Customer Reviews

Captain America: Red, White & Blue

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

 

 

This deluxe celebration of Captain America, in all his red-white-&-blue glory, features contributions by dozens of top comicbook artists, including Paul Dini and Alex Ross, Frank Quitely, Max Allan Collins, Bill Sienkiewicz, David Lloyd and others. To a surprising degree, many of these tributes take a light, irreverent tone, poking fun at Cap's "boy scout" image, or (more predictably) probing the contradictary cross-currents of patriotism, tolerance and patriotic dissent, with Cap's dual role as democratic torchbearer and militaristic icon. There are several campy gems, including Evan Dorkin's "Skull And Zemo," a villainous, chaotic romp with two of Cap's oldest and most static baddies, "Capsploitation," a what-if remake that casts CA and Falcon in a B-grade "Shaft" mode, as well as "Red Raid," a hilariously psychosexual fantasy piece... There are also some older, "classic" stories, and it is here that the book falls flat. The Lee/Kirby short, "The Fantastic Origin Of The Red Skull," is a swell gem from the "Tales Of Suspense" days, but other entries are disappointing... A hamfisted, poorly illustrated '80s-era tolerance lesson from Roger Stern and Frank Miller seems like a weak entry -- if you were going to reprint an emblematic story, what about the Watergate-era bombshell ("Captain America" #176) wherein Cap discovers the bad guy who'd been plaguing him for months was none other than the country's commander-in-chief (which led to his political disillusionment, and the subsequent, rather strained "Nomad" plotline...)...? Anyway, the book closes with a teaser from John Ney Rieber's post-9/11 "Enemy" saga, which is a high note to end on, even if it was a cliffhanger... All in all, if you're a Captain America fan, this is a pretty enjoyable book which, probably wisely, doesn't take the character's mythology too seriously. A fun read!

This was a nice collection of stories. I especially enjoyed Evan Dorkin's humorous contribution. The reprints were unecessary. Any Cap collector worth his salt has them already. Why not give us two more original stories? Or if you MUST reprint something, why not reprint Joe Simon/Jack Kirby's original Cap stories? Or some 40's or 50's stories we've rarely seen?

The original stories here, however, are stellar. Worth the asking price for a nice hardcover.

A compendium of different stories featuring several writers and artists.

This doesn't work for me. Most of the artwork featured here is goofy and experimental and frankly, too short. One huge chunk of the book features a text discussion and description on the death of Cap America which is really not part of a comic book.
This is Captain America in Heavy Metal style, acting more like a showcase for different sages out there.

Artwork is not the best. Cannot be compared to that of The Best of Spiderman Hardcover.