rieber, who probably roughly plotted this conclusion of the narrative he started in the first volume, but sadly never got to see i through. That's also probably why the overall plotting makes sense, though so many smaller parts and details, in addition to the previously mentioned gratuitous rants, simply don't. Cliffhangers are weak or emotionally deprived, Cap goes from cocky to dumb: Whenever he has to explain himself, he concludes or begins with "I don't know" (a favourite of Austen's, since nearly every characters says the sentence at least once), he acts sexually repressed and sentimentally volatile...
However, I'll save the book because despite Austen's many faults, the story has a few interesting points (the conspiracy theory, Atlantis' Princ Namor's two-sided involvement, the potential horrific twist in Cap's origin) and, most of all, Jae Lee's fantastic artwork to carry it all and rescuing this from being a wreck. It really makes you want him to do the Inhumans again, though, more than appreciate this volume.
So the closing verdict is, as sadly too often with superhero comics: for fans / art geeks only...

When "Captain America" was relaunched under Marvel Comics' "Marvel Knights" imprint, it began with about a year of good, solid, thought-provoking stories by John Ney Rieber. Then, for no apparent reason, Rieber was removed from the book in the middle of this story arc and replaced by Chuck Austen, who treated us to inane characters, insipid dialogue and contrived soap opera plotlines that were enough to get me to drop the book. (And having been a Captain America reader for close to a decade, that was not an easy drop for me to make.)

As far as the artwork goes, Jae Lee did a marvelous job as always. He manages to fit superheroes into his darker style without losing what makes them majestic in the process. But he was saddled with such a lousy story and bad dialogue that you just wind up wishing he could have given his talents to something more deserving instead.

While the artwork in this compilation is very sharp, I was disappointed with the overall storyline. The characterization of Cap was unnatural, at times, and the plot was often implausible. Was the storyline politically charged? I'll leave that for the reader to decide on their own. If you are interested in this book, I would suggest tracking it down at your local library as opposed to buying it. It is not one you will want to keep around after suffering through it once.

Jae Lee's art is simply stunning. This comic book is not the usual crappy comic drawings. Every page of this graphic novel (and half of the previous CA graphic novel, The Extremists) is a work of art. Jose Villarrubia's pseudo-psychedelic yet somber colors perfectly enhance Jae Lee's evocative drawings and that even if it's all extremely stylised, the end result is more real than real. Personally speaking, this is the best US-made comic book since the original DEN series by Richard Corben.

My all-time favorite Captain America story. The story tackles so many topics: Killing, Duty, Illusion, Trust, Isolation

The art by Jae Lee is mesmerizing and it matches the tone perfectly. He is now one of my favorite artists.

As for the [those] who see this as some sort of vile left wing political story, that shows [your] bias. Because Captain America questions his government, that's totally within his character of fighting for freedom and justice. Every soldier should question why he is fighting. That's more important now than ever before.

I was already outraged by the storyline of "Captain America: The New Deal" in which the writers of Captain America seem to suggest that America deserved 9/11. Now Marvel revisits the controversy surrounding the decision to drop Atomic boms on Japan at the end of World War II. In this story it turns out Captain America was against this action and was so outraged by it that the "evil" U.S. government decides to place him in suspended animation in order to silence him. (Isn't it amazing the way all of Marvel Comics' characters share the exact same political views as the Baby Boomers?). For those looking to read some quality Captain America stories I would suggest buying "The Essential Captain America" volumes one and two. "Captain America:Ice" ranks down there with "Captain
America: New Deal". Both books are incredibly biased and one sided left wing diatribes. Jack Kirby must be spinning in his grave!

This storyline comes with a political agenda. If you like having someone else's political views rammed down your throat in a puerile fashion, this book is for you. If you like to make your own decisions on politics, look elsewhere. Marvel allows this "writer" to undue over 40 years of characterization (next to Superman, Captain America has been displayed as one of the most patriotic figures in the comics genre), to produce this storyline which I'm certain is entirely consistent with the writer's extreme views. Even putting this aside, the writing is poor, the art is no more than adequate, and the story drags. If you are looking for a good Captain America storyline, try some Kurt Busiek/George Perez Avenger Compilations. This book is a waste of money.