Captain America #46 Review

[goldenfist]

Here's what Ign.com thought about Captain America #46.

Captain America #46 is a book that works because of all the minor details functioning together rather than just one glaring success. From the story developments to the characterizations to the artwork, Cap continues to be the definition of a title firing on all cylinders.

Brubaker's approach to filling in James's history with villainous figure Professor Chin has been a little puzzling to me thus far. Readers have been given the backstory in strange, jerky segments, and most of the juicy pieces have been frustratingly kept secret. Enter Captain America #46 stage left. The important parts that provide the key to really understanding the relationship between Bucky and Chin are laid on the table, and they enrich the entire stretch of the past several issues. I don't necessarily agree with the tactics, but the results are undeniable and I find myself once again sucked into another Captain America drama.

The character work this issue cannot go unmentioned. The awkward, uncomfortable team-up between Bucky and Sub-Mariner is a joy to witness and serves to further set Bucky apart from the sort of hero Steve was. I always love it when a writer can completely nail a good Namor interpretation, and Brubaker's take on the king is just the right mix of condescending regal pomp and projected apathy. Artist Steve Epting echos that, peppering the issue by giving Namor some very cocky mannerisms. Elsewhere, Black Widow's involvement in the issue is relatively brief but could very well be the highlight.

As I mentioned, Steve Epting is back on regular art duties. lathough Luke Ross and Butch Guice did a fine job keeping the visual tone consistent for the last few issues, Epting's work has become the only kind that feels "right" for the book. The action sequences are fluid, and the nuance in character movement and expression is masterful. As always, beautiful stuff.

If you've been following Captain America regularly, you know the deal. It's consistently top tier, and issue #46 once again proves why. James is, in many ways, a character with more story opportunities than Steve Rogers had, and Brubaker is already doing wonders with him. You'd be hard-pressed to find better superheroics out there.

Review Score: 8.9 Great

[starfoxxx]

This book is fantastic. Brubaker and Epting nailed it.

And Namor didn't look like Al Bundy.

[scottharris]

I just reread the first 20 issues or so of this Cap run and I have to again reiterate that, without question, this current series by Brubaker is the best Cap story and series of all time. I've read just about all of them (though I missed a couple years around 1998-2002) and this series blow away everything that has come before. An all-time classic Marvel series.

[Shiryu]

I'm always surprised by how much success this series is receiving. It's certainly very good, but as far as I'm concerned it doesn't even come close to the Steranko's, Byrne's and especially DeMatteis' runs...
Oh well, it's still good to have a current series that both old and new fans enjoy.

[scottharris]

Feb 1, 2009 17:02:27 GMT -5 Shiryu said:

I'm always surprised by how much success this series is receiving. It's certainly very good, but as far as I'm concerned it doesn't even come close to the Steranko's, Byrne's and especially DeMatteis' runs...
Oh well, it's still good to have a current series that both old and new fans enjoy.

I'm not denying how good those runs were, especially the DeMatteis era, which I would put second only behind the current Brubaker run. But as much as I love the DeMatteis stuff, I still have to give the edge to Brubaker. Part of it is the art, but that is also saying something, considering that Mike Zeck was a monster.

Byrne's run was very good, but also kind of short, though longer than Steranko. For my money, I would actually go with Gru for the 3 slot on all-time Cap stuff. It's a little tricky, because he was on the book so long and the quality was not consistent; but from when he took over (was it #302? I don't exactly remember) up through around #385 or so, it was usually sharp and occasionally excellent, and for such a long span, that's a pretty good job. It's funny that #401, which might be his best issue -- and was certainly the best part of Operation Galactic Storm -- was immediately followed by the nadir of all Cap comics, the Capwolf story, which sent both the title and Gru's legacy into a swift tailspin.

[Shiryu]

That's very interesting, Scott.
I don't think I've read Gru's run, I have the entire V1 on DVD, but I usually don't like the Marvel from the early 90s, so I have skipped them. If they are so good, I'll go back and make sure to read them. I have however read the entire Galactic Storm and enjoyed the Cap issues.

For the Brubaker/De Matteis dualism, I think I prefer the latter because it managed to make the warrior and the patriot sides of Cap fit nicely together, while at the same time not being afraid of showing the instances where the American Dream he believes so much in failed.

I remember for example the issues with Vermin, the "dreamers" who could reshape reality, the Everyman etc. Cap would always aknowledge the social problems and say the right words to make people see a glimmer of hope. Most of his adventures would take place in very realistic, degraded settings, like Harlem, old carnivals, alleys, suburbs or poor parts of town etc, whose appearance would further highlight the reality of things.

So while Brubaker's run is certainly good, I still think it doesn't quite catch the "social" side of Cap as well. It's hard to put in words, but it's like the current run, while trying to show some social issues, is still a bit too much sci-fi, if that makes sense.

Then there were the "Sisters of the Sin" and "Death of Captain America" storylines which are my all time faves, so that helps too ^^

[scottharris]

And don't forget the most important thing of the DeMatteis run: Bernie Rosenthal. Bernie by herself is almost enough for me to reconsider and bump the run up to number one. Have we seen any reaction from Bernie to Steve's death? That is something I would very much like to see.

I'm not going to guarantee you'll like the Gru stuff, but I am a big fan. Of course, my first issue was #308, right near the start of his stuff, so that probably has something to do with it. The first part of his run is sort of a continuation of the DeMatteis era -- he ties up the storyline with Nomad, he eventually writes Bernie out, etc. He also creates the Captain America hotline and gets a new group of archenemies to replace the dead Skull -- the Serpent Society, one of my all-time favorite groups of villains. I love how they are a realistic, functioning organization -- they have a structure with, like, healthcare and pensions and salaries and stuff. I could buy them, you know?

After that beginning to set things up, Gru then went into the extended storyline where Cap quits and is replaced by the eventual USAgent. This is an all-time classic Cap story, and might be my personal favorite. It's also very long (18 issues).

Finally, after the end of that story, Gru really seemed to hit his stride in the 360s and 370s, introducing Crossbones and having a couple really fun 6-part storylines with the likes of Baron Zemo II and the well-known "Streets of Poison" story, where Cap gets caught in an explosion at a crack house and some of the smack gets bonded to his super soldier serum, causing him to go off the reservation. Featuring the classic Red Skull vs. Kingpin mano y mano throwdown at Yankees Stadium.

Gru also develops the little known Diamondback as an interesting romantic foil for Cap, as she isn't even a refored super villain, but is still actively doing super villain stuff and only sort of reforms as a result of their relationship. And in Cap #384, he brings back Jack Frost, a golden age hero who was a member of the All-Winners Squad and the Liberty Legion, and who vanishes again at the end of the story and hasn't been mentioned since as far as I know. There's a dangling plotline I would like to see picked up, as I think the character has a lot of unused potential.

After around 385, though, Gru's stories started tailing off. His epilogue to Galactic Storm in #401 is excellent, but after that things went downhill quite a bit, and he ended his run with ultra-lame stuff like the cyborg AmeriCop and erstwhile sidekick Jack Flagg. In his final issue, Cap seemingly died as a result of the Super Soldier Serum degrading to the point where it stopped working, resulting in Cap reverting to his natural age. The only interesting part of this story was it brought in Batroc for some nice introspection; Batroc even seemed close to reforming and it was suggested atthe time that he might even take up the mantle of Captain America in honor of his fallen rival (now that would have been a bold choice to say the least). But nothing really came of this character work and future writers pretty much ignored this aspect of Batroc completely.


Conclusion: I certainly recommend reading Gru's Cap up through 385; and throw in 401; though I will also mention that somewhere in there, around 355, you'll run into the worst art ever to be printed in a mainstream Marvel title. Cap was on a bi-weekly schedule for a bit and the regular artist got in trouble or something and rather than delay the comic (which is standard procedure now) they brought in the always bad Al Milgrom to draw the whole issue in like 3 days or something. If you can imagine Al Milgrom's art, only 10 times worse than that, you will get an idea of just how terrible this comic was. Truly, truly hideous.

[Shiryu]

You know, now that you mention them, some of these issues sound familiar. I remember the Skull story, following the aftermath of Acts of Vengeance, and certainly the story where Steve "resigns" and Hawkeye convinces him to come back as the Captain.
I still haven't read the full run though, will try to make amends asap ;D

[freedomfighter]

I've read these and other reviews. I just don't get it. God bless that y'all enjoy the book. I think it's boring as heck and Bucky is a completely banal character. The pacing is glacial and the concept so ludicrous. I mean how many times has Steve gone into timelines and seen the explosion that supposedly killed Bucky? Everytime I've ever seen it, Bucky goes boom. In fact if I may quote directly "You're right Cap. I can see the fuse! It's gonna... BOOM!!!"
End o' Bucky... as seen a hundred times. Now I guess completely revising history is worth it if the story is so good it outlives the massive continuity you've undermined, but this one ain't doing it for me.
Another huge problem I have is the mundane aspect of the book. It's very cloak and dagger in this Jason Bourne sort of way. Captain America fights dudes with giant robots and cosmic cubes half the time. Steve Rogers is just as capable fighting Thanos as he is a group of Aim agents trying to unleash the Sixth, Seventh or Hundredth Sleeper. I like that bombast, that big storytelling and that's definitely absent from Brubaker.
I think it's yet another case of a writer who didn't know how to write Steve Rogers and so he decided to not write Steve Rogers and instead insert his own tabula rasa into the mix. I think no one did a better job than Waid during his all too brief runs. DeMatteis is entirely too preachy for my taste and Gruenwald too analytical- he took every moment of inspiration and beat it to death with overthinking.
But then again people seem to like it and the book is from what I understand, selling very well. I think me and this industry grow further apart every day. I think it might be time for a divorce...