Customer Reviews

Captain America: Road to Reborn

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

 

 

Ed Brubaker's stellar run on "Captain America" enters a transitive phase here, as one might divine from the title to this trade paperback collection, which is aimed at positioning it as a lead-up to the events of the "Captain America: Reborn" miniseries (the mere title of which should tell you quite a bit). This is very much a worthwhile collection, featuring a collection of strong artists (including the possible last hurrah of one of the greats of the Bronze Age of Comics). Herein are collected issues #49-50 and 600-601 (thanks to the miracle of renumbering, Marvel got to do two back-to-back anniversary issues). Some spoilers follow.

The first two of these are illustrated by Luke Ross, the replacement regular artist for Steve Epting (partnered with Butch Guice). #49 focuses on Sharon Carter, Steve Rogers' girlfriend (on and off), who was used as his assassin by the Red Skull in previous stories. She was temporarily put off-panel for six issues for #43 to 48, and so Brubaker uses this issue as an opportunity to update the audience on what she has been up to in the aftermath of her ordeal in "The Death of Captain America". It's a well-written character one-shot, including a long-needed update of Sharon's relation to Steve's World War II girlfriend Peggy (changed from sister to niece), and the trailer for a future story concerning another loose end from that era. This is followed by what is probably my favourite of the issues collected here, a single-issue story focussing on Bucky Barnes, on the theme of various birthday celebrations. We see various episodes, such as a wartime party where the procurement of a cake inadvertently leads to a clash with supervillains, and a surprisingly upbeat ending showing how far Bucky has come in the world.

The big issue is, of course, #600, which is about as long as the other three combined, between the main story, two supplemental stories, and various other odds-and-ends. The main story by Brubaker and a phalanx of talented artists checks in on what various characters are doing on the first anniversary of the death of Captain America. This includes not just the main cast and the villains, but also such odd ends of the mythos as Rikki Barnes, a sidekick from the "Heroes Reborn" universe. Brubaker uses this as a direct lead-in to "Reborn", though one plot development involving how Steve was shot feels a bit dropped-in rather inelegantly.

Finally, #601 is a standalone war story that is drawn by Gene Colan, one of the original Captain America artists (co-creator of
the Falcon, among other things). It also incorporates Colan's time as an artist of the supernatural ("Tomb of Dracula") in the 1970s. It's a solid piece of work, and fans of Colan will definitely want it.

All in all, probably a four-star collection.

Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America has revitalized the title, unfortunately this hardcover/tpb is weak. Additional information on Bucky Barnes is nice, but not essential to driving the plot any farther and is just filler for Captain America Reborn. The last several books have been great and very interesting, it is a shame Marvel has to waste time on issues like this.

The best thing about Ed Brubaker writing Captain America is his absolute love for the character, history, and mythos. Brubaker somehow "killed" Steve Rogers, replaced him with the impossible, and is still able to make unbelievable stories month in and month out. Here we get to read an amazing look at how so many different individuals are one year after Cap's assassination. Add to that some fantastic looks back into Bucky's past. The art was almost an A+ across the board with only a few missteps. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection and agree that Brubaker is one of comics' finest writers.

Ed Brubaker has done it again. Another amazing piece of work. A great addition to the the Captain America story line.

This story lines here are really done well. The artwork is fantastic. The stories of Cap and Bucky in WWII was great. All the characters are well done.

really just filler for Reborn, I wish it was packaged with Reborn. It would've really made the purchase much more satisfying.

This collects Captain America #49-50 & 600-601 and it was probably the worst of Brubaker's Captain America run. Most of it is either filler or set-up for Rebirth. The first two issues devoted to Sharon and Bucky were filler with a lot of rehashing. The first issue with Sharon is pretty bad, it spends most of the time conveying how Sharon Carter feels bad over killing Steve Rogers (we know this already). She also meets some neighbor of hers who we've never met before in Brubaker's run. It's a pointless scene that leads to Sharon finally noticing the scar on her belly and realizing she was pregnant (why it took til now to notice this, I don't know). There's a vague revelation at the end that will obviously be expanded on in Rebirth.

The second issue shows us knowledge of Bucky's previous birthdays. It's interesting but there's really no point to it, it was absolute filler. The third issue (#600) has one revelation where Sharon remembers something about when she was brainwashed to kill Steve and she gets with Luke Cage, Falcon and the others and tells them they can bring Steve back. Rikki Barnes from another universe wants to meet Cap and the 1950s Captain America's plot is slowly moving. It ends with Norman Osborne as Iron Patriot going to Steve Rogers memorial and doing some PR (and stealing Steve's thunder).

After that, there's two short stories. The first one I didn't care for because it is about an ex of Steve's who I've never seen before. The second is a good story about an auction of Captain America memorabilia. The collection wraps up with #601, where we are told yet another pointless story from Bucky and Cap's past. I'm sorry but it's getting old.

Art-wise, we are introduced to the Luke Ross, the new regular artist on this title. There's not much of a difference due to the similarities between the previous artist.

In conclusion, most of this was either filler or setting up for Rebirth so I give it two stars.

I should not like this book. It's basically a placeholder, with four issues of anniversary specials (which are almost always terrible) and water treading while the numbering system changes over and the creative team stalls for a July 4 beginning of the return of Steve Rogers. Especially coming on the heels of a sub-par arc, I was not looking forward to reading this book when my brother loaned it to me.

But I loved it. No, it's not an essential read, but it's well done, and the creative team clearly loves the characters it presents. I only have so much stamina for another round of Sharon Carter wallowing in her guilt, but I was surprised at how much I missed her upon her return to the pages of the book, and that is to the credit of both Brubaker and Epting. Also, one of the anniversary specials presents a story of a few of Bucky's birthdays, which is a little cheesy but highlights the wide range of his backstory and is fitting for an anniversary.

The only noteworthy mistake in the book is a stand-alone issue at the end, which is presented as a flashback to WWII with a framing sequence set, almost inexplicably, during Marvel's Civil War. Gene Colan delivers some nicely moody illustrations, but the demands of the story outreach his abilities to a point at which he insists on drawing both of a wolf's eyes and creating a Picasso monstrosity. The story itself is a miserable little vampire story that tries to build tension by pretending the secret identities of the vampires are anything but the obvious choices, and even the dialogue isn't up to Brubaker's normal standards. There's also a panel where Bucky remarks about the crucifixes drawn on a home's door, but the art shows only simple crosses, which may be a communication error between writer and illustrator, a mistake on the part of the artist, or perhaps a subtle hint that Bucky doesn't know the difference between a crucifix and a simple cross (I suspect one or both of the failure options, but I throw in a more respectful choice because of Colan's rightful status as a legend).

As much as I'm not looking forward to an arbitrary return of Steve Rogers after such a powerful death story, and as much as I loathe anniversary issues and water treading, this book still impressed me, and other readers interested in every issue between Cap's death and rebirth should not be nervous about picking up this volume.

Cap died. Ricky Barnes takes over as Cap America. Anyway, as this is a Captain America series, you know that this is a temporary situation. Not much is happening here. There are pages devoted to flashbacks, recalls, recollections all drawn by diverse artists. The one interesting story for me was about Sharon Carter, well-drawn. However, this issue is necessary for continuity for more Brubaker scripts.

Familiar territory? Supes died, multiple Supes then took over for a while until Supes returns.

There is little in the way of contribution here to the primary story line. While the extras interesting, I felt like I had paid too much for too little, at least compared to preceding publications. Hopefully, the next installment will have more solid content and less unrelated flash back stories.