Steve Rogers - Super Soldier #2, #3 and #4 - Marvel

Captain America is somebody that I've always held a passing interest in. However . . I can't afford everything. So . . I don't usually follow this book, or character on a regular basis. I do however know enough about the character that I'm not usually lost if I decide to pick up a few issues . . or follow a mini-series. I really liked the story about Cap's return, so . . when I saw this mini-series coming out, I decided to give it a shot. Of course it didn't hurt that Dale Eaglesham was doing the art. I think he's a great talent. I love his work. Anyways, in the first issue we saw that Doctor Erskine . . the original doctor that created the Super-Soldier formula . . apparently he had a grandson. And, as evil genius' progeny are apt to do, he's also decided to follow in his grand-father's footsteps and is trying to recreate, or refine, the formula. However, he doesn't appear as altruistic as his grand-father, as he's attempting to mass produce it and sell it on the open market. However, when Steve goes to Mandipoor to confront him, the professor is as shocked as he, as he claims that he was developing it as a cure for cancer. But he doesn't tell him much else as a sniper bullet then ends his life. Steve's also surprised to see the the professor's wife bears a striking resemblance to his first love, Lieutenant Cynthia Glass. But she died back in WW II, so . . this can't be her. It isn't long though before we find out that the actual person behind all of this madness is the Machinesmith. He's an enemy that Steve has faced before. But in his previous demise, his soul, or personality, was captured within an electronic device. He can now apparently move from one electrical device to another at a whim. So he's infiltrated the professor's company, Nextin Pharmaceuticals. He built a construct to pose as his head of security, and then he built a woman to be his wife, Anita . . who also resembled Cynthia, to lure Steve into the picture. Anyways, by the end of issue #2 the Machinesmith has deactivated the serum in Steve's body, and has reverted him back to his 98 pound weakling self. I assume that the reason he doesn't also age is because the serum is actually still in his bloodstream. It's just dormant. I guess. Anyways, Anita helps him get back to normal, and then . . they're off to stop the sale of the formula. In issue #3 we learn a lot about what made Steve the man he is. And it doesn't really have a lot to do with the formula. Sure it helped him achieve physical perfection, but . . the drive, the stamina, the desire for truth and justice . . those things all came from Steve's adolescence and his personal experience. And then all the fighting and strategy and such was taught to him when he joined the armed forces. So . . keep that in mind, because next Steve takes down the Machinesmith. With Anita's help of course. She sacrifices herself. During the course of the fight Steve gets the Machinesmith to destroy everything else in the bunker. So when they shut down the satellite and cell transmissions, he has nowhere else to go but into his creation . . Anita. However, with the Beast's help, they've rigged her so that signals can get in . . but nothing can get out. And then Steve shuts him off. Unfortunately you know the Machinesmith will be back. He's not going to be taken out that easily. But in the epilogue we find out the he's not the real villain here. At least . . he's not the brains behind the whole thing. We find out that Dr Erskine faked his death. And then, with what looks to be a government type, they massaged the circumstances so that it looked like the Machinesmith had manipulated this whole series of events. When actually they were the ones putting all the pieces into place. Since Steve took out the Machinesmith he has no reason to suspect, or look in their direction. And they are proceeding with the Super-Soldier program. But they're focusing on Steve's social/economical background as well as his body type. They've got a dozen or so young men around Steve's original age . . with similar life experiences that they're keeping an eye on. So, nothing will be happening soon . . probably. But . . it's still in the works. This is all going to come back to bite Steve sooner or later. I thought Ed Brubaker constructed a great story here. The Machinesmith part of it all was a bit predictable, but . . I liked the little twist at the end. And of course Dale's art looked fantastic. Overall this storyline probably wasn't to important to the character, other than putting into motion a series of events that will affect Steve in the future. But . . it was interesting. And . . I liked it.

Steve Rogers - Super Soldier #1 - Marvel

I picked up this one, mostly, because of Dale Eaglesham doing the art. I loved him on the JSA, and I thought he did a really good job with his short stint of the Fantastic Four. I think this guy has a lot of talent, and he's hugely underrated. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it's about Steve Rogers in his new role as America's Super-Cop. And Ed Brubaker doing the story is just icing on the cake. Anyways, this story takes Steve all the way back to his origins . . Operation:Rebirth. We all know the story of how the Super-Serum was created, and Steve was the only test-subject to survive the trials. We also know that Dr Erskine, the facilitator of the project, was killed when it was attacked by Nazis. What we find out this issue is that one of the other test-subjects, Tyler Paxton . . a man whom Steve befriended during the process, had survived and afterwards met and married Dr Erskine's daughter. Anyways, they had a child, and like his grandfather he had become a brilliant scientific genius. He's now the CEO of a pharmaceutical company, Nextin, and has taken his grandfather's name . . Erskine. The problem is . . as relayed to Steve by Pete Wisdom, they've perfected the super-soldier formula and are preparing to put in on the open market. So Steve goes to Mandipoor to disrupt the sale and confront Erskine. Along the way Steve comes across a couple of formula enhanced bodyguards. One of which hits that rage stage, during their fight, and has an aneurysm. And he also sees Erskine with a woman that looks incredibly similar to a woman he knew in 1941. Steve mistakes her for his wife, but . . I think she's actually the head of his security. But I could be wrong. We don't have all the answers yet. Anyways, Steve confronts the doctor but he seems as confused by everything Steve has been telling him as Steve was. But before they can sort it out . . he's shot and killed. So apparently whoever actually is behind this was just using Erskine to get Steve's attention. And probably to get him to Mandipoor. So now we'll just have to see if whoever is behind this can actually handle Steve. I thought it was a good opening chapter. Ed did a good job of setting us up with all the important information. And of course, Dale's art looked fantastic. I kind of picked this one up on a whim. But since it's only a mini-series, I'll probably stick with it just to see what happens.

Captain America Reborn #6 - Marvel

There's an up side and a down side to this issue. On the up side . . we get to see how Steve makes his way out of this mess, and how he ends up beating the Red Skull. I mean . . going in to it, we don't know that . . yet. But . . we do. You know what I mean. But it's still going to be fun to see how he does it. However, on the down side . . we already know that Steve's going to make it through this debacle . . because of his various appearances across the Marvel Universe, in various books. We know that he's going to come out the other side and be back to his former glory. He's not necessarily going to be 'Captain America' right away . . he doesn't want to step on Bucky's toes, but . . you know eventually he's going to end up back in the uniform. However, that being said . . there's also a lot of pluses to this book. First of all we get a beautiful gate-gold cover by Bryan Hitch. Not to mention all the variants. We get to see the great fight between Steve and the Red Skull. Not to mention that it looks like as a result of this story . . the Red Skull may be dead. Maybe! We don't know that for sure. All we know is that his essence is transferred into a robot, and then that robot is taken out. So . . unless he had another container ready . . he appears to be gone. However . . during the fight, his daughter, Sin, is hurt and maimed. Her face is deformed and burned. So maybe . . from the looks of things, maybe she's the new Red Skull. We'll have to wait for further developments to know that for sure, though. Also . . something to think about . . who's to say . . since the Red Skull had basically invaded Steve's psyche . . who's to say there's not a portion of him still in there? We get to see the romantic reunion of Steve and Sharon. It looks like he's going to forgive her for what has transpired, and they're going to grow old together. Or, at least she will. However, Steve is also plagued by the visions of the future that he received. 'What I saw when they were pulling me back through time . . it was like split seconds of . . my future? Or was it my possible futures? More than one. I saw me and Sharon together. With children . . a long life . . happiness. But I saw something else, too. Something awful . . which of these futures is true? Are they both true? Can they be? Or is it some kind of warning? And if it is, how do I fight the future?' All in all I thought this was a fantastic series. Bryan's art really set the mood for things, but Ed Brubaker's story was brilliant. Plus . . Steve's just such an iconic character that it's great to see him come out on top, and have him back in the picture again. I'd say that this series was a great success. Even if the timing was a little off.

Captain America - Who Will Wield the Shield #1 - Marvel

Overall, I thought this was a pretty decent book. And, it's a necessary chapter in this unfolding saga. But, of course . . Marvel screwed it up. Captain America Reborn #6 hasn't even come out yet . . it'll probably be a few more weeks, and this story actually takes place after the events portrayed there. So, on the recap page . . we pretty much are told what's going to happen in Reborn #6. I mean, I guess it's not that big of a deal. You can still read this book . . just skip the recap page. We all know that Cap's coming back. If you weren't sure of that, just look at the 1/2 dozen or so books that he's already popped up in. But . . I'll get off of that. Whatever is done is done. The one thing we don't know is what happened in Cap's vision of the future. The thing I liked about this book was the similarities that are shown between Steve and James. Steve has Sharon, and James has Natasha. Both of these very strong women help to shape the decisions of their partners. James is ready to dry-clean the uniform, and deliver it and the shield straight to Steve. Natasha questions that. Meanwhile Steve, who also doesn't know that he's ready to jump back into the shoes of America's Champion, has a lot of things he hasn't sorted out yet. Sharon hasn't come right out and said it, but . . I don't think she'd have any problem with him letting James continue on in the role. She already feels guilty about her unwitting participation in the events . . I don't think she'd presume to tell Steve what to do next. Although I'm sure she'll be more than supportive. In the end, it's all moot for Steve because, whatever his vision was, it showed him that if James doesn't continue in the Captain America role he could die. 'I couldn't live with that. Even if it means I have to sacrifice a future I want.' So he tells the President, without the knowledge of Norman Osborn, that while he doesn't want to pick up the shield again, he is willing to do whatever his country asks of him. As with the rest of this sage, Ed Brubaker is at the creative helm. I thought he did a terrific job with this story. It's not his fault that it got printed when it did. Also, Butch Guice and Luke Ross do the art. It was equally as impressive. Like I said, overall it was a great book. It really helped to serve in moving the story forward. Personally, I can't wait to read Reborn #6 though. In the end, though . . I'm just glad that Steve's back.

Captain America Reborn #5 - Marvel

Ok . . so basically what happened . . Sharon Carter shot Steve with some kind of nano-particles that sent his soul, or id, racing through time. It could've all just been in his head, but . . he did leave that message with the vision way back during WWII. Somehow the Red Skull orchestrated this whole thing. And as the final act . . he's bringing Steve back, so that his body can be reanimated, but . . he's also putting his own essence in there so that he can control it. The problem is . . Steve is also in there. Zola built a cage for him in the Skull's own mind. But, you just know that's not going to stop Steve. So now that he's about to have his greatest victory . . Steve is inside . . inside the Skull's mind, and his own, trying to throw a wrench into the works. Meanwhile the Skull has engaged the New Avengers. They've been tracking him for quite while now, and the Skull has decided to drop the pretense and just face them head on. The issue ends with Steve taking off Bucky's hand, and with the Skull in his eyes . . it looks like he's about to kill him with his own shield. Obviously Steve's going to come out of this . . we've already seen him pop up in a couple of Marvel books. The question is . . how is this whole encounter going to change him? And how long will it be before he sorts out just exactly what Sharon's involvement is in all of this. She is the one that pulled the trigger. I know she didn't do it of her own free will, but . . it's going to take Steve a while to sort all of that out. Ed Brubaker is doing a fantastic job with this book. But then . . we didn't really expect anything less. Did we? Also, Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice are doing a great job with the art. We only have one more book to go, and then . . I'm sure we'll see Steve re-immerse himself into the Marvel Universe. This has been a great mini-series. I can't wait to see how it all wraps up.

Captain America Reborn #4 - Marvel

Ok . . so what we find out this issue is that the tachyon particles in the gun that killed Steve are linked, somehow to the unidentified nano-particles in Sharon Carter's blood. Although, with Steve's message that the Vision recorded back in the 40's, Reed figures out that they're actually chronal-tracers and it's what's drawing Sharon and Steve together through time. Unfortunately Dr Doom, the Red Skull and Dr Zola already know all of this. Somehow it's what the original machine, that Sharon destroyed, was intended to do. But now, with Dr Doom's help, the original architect, they've reassembled the machine and have one again begun their task of retrieving Steve. Or . . are they just retrieving Steve's body? In Doom's lab it seems that the Red Skull is just as much a part of this experiment as is Sharon. They pull Steve back, but . . when he rises from the table, it's the Red Skull in Steve's body. So where's Steve? I guess we'll have to wait until next issue to find out that information. Meanwhile, Reed and Hank Pym are also putting this puzzle together . . thanks in part to the Vision. And once they start to see the picture being presented, they also realize that they have their own way of tracking things . . they also have some of Sharon's blood. I do have one question though . . what is Norman Osborn's role in all of this, and what can he possibly hope to gain? With only one issue to go, the next book should contain one hell of a story. I can't wait to see how all of these pieces come together. Ed Brubaker is doing a fantastic job here. He's feeding us just enough information to keep us intrigued without giving away to much of the story. Next issue should be a nice little wrap up . . at least to this chapter. I'm sure this isn't going to be the whole story. Also Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice's art is incredible. I miss Bryan on the Fantastic Four, but . . he's doing an equally incredible job here. This is definitely a classic in the making. If you haven't been buying it, I'm sure the TPB will be out soon. However you do it, you should try to get your hands on this story. It really is that good.

Captain America Reborn #3 - Marvel

As we started to find out last issue, it appears that Sharon Carter is the key to everything. All she knows is that it's somehow connected to when she destroyed the Red Skull's machine. The Red Skull knows what's going on, and it appears that Norman is starting to put the pieces together. But us . . the reader . . and Steve, who's soul seems to be bouncing around through time . . we're all at a loss. But Steve does make a ploy this issue. He comes to in his body during the Kree / Skrull war. He's there with the Avengers. So he gets the idea to use the Vision's memory. 'I need to tell you something, and then I need you to forget it. To bury it deep in your memory storage . . can you do that?' But we don't find out quite yet just what that was. Also Reed has gone to investigate Steve's remains, which were secretly laid to rest in the Arctic Ocean. Anyways, he and Namor bring up his glass coffin, but . . one minute his body is there, and the next it's not. And the Falcon has gone after the Thunderbolts to release Bucky. He does get a little help from Ant-man though. It appears that he's tired of working with these guys, and is beginning to think he picked the wrong side of this war. Other than that, we don't get a lot more information this issue. But . . this is the middle issue, so that's to be expected. I thought it was a great story by Ed Brubaker. The artwork is provided by Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice. With covers by Bryan, Butch and Paul Mounts, and John Cassaday and Laura Martin. I can't wait to see how this one plays itself out. It appears to be a classic in the making.

Captain America Reborn #2 - Marvel

From what I gather from this . . Cap's essence, his spirit, was sent back along his history, his memories . . before he was killed. It looks to me like whomever schemed this series of events, tried to hide Cap in the one place no one would think to look . . inside of himself. But the part I don't understand is . . his body still died. So even if whomever did this has some way of retrieving his essence, his spirit . . what will they encase it in? Where will it find home? And . . if it's his essence, his spirit, in a different or cloned body . . is it really him? Most of this issue is spent with Cap reliving some of his old memories. He's trying to figure out what the connection between all of them are, but . . right now he's still confused about the whole process. However, it seems as if he's beginning to glean a little insight the more he's stuck in this situation. He knows he has to find someone to talk to . . "I need a scientist . . someone to help me find a way out of this nightmare . . a way back to my own time . . if that's even possible." In the present, Reed, Sharon and Hank are trying to figure out things from their end. Right now Reed's looking to the notes from Tony's autopsy of Steve to try to see anything that may jump out at them. The Falcon is also trying to aid in this endeavor, but he's out on recon right now. Meanwhile, Norman is trying to gather forces of his own. He's trying to bring Crossbones and Sin around to his way of thinking, which right now includes . . "I know some things I didn't when I took this office. Things about the assassination of Captain America . . things your old friend Dr Zola revealed . . things that make the two of you very useful to me. Because a reborn Captain America under my control, leading my Avengers . . that would be a tremendous asset. Even if your father's mind was inside Rogers's body. Now. Do we have a deal?" The issue ends with Norman's capture of Bucky and Black Widow. What he really wants is Sharon Carter. So he's offered them a deal. He'll let Black Widow go, to give a message to Sharon. "Tell her she's got 24 hours to turn herself in . . or she won't just have the fate of one Captain America on her conscience." I thought this was a great issue by Ed Brubaker, Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice. Ed has weaved together a fantastic story here, and Bryan and Butch's art really brought it to life. I can't wait to see how this was all accomplished, and how Cap can possibly reenter the real universe.

Captain America #601 - Marvel

I had this one comic to do from last week, but . . when I got my Geoff Johns menagerie . . I had to skip over it and go straight to the 'meat & potatoes'. Sorry! But now I'll knock this one out before I move on to the rest of this weeks books. To tell you the truth, after reading Captain America #600, and Rebirth . . this one was a little boring. I mean the story was ok, but it was obvious that it was just a fill-in issue. It's one of those flash-back issues, where Bucky is telling Fury about one of the towns where they were holed up in Europe during the war. They had, a few weeks before, finally driven the rest of the Nazi's out of town. Some of the residents were actually in the process of trying to move back in and claim what was left of their possessions and homes. But then a new crisis arose . . vampires. They tried to keep it on the DL, they didn't want the troops or the residents to start lashing out in fear. It turns out that it's connected to Baron Blood, but it's not his doing directly. It seems one of the little girls in town had died a few years earlier, but for some reason when she showed up again no one paid her much attention. There was also a Nazi undead, Helmutt Von Schuler, that had visited the town a while back. Anyways, this girl has been attacking the soldiers and she transforms the actress that is in town visiting with the USO. Anyways, long story short, Cap and Bucky take care of all the infected and gradually work their way back to the source. This issue had 40 pages of art . . for some reason. Which was ok, but . . the story just seemed to be really, really long. I would've thought that something like this would've been better as a one-shot or annual or something. But . . whatever. Ed Brubaker writes it with Gene Colan doing the art. It really was an ok issue. But, after the last few books that I've read . . it did seem rather boring.

Captain America - Reborn #1 - Marvel

After reading the recent issues of Captain America . . I had to get this series. If he's coming back . . I'm interested to see how that's going to happen. Plus, I thought Ed Brubaker did a fantastic job with the stories in the recent issues. I'm a fan of his other work, so . . I don't see a down-side to this. Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice will be doing the art. So, all-in-all . . this should be pretty amazing. My only concern is that it lives up to all the hype that it's received. Anyways, this book has everything in it. We've got stories of World War II, the New Captain America - Bucky Barnes, the Black Widow, SHIELD, HAMMER, the Red Skull and Arnim Zola, Nick Fury and of course Norman Osborn and his team of Avengers. Really though, the whole story comes down to Sharon Carter. At the time of Steve's death, Sharon was an agent of SHIELD. Apparently the Red Skull had exerted some kind of mind-control over some of them, including SHIELD, and in the process she's the one who shot Steve. This, along with a lot of her memory, was lost to her . . until recently. When she got her memory back, she also remembered what she did with the gun. So now, her and the Falcon, along with the Vision, have gone to Hank Pym to try to figure out some answers. First of all, there's something special about the gun. And secondly, Sharon has some memories of when she was a captive of the Skulls. There was a project that he and Zola were working on and it involved one of Doom's time-platforms. She doesn't remember everything, but she does seem to remember Steve's body in the glow of the machine. Anyways, SHIELD came in a beat these guys and took all of their equipment and devices. They're currently in the hold of HAMMER's helicarrier . . it's base of operations. That's where Bucky and the Black Widow come it. They're also working with Sharon and the Falcon in trying to solve this mystery. With the help of Nick Fury, they infiltrate the base and attempt to get the devices that Hank needs to examine. However, they find that the Avengers . . specifically Ares and Venom, are there waiting for them. We also get a look at the conversation Zola has with Norman when he's trying to explain to him what he and the Skull had done. "Doom's platform locked his body in time and space. With both the platform and the constant, we were able to pluck him right out of the timestream . . where he lay dormant. But the woman damaged the machine during the process. Steve Rogers' body disappeared during the transfer . . . Steve Rogers has come unstuck in time." We then see him bouncing around during the days of WWII. He doesn't know how he got there, where 'there' is, or where he was before. All he knows is that he's caught up in the actions that are going on around him. I thought this was a fantastic opening-salvo for this story. We have a lot of unanswered questions, and daggling plot-threads, but . . this is only the first issue. We've got 4 issues to go. And even then, after this mini-series, we may not have all the answers. Not yet anyways. I thought Ed did a terrific job weaving this all together. I think this is going to be a very complicated story, but . . we got a pretty good picture of everything that's involved with it this issue. Although, I'm sure there's other stuff to be thrown in that we haven't seen yet. From the first issue alone I'm pretty excited about this. It should be a heck of a ride.

Captain America #600 - Marvel

As expected, this was a fantastic issue. We start out with 2 great covers . . Alex Ross on the right, and Steve Epting on the left. From there . . it really just got better. We open the book with Alex Ross' 2 page origin of Captain America. It was originally published in Red, White & Blue . . but it was good enough that they showed it again here. Thanks for that. I missed it the first time. We then have a One Year Later story by Ed Brubaker and a plethora of artists . . Butch Guice, Howard Chaykin, Rafael Albuquerque, David Aja and Mitch Breitweiser. It was a fantastic story showing us how other people were dealing with Cap's death, a year later. To me the most important one was Sharon Carter. She's starting to regain some of her memories so she now knows that Dr Faustus had hypnotized her, or something, and she was actually the one who shot Steve. But then she gave the gun to someone else. She's just remembered this incident and has decided to go after the gun and retrieve it. I'm not sure of the repercussions, but . . somehow having this gun back has lead her to believe that they may be able to bring Steve back. All we really know is, "When I hold it in my hands again, I know I was right . . because, this is not a normal gun." We then catch up with the 'Evil' Cap. Also, Rikki Barnes, the girl that was Bucky in the other reality, sneaks up on Eli, Patriot. She wants him to introduce her to the new Captain America. I think she's feeling lost without her mission to guide her. Obviously she'll be showing up in Young Avengers. For some reason, we also catch up with Cross-bones and Sin. We then find the Avengers in a bit of a dilemma. The Avengers want to go to the Rally they're holding in Steve's memory, but they know that doing so will make them an open target for Norman Osborn and HAMMER. James is especially perplexed because he feels that he's missed out on so many other things, having to hide, that he'd hate to let Steve down like this. We also see that there's something strange going on with the Red Skull and MODOK. But we only get some hints at it here. And finally we catch up with Sam who's also arrived at the Rally. He eventually finds the Avengers and talks a little shop. Their fears are allayed when Norman decides instead of pursuing his opponents, that he's going to use this opportunity as a way to negate the negative publicity he's gotten from opposing this rally. He gets on stage to talk about Steve, and ends up leading a 'Captain America' chant. Finally Sam finds Sharon and they catch back up with each other. The story ends with her telling Sam, and the rest of the Avengers about her good news . . "I'm fine, Sam. I'm better than fine. It's Steve . . I think we can still save him." Needless to say, this story will lead directly into the Reborn mini-series. There's also a story by Roger Stern and Kalman Andrasofszky in which we catch up with Bernie and she remembers some of her fondest memories with Steve. Of course, she also remembers where she was and how she felt on that final day. We then get a fantastic story by Mark Waid and Dale Eaglesham. It's not about Steve directly but rather the effects his image and character had on the rest of the world. In it, Joseph Paglino is the owner of the world's largest collection of Captain America memorabilia. And he's decided to put it all up for auction. Everyone is speculating on why he's doing it and what he's trying to gain, but it turns out that there's a comic book company that's trying to pounce on all the media attention Steve's getting right now, and they want to relaunch the Captain America comic book. The problem is, they see him as a man who committed treasonous acts . . a traitor. It ends up this Paglino guy sold all of this stuff so that he would have the money to buy the comic company and publish the book the way it should be published. However, during the course of this story, we see how important some of these items were to the people that were connected to them. I think it was the best story in the book, but . . that's just me. To finish off the book, we get a little diatribe from Joe Simon and a reprint of an old story . . Captain America Comics #16, July 1942. They reached way back for that one. And, of course, a cover gallery showing, literally, almost 700 covers. It was amazing! All in all I thought it was one of the best 'anniversary' issues that I've ever read. Whether you follow the character or not, it had everything that you could've wanted. And . . all of this leads into 'the comic book event of the summer' . . Reborn, by Ed Brubaker, Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice.

Captain America #48, #49 & #50 - Marvel

I've thought about this for the last month or so. I've been reading in a couple other blogs how happy they are with the stories that they're reading in this book. Honestly, I haven't picked up this one since issue #25 . . the one where Steve died. So, with issue #50 out this week, and #600 next month, I thought I'd give it a shot and just give an honest opinion of how I feel about the story. However, it wouldn't be fair to just read a single issue and try to form an assessment. I mean, every title has it's ups and downs. So I decided to go back a couple of issues. I've read #48, #49 and #50 together. And that should probably prepare me for #600 next month. I wanted to do the same thing with Thor, but . . I'm not really into that character all that much. Well . . here goes nothing. I was kind of surprised after reading these issues because, honestly all 3 felt completely different. Which, to be fair, is because they were all parts of different story-lines. I had no doubt that I would like Ed Brubaker's stories. I loved his stuff on the X-Men. Issue #48 was wrapping up a story about Bucky in his Winter Soldier guise. In 1948, Bucky, with the invaders, had rescued this 12 year old Chinese scientist named Zhang Chin. Later, as the Winter Soldier, he was tasked with eliminating the same scientist. He didn't do it, but he did kill a woman who turned out to be someone Zhang loved. Now it appears that Zhang is back and he's using the old body of the Human Torch to create some new epidemic. In a nutshell, he wants to 'trim' the world's population by 35 to 50 percent. "Our world is falling apart . . it's resources are depleting. Food is becoming more scarce . . Earth itself has turned against us. Just imagine the effects of that kind of a global pandemic . . how far less toxic our smaller population will be to the ecosystem." Also, besides having the Human Torch's body, Zhang has also capture Namor and is using him as a test subject. Long story short, the Black Widow shows up and between them they stop the release of the virus and release Namor. Zhang had a person in his employ, The Man With No Face, whom I thought was an interesting character. However, with just this one issue to go off of, I didn't really learn all that much about him. Namor kicks his ass pretty good, and in the end . . snaps his neck. In the end they finally give Jim Hammond the burial that he deserves. This one was brilliantly drawn by Butch Guice and Luke Ross. Now issue #49 went a different direction and was all about Sharon Carter. She and Sam Wilson are living in her family estate in Virginia . . just as friends, strictly platonic . . and she's trying to piece together the memories that she's missing. I like the way Ed relates her condition to that of Sharon's Aunt Peggy. Sharon visits her often, but she's got advancing Alzheimer's. The difference is, Aunt Peggy doesn't know that she's missing memories . . parts of her life, but Sharon does. And it's driving her crazy. They're both actually in very similar situations. It's just . . one's cognizant, and one isn't. Anyways, most of the issue is focused on Sharon and Sam's friendship, and reliving Sharon's, and some of Aunt Peggy's memories. Also, Sam is looking for this 'Evil Cap' or 'Bad Cap'. He looks and acts exactly like Steve, but . . without the personality or convictions. Two things come out at the end. First Sharon discovers that she was pregnant at one time. She didn't even know. Sam fills her in on the specifics. Really, the revelation is almost more than she can bare. Finally, we see Aunt Peggy at the end and she thinks she's having a conversation with Steve, her one-time lover. Actually, it's 'Bad Cap'. I guess he's fishing for information about Steve, or the war. Oh yeah, and Sharon has a dream about an event she doesn't remember. She captured by Zola and the Red Skull, and she's witnessing some kind of experiment that they're working on. She's mostly out of it . . drugged maybe, but she can make out a form. It looks like they're working with a time-platform . . maybe? . . and they're trying to draw a figure out of it. She can't really make the person out, but . . she thinks, or hopes, that it's Steve. But that's really all the information that we get. This one had some fantastic art by Luke Ross. Finally, in issue #50 we learn some more about Bucky. Basically we see how his 'mission' in life has effected his birthdays over the years. It's his birthday now, and he's being chased by guys in high-tech suits that are trying to kill him. But, as we see through the flash-backs that it's pretty normal for his life to be in jeopardy on, or because of, his birthday. You would almost think he has some kind of birthday curse. Through the flash-backs we see a lot of Bucky's past, and his relationship with Steve. And then we find out that the guys who are trying to kill him are actually a para-military group who worship Cap. They're trying to kill Bucky because they don't feel that he's the 'real' Cap. "Believe me, I know that better than anyone . . but I'm tryin' . . . " However, the issue ends on a good note when he returns home to find out that the Avengers have all got together to give him a birthday worth remembering. It was actually a very touching issue, and it really made you think about everything that Bucky's been through over the years. The many, many years . . and many, many birthdays. There was a back-up also which filled in a lot of the holes . . at least for myself, on the history of both Cap and Bucky. The main story's fantastic art was again by Luke Ross. But the back-up was by Marcos Martin. Marcos' work almost had a Tim Sale influence to it. Or maybe even Darwyn Cooke. Really, it was the perfect style for this part of the story. Anyways, overall I'd have to say, I didn't get exactly what I was expecting out of these books, but . . I still thought they were very, very good. They piqued my interest enough that I'm looking forward to issue #600. I can't wait to see what they pull out for that one.

Ultimate Captain America Annual #1 - Marvel

I really like this issue. I thought that Jeph Loeb did a fantastic job with the story. I also really enjoyed Rafa Sandoval and Marko Djurdjevic's artwork. There were some pages that were really incredible. But, going into this, I had to ask myself why there was a Captain America annual happening in the Ultimate Universe. I mean sure he's an important and strong character, and all. But, up until now, he really hasn't played all that important of a role in the Ultimate Universe. Well, except for in the Ultimates . . of course. But now I'm thinking that these annuals have more to do with the March on Ultimatum storyline, than anything else. What this issue does is kind of fills in the gaps on what happened to the Black Panther at the end of the Secret Origins mini series. It also explains why, on the Ultimate team, Cap was a robot and Steve was filling in as the Black Panther. Well . . it doesn't really explain the robot part, but . . we do get an understanding as to why Steve was covering up T'Challa's departure. I assume the robot was all just part of Tony's involvement. But . . I could be wrong. Overall, though . . I thought it was a pretty decent issue. Maybe we do need to explore the Captain America character a little more in the Ultimate Universe. We'll have to see what the future holds.