Customer Reviews

Captain America: War & Remembrance

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Okay, first off, I love the Invaders and grew up with them. This collection has it all. There's an Origin issue for Cap, two Legacy of the Invaders Issues featuring the last battle of Frank Robbins's fantastic hero, Union Jack, Cap for President, Dragon Man, Nick Fury and Cap's original shield. It's all incredible. Every single issue of it. Cannot recommend enough. I would argue, as a long time Cap reader (every issue since #100), this collection may be the definitive collection.

Stern & Byrne's famous 9-issue Cap run had great potential that was cut short due to internal politics at the time.

Highlights here for me...
*Issue 250- Cap for president. If you've ever wondered why nobody has Cap run for office, it's probably because the story was already done here. Cap & politics are dealt with in a relatively satisfying way. Still, I think more could have been done with this idea.
*Issues 251 & 252- Batroc the Leaper & Mr. Hyde! This 2-part story is currently my favorite in the volume. I didn't think *anybody* could get me interested in Batroc the Leaper- kudos to Stern & Byrne for actually pulling it off.
*Issue 255- 40th anniversary issue. Cap's origin cleaned up & reestablished. Byrne's pencils are reproduced with no inks- just color. It's an indication to me that as good as inkers were at the time, they just didn't quite do Byrne's pencils full justice. Solid origin story!
*Bonus art- The first 6 pages of what would've been issue 256; pencils & colors with no inks. Great pencils! Maybe my favorite in this collection.

Throughout the entire paperback, Stern & Byrne reestablish who Cap is and what he's all about. It has to be remembered that before their 9-issue run, Cap's origin had been played with & messed up by other creators a bit too much. This paperback sets things right. Supporting characters are given attention too, although Sharon Carter was supposedly already killed at that time.

It's almost unheard of these days for professional comic book pencilers to do 2 titles per month, every month. It's hard enough for most artists to meet a monthly schedule with just one book! Yet Byrne, a rising star at Marvel in the early eighties, did exactly that & more: he did Captain America and X-Men at the same time, and he managed to make both runs memorable & exciting. I don't consider this Byrne's best work, but it's worth looking into if you're a Captain America fan. Moderately recommended.

This collects the full 9-issue run (247-255 in 1980) on Captain America by Roger Stern and John Byrne. As far as I'm concerned, these are arguably the best Captain America issues of all-time.

First of all, Byrne was at his artistic peak (circa his work on X-Men), and together, he and Stern breathed new life into a stale character by delving into his long convulated past while also giving Steve Rogers a real life in the modern world.

This collection is worth buying just for the "Captain America for President" (250) issue.

Okay, first off, I love the Invaders and grew up with them. This collection has it all. There's an Origin issue for Cap, two Legacy of the Invaders Issues featuring the last battle of Frank Robbins's fantastic hero, Union Jack, Cap for President, Dragon Man, Nick Fury and Cap's original shield. It's all incredible. Every single issue of it. I loved this issue

Roger Stern's time on Captain America was very brief, but he did several important things. First, he introudced Bernie Rosenthal, one of Steve's best love interests. Secondly, he cleared up and fixed the fragmented origin stories and continuity missteps that Marvel had published for Cap prior to Stern's run.

Stern's run is fun, but still treats the character and the world seriously. He really gives a good look at what makes Steve Rogers tick, most notably in the "Captain America for President" story.

What else can I say that hasn't been said about Roger Stern and John Byrne's all-too brief run on Captain America? This is probably Cap at his high point, as I don't believe anyone, save for maybe the underrated Mike Zeck, has ever drawn Cap as well as John Byrne. And with ALL due respect to the late, great Mark Gruenwald, in my opinion only Ed Brubaker has done Cap any justice since Stern's short-lived run.

The Stern/Byrne team takes on Nick Fury and Baron Strucker in their opening issue (#247), then move onto Dragon Man (#248), Machine Smith (#249), a well-done and surprisingly non-cheesy look at a possible presidential run for Cap (#250), to perhaps what can only be described as a minor miracle: a story with Batroc the Leaper and Mister Hyde that makes the two goofball villains actually look like credible threats and, in the case of Batroc, dare I say it, a HERO? It's also interesting to read through those 2 issues (#251-252) and realize where the scriptwriters of "Speed 2" got their inspiration.

Next up are my two personal favorites in the run, #253 and 254, the Baron Blood issues. I remember picking these up when I was a kid and just being mesmerized at how Stern and Byrne expertly crafted what is essentially a horror story, first with Cap hunting down the vampire and then having to resort to all his training, cunning and every last bit of Super Soldier enhanced-strength in order to beat his far-more-powerful undead enemy. Indeed, the ending of #253 is a cliffhanger never seen since 1940's serials, in which Baron Blood has hypnotized Captain America and now stands mere inches away from his throat, ready to sink his fangs into the hero and turn him into a vampire. I remember bugging my dad into checking the local newsstand every day until the new issue came out. It's a testament to their collective skills and what can only be described as love and respect that Stern and Byrne had for the Star Spangled Avenger.

The collection is rounded out by #255, an anniversary issue retelling Cap's origin, and pencils from what would have been CA #256, which as we all know would never come to fruition, as Stern left the title due to differences with EIC Jim Shooter, followed by Byrne, who quit the title in a show of solidarity with his writer. One can only imagine how Stern and Byrne could have redefined Captain America given the time to do so, much as Chris Claremont and Byrne did on X-Men, and Byrne did on Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, they pulled the plug less than ten issues in, but what an amazing run it was.

Highly recommended.

In the early 80's, John Byrne seemed to be everywhere. He was finishing up his legendary run on the X-men with Chris Claremont, and he was about to begin a legendary run on the Fantastic Four. Somewhere along the way, he managed to team up with Roger Stern to create an impressive, albeit short stint on Captain America. I think the most impressive thing out of this was that none of these titles saw a dip in quality. He was hitting home runs left and right! Seriously, do you know any comic artist working today that could juggle penciling duties on three titles, and make it look effortless? Now, I know Byrne's artwork may not be as detailed and loaded with splash pages as newer artist's, but his work was consistently great. There's just something about his style that I really like! Anyway, enough Byrne love. Let's take a look at the stories included in this collection:

Issue #247: Cap, Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan take on Baron Strucker
Issue #248: Cap battles the Dragon Man, and meets new neighbor and future love interest Bernie Rosenthal
Issue #249: Cap battles Machinesmith
Issue #250: Captain America for President!
Issues #251-252: Cap must stop Batroc and Mr. Hyde from ramming a stolen tanker into New York harbor!
Issues #253-254: Cap travels to England to investigate the reemergence of Baron Blood. Guest-starring Union Jack
Issue # 255: A re-telling of Cap's origin in this 40th anniversary tribute

Also included in this collection are Byrne's pages for what would have been issue #256. Unfortunately, that issue never saw the light of day, as Byrne and Roger Stern were kicked off the title. That's a shame, because I feel they could have done really great things with the character. These nine issues prove that, with the highlight for me being the "Cap for President" issue. If you call yourself a Captain America fan, then you must own this!

This hands down is one of the best Captain America tpbs to date. If you love Cap then you should definitely add this to your collection (right along side the classic Simon & Kirby, Mark Gruenwald (most notably issue #350), and Ed Brubaker (death and rebirth of Captain America) runs. This is definitely one of John Byrne's and Roger Sterns best collaborations and they do Cap justice. The writing was decades ahead of its time. They really fleshing out the classic comic icon and made him a multifaceted human being in and out of costume.