Post by goldenfist on Jan 3, 2009 10:13:39 GMT -5
Here's a review of Captain America #45 from ign.com
At first glance, what makes Bucky Barnes such a fantastic new Captain America is that he brings a hesitance, uncertainty, and moral ambiguity that Steve Rogers lacked as a protagonist. The more I think about it, though, the more I become convinced that what makes Bucky such an endlessly fascinating character is his shady and mysterious past as the Winter Soldier, which seems destined to catch up with him at every turn.
By taking such care in retroactively building (or rebuilding) Bucky's back-story from the first issue of his run onward, writer Ed Brubaker has granted the character an endless well of dramatic potential for writers to tap into. There is literally no limit to the amount of stories, characters and ideas Brubaker and future writers can mine from Bucky's past in the service of constructing modern day adventures, which makes him in many ways just as viable and interesting as his predecessor.
Although this much was evident relatively early on in the course of Bucky's resurrection, and has certainly been obvious since he donned the Cap costume, Brubaker's first Post-"Death of Captain America" arc is shaping up to be a shining example of Bucky's dramatic potential. By weaving in and out of the three major era's of Bucky's life – his time in World War II fighting alongside Rogers, his time as the deadly Winter Soldier, and his modern role as Captain America – Brubaker has effectively lent a ton of gripping intrigue to this arc. What do Bucky's WWII mission to save a twelve-year old Chinese genius, his later Winter Soldier mission to assassinate the same person, and Batroc the Leaper's modern day quest to steal valuable U.N. property have to do with one another? The issue goes a long way towards answering those questions, yet somehow manages to deepen the mystery of the labyrinthine plot thanks to a late-issue left-turn. Like any great conspiracy tale, the plot thickens in a way that bolsters each era of the mythology without convoluting the whole.
Besides Brubaker's stellar scripting, the most impressive aspect of Captain America continues to be the consistency of its artwork. Despite a rotating team of pencillers Steve Epting, Butch Guice and Luke Ross, this series has retained a distinct visual feel throughout its forty-five issue run. With this arc, Ross is proving to be just as capable of capturing immensely dynamic action scenes as Epting and Guice, and the action scenes in this issue threaten to pop off the page. There's a palpable sense of desperation to the violence here, which makes these twenty-two pages seem all the more dramatic and important.
What else is there to say about this issue that can't be said of this series as a whole? Brubaker's Captain America remains one of the strongest superhero comics on the stands, and with Bucky proving to be such a wonderful protagonist, it doesn't look like that will change anytime soon.
Review Score: 8.8 Great
At first glance, what makes Bucky Barnes such a fantastic new Captain America is that he brings a hesitance, uncertainty, and moral ambiguity that Steve Rogers lacked as a protagonist. The more I think about it, though, the more I become convinced that what makes Bucky such an endlessly fascinating character is his shady and mysterious past as the Winter Soldier, which seems destined to catch up with him at every turn.
By taking such care in retroactively building (or rebuilding) Bucky's back-story from the first issue of his run onward, writer Ed Brubaker has granted the character an endless well of dramatic potential for writers to tap into. There is literally no limit to the amount of stories, characters and ideas Brubaker and future writers can mine from Bucky's past in the service of constructing modern day adventures, which makes him in many ways just as viable and interesting as his predecessor.
Although this much was evident relatively early on in the course of Bucky's resurrection, and has certainly been obvious since he donned the Cap costume, Brubaker's first Post-"Death of Captain America" arc is shaping up to be a shining example of Bucky's dramatic potential. By weaving in and out of the three major era's of Bucky's life – his time in World War II fighting alongside Rogers, his time as the deadly Winter Soldier, and his modern role as Captain America – Brubaker has effectively lent a ton of gripping intrigue to this arc. What do Bucky's WWII mission to save a twelve-year old Chinese genius, his later Winter Soldier mission to assassinate the same person, and Batroc the Leaper's modern day quest to steal valuable U.N. property have to do with one another? The issue goes a long way towards answering those questions, yet somehow manages to deepen the mystery of the labyrinthine plot thanks to a late-issue left-turn. Like any great conspiracy tale, the plot thickens in a way that bolsters each era of the mythology without convoluting the whole.
Besides Brubaker's stellar scripting, the most impressive aspect of Captain America continues to be the consistency of its artwork. Despite a rotating team of pencillers Steve Epting, Butch Guice and Luke Ross, this series has retained a distinct visual feel throughout its forty-five issue run. With this arc, Ross is proving to be just as capable of capturing immensely dynamic action scenes as Epting and Guice, and the action scenes in this issue threaten to pop off the page. There's a palpable sense of desperation to the violence here, which makes these twenty-two pages seem all the more dramatic and important.
What else is there to say about this issue that can't be said of this series as a whole? Brubaker's Captain America remains one of the strongest superhero comics on the stands, and with Bucky proving to be such a wonderful protagonist, it doesn't look like that will change anytime soon.
Review Score: 8.8 Great