Written by Ed Brubaker
Illustrated by Steve McNivenBestselling Cap writer Ed Brubaker and superstar artist Steve McNiven bring you the next huge chapter in Steve Rogers life, and it’s a perfect jumping-on point for fans of the Cap movie. A funeral for a fallen friend turns into a race against time as the original Captain America makes his explosive return!
Just in time for the upcoming film – actually, a little early – Ed Brubaker is kicking off a new volume of Captain America for the second time in his career, this time joined by well-loved artist Steve McNiven. I loved Brubaker’s first volumen, so clearly I’m going to enjoy this issue… right? Or am I going to turn tail and run because of the renumbering, which will undoubtedly change Ed from a great Cap writer into a terrible one?
Yeah, I’m terrible at sarcasm. Follow the cut for the review.
First, let’s talk about the number on the cover and get that out of the way. I’m going to be blunt here: if you won’t buy this book “on principle” because it has been renumbered again, you’re being ridiculous. Sure, it’s clearly a marketing ploy to attract new readers with the approach of Captain America: The First Avenger – especially since the book was already renumbered once during Ed Brubaker’s extensive run – but that #1 doesn’t indicate anything about the quality, good or bad. Don’t like Brubaker? Don’t like Captain America? Then of course you shouldn’t buy it. Avoiding it because because of the renumbering? That harms the industry just as much as buying #1s just because they’ll be “worth something.” Buy comics you enjoy.
Moving on.
Accusations that the renumbering is meaningless are even more absurd when you actually read the issue (funny how that changes things). This is about as number one as a number one can be. Brubaker is in the middle of a lengthy cross-volume run on the title, but if you jumped in with this issue you wouldn’t know it. The funeral for Peggy Carter serves as a great way to introduce our core cast of characters, and Brubaker is careful to give every bit of info that the reader would need to understand what is going on. The only exception is with that last page, where the big bad is revealed to be… well, you’ll see when you read it. Anyone that’s pretty familiar with Marvel comics will know who that person is, but – unless I’m mistaken and the character appears in the upcoming film – the average newbie attracted to the comics by the movie will be left scratching their head going “…who?” Still, it’s not that big of a deal, and I’m sure new readers will be able to just go “well, it seems like this guy doesn’t care for Captain America very much.”
That being said, it also has the faults of a first issue. There are some great action scenes, no doubt – something that Brubaker has always been great at – but this issue is mostly exposition. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it boring – I don’t need an entire comic of punching/shooting/smashing in order to be interested – but it’s rare to find a series that functions on an arc-by-arc basis where the first issue is the best. Unless, of course, it’s a crappy series. It’s an unfortunate side-effect of the serialized nature of mainstream comics, but that’s just how it works. Still, this does the job it’s supposed to do: the scene is set, the cards dealt, and I’m interested. It isn’t a contender for best issue of the month, but it makes me want to read Captain America #2. I think it counts as a success, then, don’t you?
Of course, I can’t fail to mention artist Steve McNiven. McNiven received a lot of acclaim for his work on Civil War and Old Man Logan, but his recent output in Mark Millar’s Nemesis was a bit lacking compared to his usual quality (granted, he wasn’t working with the best of scripts, but now is neither the time nor the place to get into that). With this issue, though, McNiven is back, and with a little something extra to spare. McNiven’s artwork has always been great, but for the most part he’s always stuck to the standard grid format, keeping his layouts nice and geometrical. And who cares? A lot of great artists stick with typical layouts, because why does it matter if the art is great? With Captain America, though, McNiven seems to be taking a bit more risk with his layouts, and it really helps his comics not only look nice, but interesting as well. Sure, he isn’t going all-out We3 on us, but this is the first step for McNiven to truly become more than a great penciler. There’s being great at drawing, and then there’s being great at drawing comics. McNiven may have finally discovered the secret to the latter.
Final Verdict: 6.5 – Buy it if you’re interested in Cap.
