A Few Things Here & There (AKA I'm A Slacker)

So I am a slacker...it is certainly hard to argue that as it pertains to this blog lately.  Last blog is dated August 29th and I said I would come back THAT WEEK to deliver my thoughts on "Captain America: The First Avenger". Yeah, it's September 19th right now as I'm starting to write this.  That is definitely slacking, and to add to it, the Blu-Ray/DVD is apparently slated to come out in a month (October 25th according to www.comicbookmovie.com).  So I started thinking I should just wait until that release comes out, re-watch the film, and THEN finally get around to delivering my thoughts on what was my 2nd favorite comic book movie of 2011.  Then the question became, what to do with this blog as I sat down to write it this evening?  Sometimes I plan, sometimes I don't, sometimes I don't have the slightest thought in my head until I open up the page and just start typing. 

The last time that happened I wrote this: Cornucopia of Comments, and covered the upcoming Event books for 2011, price points, and digital downloads (legal or otherwise). Coincidentally, all three of those items are still viable as "Flashpoint" just wrapped up, "Fear Itself" is winding down, the New DC 52 launch brought up the pricing question again, and digital downloads became a topic once again as part of that New 52 initiative.  So I decided I would touch on some of those topics AND touch on the comic-related things that have occupied my time.

FLASHPOINT/NEW DC 52

"Flashpoint" was a bomb. I say this without having sat down to re-read it as one whole story, I say this without perusing the books prior to typing this, I say this solely based on the impact it had on me as a reader, and based on what it was intended to do as the set-up for the New 52.  As a long-time fan of Andy Kubert I can say the art was beautiful, the intial foundation of the story was intriguing, and the part of the story that pertained to parents & children was by far the most intriguing aspect. 

Unfortunately that was a small part of the story when all was said and done, only really played out in Thomas Wayne's desire to help Barry so he could bring Bruce back & in Barry's actions regarding his mother that somehow started this whole mess in the first place.  The problems came in every other aspect of this story: the Atlantis-Themyscira war, the Resistance, the tie-in books, et al.  How in the hell Barry keeping his mom alive causes Bruce to die, Kal El to become a test subject, Aquaman to turn into a bloodthirsty tyrant, and all the other fundamental changes to the DCU is not something ever explained in any fashion.  I certainly see how events could unfold like that, but it feels like an attempt by Johns to give Barry's existence as Flash such an importance as to rival Superman's impact on the heroes of the DCU.   The war means nothing in the long run, none of the tie-ins mean anything (I did actually read them all) and only the "Batman: Knight of Vengeance" book by Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso was the least bit entertaining on its own.  It had nothing to do with the core story, didn't pretend like it would continue into Flashpoint #5 like all the rest, and served only to flesh out the character of Thomas Wayne seperate from the events that brought him to FP.  Hell, as a story it was better done that FP itself. 

The other big issue with FP was how it bridged the gap between the old DCU and the new, or rather how I feel it failed miserably to accomplish that goal.  The entire regenesis of the DCU was dumped into 2 pages that quite frankly didn't make any damn sense. Take a look for yourself:

Mystery woman says "The history of heroes was shattered into three long ago..." so go fix it Barry. The problems I have this page can be summed up with two numbers, two storylines: "52" & "Countdown".  Aren't there 52 Earths in the Multiverse? Wasn't it clearly established that the Wildstorm-verse existed on its own Earth (Earth-50 according to Wiki)?  Vertigo is even more confusing given that John Constantine now exists in both DC-proper & in the Vertigo line.  In the New 52 he's a young guy, in the Vertigo line he's older & married, so does this mean Vertigo-Hellblazer exists in the future? Does it exist on a seperate earth?  Does this mean I'm worrying too much about a fantasy world where there really aren't rules except those we (fans & creators) impose on them?  I just have questions, and I'm hoping they get answered in time as this story unfolds.  Because really, given the set-up thus far, it certainly seems like his will unfold into a long form mega-arc of some kind as Barry Allen eventually remembers his mission of fixing time as the mystery woman (who may or may not be the one from the FP issues of Booster Gold) stalks everyone in sight.

So that brings me to whole endgame of "Flashpoint" and my thoughts on its evolution so far: the New 52.  From "Action Comics" to "Detective Comics" to "Animal Man", it has only been two weeks of new #1's and it has been a mixed bag.  I haven't read them all, nor do I have any desire to, but what I have read has largely been enjoyable if not leaving me with a few questions about how this whole reboot/reset/restart works.  Simply based on the #1's I have read so far, it seems that the Bat-Family (save Barbara Gordon) and the GL-Verse are picking up exactly where they left off in August.  The main differences in Bat-Land are that Bruce is once again the only Batman & Batgirl is once again a Barbara Gordon sans wheelchair.  The only differences in GL-World, based on the two books released thus far, are...nothing.  Any reader could make guesses as to why it is that the brand that DC's Chief Creative Officer captains has apparently suffered the least from the New 52...

Anyway, while "JLA" may not have been the strongest launch book as far as long-term reader opinion seems to go, I for one feel like it was quite the right book for new readers.  It's got Jim Lee art, can never go wrong with that for my money, and a decent script depicting Bats & GL at their infancy of their relationship.  This is a book about HOW the Justice League comes together, about HOW the DCU is formed in this brave new world, and I am extremely interested in seeing how it unfolds, especially with Darkseid apparently looming as the big bad.  As for the rest of what I've experienced, I must say "Action Comics" had an energy & life I haven't experienced from a Supes book in quite some time, and given that I don't have any strong ties to the character, I feel like I'm on the ground floor of something good. "Detective Comics" shocked me, not just due to its cliffhanger ending, but due to the fact that Tony Daniel's run on "Batman" towards the end was not very good.  He still has some issues with pacing, occassionally his stories feel like there are panels missing, but his first 'Tec ish was a pleaseant read that has me looking forward to more.  "Batwoman", "Batgirl", "Green Lantern", "Red Lantern", all exceeded my expectations.  Can I possibly put into words how great it is to have JH Williams III art back in a monthly?  "Animal Man" & "Swamp Thing" were books I picked up based on the reputations of the writers (Jeff Lemire & Scott Snyder respectfully) and was blown away by the quality of the two books. On the downside, "Green Arrow" & "Grifter" were just bad, "Batwing" and "Suicide Squad" I am still up in the air about, as is also the case with "Resurrection Man", "Stormwatch", and a few others.  It has been a good start overall, and I am quite intrigued to see how this all plays out in the coming months.

FEAR ITSELF

So here we are 6 issues deep into FI, one issue to go; this story certainly has a stronger core book than FP, and it DEFINITELY has some stronger tie-ins books than FP, but on the whole thus far, it too has seemed like a bloated mess.  There are certainly parts fo FI that I dig, there is a definitive sense of everything going to hell with each issue, and it certainly feels like Cap is quickly watching it all slip away.  Matt Fraction has done a fine job of building elements of the larger story, but I've felt like that is all he's doing: building parts.  He introduces a Hulk element, but to get any resolution you have to go read "Hulk vs Dracula" or "Avengers", same can be said for every single one of The Worthy (who are appearing in every single book printed simultaneously).  That too makes for a bit of a pain because while it is kind of fun to watch Juggernaut's path of destruction from East Coast to West as he breaks away from The Thunderbolts & The Raft and ultimately ends up fighting the X-Men.  It's an interesting read, but can be quite confusing given that the issues are being released at the same time.  Each issue of FI, if read without the benefits of the tie-ins, seems like it has gaps in the story, as if major plot points are absent from the story because they went down in "Invincible Iron Man" or "Avengers" or "Journey into Mystery".  And even more sad to me was that the death of Bucky felt so...so unimportant, so off-handed that I honestly that it was a faux death like Superboy in "Infinite Crisis", a tease before the real death that would go down an ish or two later.  I don't mind there not being a mourning moment because our hereos are in the middle of a war, that can be saved for an aftermath issue, but I hate how blase the entire death scene felt.  I am a huge fan of Bucky as done by Brubaker in recent years, I loved him as Cap, and this death just didn't have a weight for me.  That made me sad...

All that being said though, I can't help but feel a sense of anticipation for the final issue of FI given the fashion in which the most recent one ended.  Steve Rogers is a bad-ass, even in the face of ultimate doom, he is a general who you can't help but rally behind.  I want to see Cap go toe-to-toe with Sin and annihilate her.  Obviously she survives this ordeal given her appearance in the post-FI solicits, but that doesn't mean Rogers can't lay a beating on her on behalf of Bucky.  I want to see the Stark-armored hordes of Asgard go to war with The Worthy and for Thor to take his hammer upside the head of his, well his Uncle I guess it would be.  This truly looks like the big battle at the culmination of an action flick and I want to plop down my...whatever the hell Marvel decides to charge us for this double-sized final issue to see how it all comes crashing down.

SPIDER-ISLAND

In addition to "Fear Itself", Marvel also has the balls to run another giant crossover within the Spider-Man world that also has it's fair share of tie-in books.  "Spider-Island" may not have the sheer volume of books that FI does, but it is certainly giving it the old college try.  Since most books are wrapped up in FI in some fashion, Marvel just decided to put out a slew of mini's & one-shots to go along with SI 2011 (see now there's two SI's in Marvel's recent history with Secret Invasion, damn).   Can't say much about it, only reading the main ASM book which has been a fun read I guess, just find it ridiculous that Marvel is running two fairly large events simultaneously.  All I can say is that the humor of everyone having Spidey powers got old pretty quickly and I'm already tired of The Jackal.

DIGITAL DOWNLOADS

Not much to find in the way of numbers for the Same Day Downloads that have accompanied the New DC 52 books in the last 3 weeks (starting with JLA), but according to DC their App peaked at #4 for the top grossing Apps & they're very  happy with the business they've done.  I find it to be a wonderful idea on DC's part to get new books out the same day digitally & in print.  When the time comes that I have a cell phone that's actually capable of doing apps, I believe I will check this out at least once to see how I like it.  If you're interested in DC's endeavors with the digital downloads, here: DC Digital Downloads.

SUPERGODS

This is one of the many things that have occupied my time over the last couple weeks and distracted me from writing, hence why I picked it as the initial image for this blog.  I don't think it is an easy thing to sum up what this book is about because it really is all over the place. Covering various topics throughout the range of comic book history from "Watchmen" to "Dark Knight Returns" to "Marvelman" to "Seduction of Innocent" to "New Gods" to "X-Men" and a great deal more.  It's a real stream-of-consciousness look at comic books through the eyes & thoughts of one of the medium's most unique authors.  It can be a difficult read at times, he kind of jumps around in time when one topic (say the New Gods) leads him to another (like Final Crisis) even if they are decades apart, but all told I very much enjoyed the read.  The looks at Grant's personal moments, the things that have shaped him as an author...while not new to any devotee of his...are interesting nonetheless and possible the most interesting parts of the book.  You can feel Morrison's love the medium pour from the pages though, and it is that love that has me very intrigued about books like Jim Starlin's "Warlock", the Kree/Skrull War, & Alan Moore's "Marvelman".  I'd say creating interest in a reader to go find material that is fresh to them is an accomplishment in itself and thus "Supergods" is a job well done.

CASSANOVA: LUXURIA

My birthday just passed and I was gifted the 1st trade of Matt Fraction's "Casanova" by the same friend who gave me Warren Ellis' "Crooked Little Vein", "Red", and "Fell" to read.  I blew through it pretty quickly and I must say that I'm pretty impressed by it.  To date, I had only read Fraction's "Uncanny X-Men" run, as well as "Fear Itself", but had heard good things about this book.  I was quite excited to sit down & read it, and was not disappointed.  The story is out there for sure, dealing with alternate dimensions, odd sex dolls with downloadable personalities, patricide, and well...I guess it's not that odd for comic books after all.  Anyway, the art by Gabriel Ba enhanced that feeling of eccentricity and I am certainly going to look into picking up any other "Casanova" material that is available at the moment.  I recommend you do the same: Casanova Vol.1 on Amazon

AN INCOMPREHENSIBLE CONDITION

This one is another book, written by Andrew Hickey, and it's an analytical look at Grant Morrison's "Seven Soldiers".  I'm only maybe 1/3 of the way through the book and while it's an interesting read, I think it needs its own annotated analysis.  In just the first few chapters I have been exposed to references to String Theory, M-Theory, Freemasons, Adam & Eve, Newton's Theories, Arthurian legend, and a ridiculous amount more.  I've only gotten to the chapter about Zatanna's section of the mega-story and I'm already overwhelmed with the references in this book. It's good, it's educational, but I certainly am going to need to spend some time on Wikipedia to grasp some of this information.  A related adventure is what we call it around these parts.  If you're interested in Seven Soldiers or Grant Morrison, this one may be of interest to you: An Incomprehensible Condition on Lulu

THOR REVISED

So I bought "Thor" on Blu-Ray and I just want to say that my opinion of the movie has slightly changed upon viewing it a second, and third, time.  It has moved up the list to my 3rd favorite of the summer super-hero movies, surpassing "Green Lantern".  I guess I will have to wait until I re-watch that to see if my judgment holds up, but I think it's safe to say that "Thor" will maintain it's new slot.  I don't think I gave enough credit to the quality of the story initially, but in repeat viewing, it felt more like its own movie, and less like a set-up piece for "The Avenger" flick next year.  The acting was good, the supporting cast was a bit more fleshed out than I initially felt, and I think I can get into the Jane Foster/Thor dynamic a little more now.  Now I just need to rewatch "X-Men: First Class" to reaffirm how awesome it was in the first place.

Well, thanks for riding along while I revisited some topics and shed some light on what's been occupying my time in comic book land.  Looking forward to this week's New 52 books, and the next edition of Schism from Marvel.  Hopefully once that's all said and done I can stay on the ball and review it too. 

Captain America: Winter Soldier Part 2 (yup spoilers here too)

In case you can't find it on here, here's a link to Part One of this blog for your perusal: Winter Soldier Part 1.

Now to pick up where we left off as Winter Soldier is definitively revealed to be Bucky, and then he blows up a part of Philadelphia.  What a way to make an impact huh?

So we start up this volume with a one page flashback to the moment where a certain Russian military man named Karpov (see it all ties in) first hears the news that the Germans had blown up Captain America over the Channel Islands.

Back to present day as Steve Rogers is forced by Nick Fury & Sharon Carter to face the truth...that Bucky is the Winter Soldier, and that he is one bad dude.  It's not surprising that Steve refuses to accept the truth, despite all that he has experienced and seen, as he also refused to accept the truth about Red Skull initially.  Steve Epting manages to perfectly capture the emotion of the moment in such panels as when Sharon is holding her head in her hands, or Cap, his eyes closed, says to Fury "You expect me to believe that Bucky is still alive...that he's working for the enemy...that he's responsible for what happened in Philadelphia last night?"

This marks the transition to last night in Philly as the reader sees the fallout from the explosion at the end of Volume One.  It's this sort of transition in the script/art that I have really appreciated in Cap thus far.  It's almost cinematic in nature and just feels...different...than your usual comic book cut from present day to flashback.

The initial look at the Philly scene is wonderfully rendered, as much as utter destruction and chaos can be, and strongly demonstrates how on the edge Cap is when he encounters the AIM squad (one of who just executed a husband and wife, "No witnesses").  And there is just something so telling about the series of panels that include this one:

(couldn't find the page solo, just this card version)

Cap stands there, surrounded by a squad of MODOCs, and simply utters the words, "All right...let's go", before we return to the debriefing in SHIELD HQ.  The Steve Rogers that Ed Brubaker presents to the audience is a hardcore, bad ass personality who exudes a confidence in his abilities that belies his humbleness as a person.  He firmly believes in a set of ideals and will do anything to protect those beliefs, and defend his country.  This is a Captain America that I never knew existed, and quite frankly, I'm not sure existed prior to Ed Brubaker getting his hands on the character. But I digress...

In the debriefing, Fury elaborates on the history of the Winter Solider that had largely been considered Cold War myth save for a handful of photographs over the decades that showed a man, despite all the time that passed between, only aging a small number of years.  But despite the photographic evidence, despite everyone else connecting the dots, Steve Rogers still refuses to see the obvious.

Back to Philly as Fury essentially asks Steve what he saw with his own eyes, but before that happens, we get a dynamically rendered Steve Epting fight scene between Cap & the MODOC's.  The fight ends, Bucky saves Cap, and we get this...

It's amazing, as we come back to reality, how unwilling Steve is to accept what he witnessed for himself.  "I don't know what I saw..." is all he has to offer before taking one more look at the photo evidence and lashing out at the monitor.  SHIELD's hunt is on for Lukin, as he's the suspected culprit behind Philly, but you know Steve only has Bucky on his mind.  And speaking of, we get a flashback to that first page of the Volume as Karpov hauls "something" into his sub...that something turns out to be the one-armed apparent corpse of Bucky.

The 2nd chapter of the volume (ish 9 for those keeping track) marks a moment that will go on to haunt the Marvel U for many years to come as Crossbones breaks into a government Re-education Facility to abduct some girl.  Who you ask?  Well I had no friggin' idea when I read this the first time so I'm holding back that information for a bit...

As we get back to Cap, Sharon, and SHIELD the reader gets another example of how well Brubaker uses flashback to flesh out the story...it comes off akin to watching the memories of these characters unfold before us rather than being told what happened.  Not sure if that makes sense how I'm explaining it but, as I said before, the flashback scenes as Brubaker writes them just feel different.  And the back-to-back flashbacks from Steve & Sharon to Steve & Fury just flow so well with the couple page "in the moment" bridge between them. 

This whole sequence though really demonstrates the relationship between Fury & Cap, the respect inherent in their relationship despite Fury's shadiness, as Nick risks an international incident to, in part get after Lukin, but in truth to allow Cap to get his hands on the man who may be steering the Good Ship Bucky.  The assault allows the reader to get another look at how close to the edge Cap is, and lets us see just how deep Lukin has his hooks into the US Government AND ROXXON which one of the major corporations in the Marvel U.  Lukin is insulated by these relationships, and with the Cosmic Cube in his possession, he also has the power to protect himself.

Before we close out this chapter, Brubaker takes us back to Crossbones and that random girl he kidnapped.  Turns out she's not so random, she's Synthia Schmidt...the Red Skull's daughter...Sin of "Fear Itself" infamy.

Page one of the next chapter, issue 11, is the reader's first real insight into the effects the Cosmic Cube has on its holder. Lukin is talking to someone but the second panel clearly show there is no one else in the room though, and the 5th panel gives you a jagged little bubble to indicate his secretary on the phone, so his conversation wasn't a speaker phone one.  His look at the Cube as he wonders "...what have you done...to me...?" about sums this page up.

As for the rest of this chapter, well it is info dump time for the benefit of the reader and Steve Rogers as well.  See the Project: Winter Solider file that Lukin was looking for on page one has somehow found its way to Cap's apartment so the whole of this issue is devoted to Cap's reading of that file.  This entire issue is made by the art of Epting; the text from the file is written as doctor's notes so it's not a dry read, but nevertheless it is still a giant info deposit into the brain bank and that has the potential to be boring even in the pen of the most talented scripter.  It is the art that truly makes this come to life for the reader as Epting depicts the blank slate of Bucky that came out of the water sans his left arm and brings to life his (de)evolution to the Winter Soldier.  The brutality of the Soldier is contradicted by the moments where Bucky goes walkabout in the United States and Epting depicts a man who looks lost in familiar surroundings.  Bucky has this look on his face in one panel that's like he recognizes his environment but isn't sure WHY he knows it.

The dialogue accompanying the file switches from the doctor's notes to the personal journal of Karpov, the man who found Bucky in the water, circa 1983.  This is the first time the reader gets an insight into the machinations inside Karpov's mind and an answer as to why he had done to Bucky what has been done.  Karpov wrote, "It will never make up for what he and his people did to me in the war, how they shame me in front of my own men, but even after all these years, it still makes me msile to see Captain America's partner serving Mother Russia."

And with one last entry from 1988, we see the intended final fate of the Winter Soldier as Karpov instructed he be decommissioned, a fate he probably would have lived out forever if not for Karpov's protege Lukin & the Red Skull back in issue 1.  And the kicker to the whole issue?  Steve's flashback to a night at the movies with Bucky back in the 40's as they see a newsreel of themselves in action.  The more light-hearted Bucky attempts to liven up the moment but the ever-serious Steve isn't having it.  We see the turth depth of Bucky in this memory, but we also get to hear a crushing line of dialogue from Bucky that really sinks it home just how hard this is hitting Steve..."Sometimes I think if you didn't have me, there wouldn't be a single person in the world who really understood you..."

Lukin and the Cosmic Cube hit NYC as he looks to auction one of the most powerful artifacts in the Marvel U, an artifact that Cap, Sharon, & Fury don't realize he even has at this point. They think the fact that the file ended up in Steve's apartment and that the gun used to shoot Red Skull was so easily found are just examples of Lukin playing mind games.  The truth with Luking seems to be something more...sinister, but the truth about Bucky is actually hopeful.  The information in that file gives weight to the idea that Bucky was not in control of his actions as the Winter Soldier, but Steve sees it as something more tragic.  He sees a man trapped inside of himself repeatedly fighting to get free...that though also gives us a flashback to the moment that Steve & Bucky first met.

Back to the auction as it takes a turn for the frightening when Lukin basically says to hell with the auction and uses the power of the Cube, when asked for a demonstration, to create contracts from thin air and influence the men present to sign over their respective corporations to Lukin's Kronas Corporation.  Oh, and then he beats his assistant with a table for trying to touch the Cube.  Stable huh?

Steve makes his way across town, arguing with himself all the way about Bucky, and sparking a memory about a moment in 1944 where they encountered what were essentially zombified American soldiers who had been lobotimized by the Nazis.  Bucky's reaction to the horror, and to how they men weren't in control of themselves as they attacked fellow American soldiers, is the key here.  And we close with another friend, probably Steve's closest since his rebirth, making his arrival on scene:

Now aside from reading the "Captain America: Disassembled" trade, I really have no idea of the history between Sam Wilson & Steve Rogers.  But I feel comfortable making that assertation about their relationship because of how intimately Brubaker writes them.  I mean of all people for Nick Fury to call when he thought Steve needed a friend; it wasn't Iron man or Black Widow or some other Avenger, it was The Falcon.

And the conversation between those friends is wonderfully juxtaposed by Lukin in the medical facilities at Kronas with his firned that he just beat the life out of in a psychotic fit of rage.  The shots of the blood on Lukin's hands are wonderful, as is the very telling phrase "This cannot continue".  Something is slipping within Lukin, especially went contrasted with the man who was very joyless in his execution of Red Guardian in issue #1.  Sam & Steve on the other hand try to figure out how to handle the Bucky situation while expressing their fears about the Cube being in Lukin's hands.  Sam makes note of how the Cube tends to negatively effect the users while Steve ignorantly talks about how Lukin's been flawless so far.  In truth, it doesn't even seem like Lukin is in control either.  Not with the Winter Solider file ending up in Steve's hands for one example.  That was obviously not in the plan......which leads to Lukin having Winter Soldier take the Cube away while that little voice from before tells him "It's a big mistake".  There's a little moment during the Winter Soldier/Lukin exchage as well where orders are questioned...seems the programming might be getting a little sketchy at this point.

Iron Man joins the party for an assault on AID (Advanced Ideas in Destruction, an AIM Splinter Group) in which the trio gets the knowledge on how to track a Cosmic Cube (there's multiples of this thing???), but Tony Stark can't stay with the party for the raid.  Business concerns and what not, stuff Steve readily understands.  And as the penultimate chapter of "Winter Soldier" closes, Bucky lines up both Cap & Falcon in his sights, and a shot is fired...

...at Falcon.  Bucky misses, the shield flies, and the assault begins.  In short order Falcon deals with the grunts while Cap runs off in search of Bucky, and we finally get the man-to-man fight between these old friends.  As the fight begins Cap states, among other things, "I can't fail you again..."

The fight continues on as SHIELD arrives but when push comes to shove, and Steve challenges Bucky to just shoot him, the Winter Soldier fires a shot but one Steve easily evades.  A toss of the shield knocks the Cube from its bag, Steve picks it up, and with the words "Remember who you are"....

...It all comes back...

Bucky remembers, calls Steve Cap, and uses the Cube to apparently remove himself from the premises.  Sharon thinks he committed suicide, Cap knows better, and as we quickly see, Bucky has returned to the very place where he first met Steve Rogers.  But the game isn't quite done yet, one last visit to Lukin as this Volume ends, and we find him in mid-conversation once more. Only now, as the conversation progresses, it becomes increasingly obvious just who Lukin is talking to...



The friggin' Red Skull is trapped inside Lukin's head?!?!? WTF!?!? That is some seriously crazy shit, but completly plausible given the extremely unpredictable nature of the Cosmic Cube & the expressed fact that nothing good every comes to the user.  And this is where Brubaker leaves us as Volume Two ends....

I must say, these two volumes are one hell of a ride, especially for someone like me who never found any interest in Captain American prior to these issues.  It was a character I found visually cheesy, and my limited exposure to him via random Avengers issues did nothing to really get my into Mr. Rogers.  Brubaker turned that all around very quickly with wonderful characterization, an easy to follow yet engrossing story that wasn't any less impactful when I didn't know the history, and having an artist at the level of Steve Epting illustrating your work certainly doesn't hurt.  His is the measuring stick by which I compare any Cap artist now, and Epting also gave me a definitive take on the Red Skull in only the first issue.

And the true beauty of this story for me is how it lays groundwork, whether intentional or coincidental, for stories that would go down years later.  There are repeated allusions to SHIELD psych evaluations which become a major part of Brubaker's mega-story following Cap's death, the  (re)introduction of Sin in this volume has long term repercussions that are being felt now with the "Fear Itself" event currently rocking the Marvel U, and even the off-hand reference to Red Skull existing in a clone of Steve Rogers actually plays into the "Reborn" arc a few years down the line.  If this are things that were planned, absolute genius, even if they weren't planned but rather a story that just unfolded as Brubaker wrote, even more impressive. 

Even now, reading this back several years later, and probably for the 15th time (if not more) I am still amazed at how emotionally invested I can get in a story so familar.  I know the outcome, I know the beats, but each time I feel like I'm finding something new.  Never really picked up on the whole psych evaluation thing until this time out for example.

So for anyone who is a fan of Ed Brubaker but hasn't read his Cap, or for someone who saw the movie and now wants more Cap, this is the story arc for you.  It's a perfect jumping on story, and it is the foundation for the stories that continue to this day in the Captain America comic.  Do yourself a favor, buy these trades, the Omnibus, track down the back issues, whatever the case may be, just read it and read it soon.  You won't regret it....

As for the future of Cap after "Winter Solider", well I'm still debating on whether or not to continue thru Brubaker's run with the "Red Menace" trades that followed, or if I want to move onto something else.  Either way, get those too as it really evolves the Crossbones/Sin/Red Skull/Lukin story into crazy territory and we begin to see what the future holds for Bucky.

As for the long term stuff, well I am currently in the process of trading in my issue-by-issue collection of Brubaker's "Captain America" for the Omnibus & Hardcover offerings so my individual books are now up on Ebay: My Captain America Auction. 

If you'd like to me to keep going with Brubaker's Cap, let me know through e-mail, blog comments, facebook posts, or twitter.  I'm currently reading the "Red Menace" and "Cap: Civil War" trades for my own pleasure, so it wouldn't be too much to keep on going....



A Cornucopia Of Comments

So with being on the road 2 out of the last 3 weeks, and during the in-between week having my computer crash out, it has been awhile since I've had the time or ability to sit down and work on a new blog.  I've been thinking about it, pondering ideas and topics during this down time, and have decided to hit a little bit on all the subjects that have popped up in my head or in general comic-related news in the last few weeks.  So here we go....

2011 EVENT BOOKS

So this year we've got "Fear Itself" from Marvel and "Flashpoint" from DC, and both are looking to be seriously ridiculous in scope for those who are interested enough, and financially solvent enough, to actually buy everything involved.  Just looking at the solicits from each company for June, these are the numbers:


Marvel June Solicits
18 Total Fear Itself Books
9 Regular Series Tie-Ins
9 Mini-Series Tie-Ins

DC June Solicits
22 Total Flashpoint Books
2 Regular Series Tie-Ins
20 Mini-Series Tie-Ins
And 1 Set of Toys (4 Figures Total)

That's just one month!  Expand that over 7 months in the case of "Fear Itself" & 5 months for "Flashpoint" and you've got a financial disaster for the consumer waiting to happen.  With DC Comics, "Flashpoint" has the potential to put their last event, "Blackest Night", to shame (BN stood at roughly 78 issues not counting the lead-in books) and "Fear Itself" will destroy the book count for Marvel's last event "Siege" (weighing in at just under 50 issues). 

Both companies of course preach that it isn't necessary to read the issues outside the core mini-series to grasp the story, that they merely flesh out the main arc and show how the events of the main book effect their respective universes.  I think any reader can agree that this NEVER ends up being the case for ANY event. "Blackest Night" was close, but it had tremendous gaps that were only filled in by the events in the "GL" and "GLC" books while most of the other tie-ins were completely inconsequential.  "Siege" seemed to accomplish this goal more than any over event I can think of, but "Civil War" and "Secret Invasion" are both prime examples of epic failure in that direction.  Everything of importance in "CW" besides the explosion in Stamford and Captain America's surrender pretty much happened in the tie-in books, and meat of the "SI" story took place in the Avengers books more so than in the mini (which just kind of dragged along until the last issues when Wasp died & Normie put a bullet in the queen's head). 

And what about those readers who have absolutely no interest in the crossover and just want to read their regular monthly book? Marvel obviously doesn't give a damn about those readers with "Fear Itself", as they didn't with "Civil War" or "Secret Invasion" and just like DC didn't seem to care during "Blackest Night".  Pretty much every book in the line was touched by those crossovers directly, and in the case of those whose regular books weren't effected, well they ended up with a mini-series of their own.  The X-Men are the poster children for this with mini's in "Civil War", "World War Hulk", and "Secret Invasion".  They escaped "Siege" with only a single issue of "New Mutants" tied in and a few issues of "Dark Wolverine", but this year with "Fear Itself", for the first time in awhile, the core title will actually be a tie-in!  Matt Fraction is writing "Fear Itself", he just got off  "Uncanny X-Men", makes sense.

I guess I appreciate what DC is doing this year with "Flashpoint" by putting all the tie-ins into their own mini-series instead of invading the core titles with this alternate reality arc.  "Booster Gold" is the only book pulled into the alt-world, but given the entire concept of Booster, and the recent "Vanishing Point" mini, it makes total sense that it would be.  Regardless I won't be buying much beyond the core mini, the Batman mini, and the Captain Cold mini, but it is nice to see an attempt at listening to the readers on that subject.  And even though they don't necessarily listen to the complaints about the scope of event books, it's hard to blame them when the readership as a whole keeps plopping down their dollar bills.

Marvel, on the other hand, will only see my money for the "Fear Itself" mini and the "UXM" tie-in issues.  In part because my interest lies strictly in the fact that Matt Fraction is writing this event, in part because of how much of a letdown the last 3 Marvel events where ("CW", "SI", and "Siege) for me, and in large part because of the sheer cost.  And that cost brings me to another topic that's been floating around in my mind...

HOLDING THE LINE AT $2.99 (OR NOT)

Back in October of last year, both Marvel & DC announced they were dropping prices.  DC stated that all standard-length 32 page books would be priced at $2.99 effective January 2011 and Marvel followed suit shortly thereafter.  Marvel, apparently because "we demanded it", stated they were going to offer the first 5 mini-series of 2011 at $2.99 to which the comic world responded with a resounding "REALLY?!?!".  Now looking over the way each companies price points have evolved since the beginning of 2011, it's very clear which company listened to their fanbase and which did not.  Using the June 2011 solicits as a source once again, I only found 3 comics in the entire DC solicit that broke their $2.99 limit: one was an 80 Page Giant, and the other two were 40 issue stories (including "Flashpoint #1).  With Marvel, I gave up counting because there is absolutely no consistency.  Some monthly 32 page books are $2.99 (usually the smaller name characters like Thunderbolts & Avengers Academy), some are $3.99 (Amazing, Uncanny, Invincible Iron Man for example); some mini's are $2.99 and some are $3.99 but at least those seem to be broken up consistently based on whether or not the book is 32 or 40 pages.

Little things like this...actually no, price is not a little thing at all.  In my eyes, price is just as important as the quality of story & art.  If the price is too high, readers are less likely to buy the book regardless of how phenomenal the creative end of things may be.  The same can be said if the creative end of things is awful on a book only costing a dollar.  And Marvel, more so than DC, tends to make me feel ripped off for my dollar.  The recent Captain America #616 issue is prime example of this: big anniversary issue, $4.99 cover price, and inside.....15 pages of real story for Bucky that continues the story from last month, 15 pages for Steve to think about if he should be Cap again(which Marvel had the good sense to already spoil thus killing any suspense), and the rest: inconsequential short stories, not necessarily bad, but not worth the additional cost.   DC isn't innocent of shortchanging the core story either; the month they officially killed off their back-up stories, several books had the core story killed down to a handful of pages so the back-ups could wrap up (Streets of Gotham I am looking sternly at you), but at least the price point remained the same. 

Suffice it to say that, overall,  DC Comics has more than proven themselves to me as the fan friendly company as well as being the company with an overall higher quality of reading material.  If it wasn't for the X-Titles I buy, I might not be buying any Marvel at all.  I think my favorite quote on the price point subject came from the C2E2 convention in February where a young fan asked Eddie Berganza if DC was better than Marvel and Begranza replied with "Let's put it this way...we lowered our prices and didn't lie about it."

The issue of price & affordability leads me to another heated point of discussion amongst comic book fans, comic book retailers, and the comic book companies as a whole: digital comics & internet piracy!

DIGITAL DILEMMA

Marvel does it, DC does it, Dark Horse is working on it...digital comics.  With DC, they are $0.99 a pop and at Marvel you pay a yearly, or monthly, subscription fee to read as much as you want. Dark Horse is still in the process of setting theirs up so it's unknown at this point how they will price it out.  But with the two that have it set up already, they offer a great catalogue of material to choose from; new stuff, old stuff, classic stuff, it's all there!  DC offers books from Vertigo as well as the DCU proper, Marvel digs back into old Avengers book amongst others, it's not too difficult to envision every comic either company has produced eventually being available digitally.  So if that is the case, what is it that draws people to torrent sites to get the material for free?

While I'm sure a part of it is that last word there (FREE), I speak from experience when I say that a great deal of it has to come from the other word popping up frequently in this blog: COST.  I come from a generation introduced to comic books when they were marked at $0.75, if not cheaper, and have now come to see them sold at $3-$4 each.  I feel like an old man saying this, but I remember $.80/gallon gas prices, $2.00 packs of cigarettes, and movie tickets at $5 for night shows.  The rate of inflation on these things has been asinine, with those costs tripling, if not quadrupling, over the last 20 years.  I'm not a guy very knowledgable when it comes to economics, but as a consumer, that hurts.  And as a comic book fan, it bleeds you dry in a day when it frequently feels necessary to read three different books to get a full story, when there's a line-wide crossover yearly, if not a company-wide one, and all the books run you $3 a pop at minimum.  The cost to read the whole of "Blackest Night" had to be creeping on $400, and I'm afraid to see what the numbers will be for "FI" and "FP".  These factors alone are a reason to dip into free downloads just to keep up on the books you follow monthly.

Now what about books you've never read? A series that has been critically acclaimed and you are very curious about? You want to sample it but the thought of spending another $4 on top of the $100+ you've already spent that month is just too much.  What about an older story you've been dying to read but that work was never collected or is out of print?  Hell, what about the simple fact that, in addition to comics, you've got bills or kids or whatever the case may be that also puts a drain on your finances?  Those are the things that make "piracy" seem like a wonderful idea.  Honestly there are hundreds of spectacular comics on the market, there are hundreds of abominations that soak the market as well, and it just is not feasible to purchase every book that piques your interest.  A reader has to be selective on where their dollars are spent, so unless you're Uncle Scrooge taking a swim, the number of books you buy a month is entirely dependent on your cash flow.  Same with movies ($16 bucks at noon because the only showing is IMAX!), same with music (they learned their lesson), and both industries learned their lesson on the retail end (obviously theatres have not) because the costs for a CD, DVD, or Blu-Ray are far less than they were just a couple years ago. 

The free version of Napster may have been shut down, but it taught the music industry a lesson I believe.  The movie biz has been increasingly jumping on the digital bandwagon as well with services like NetFlix, and I firmly belive the comic book industry will be forced to learn the lesson as well.  As long as prices are higher than the general public is wiling to pay, especially for a total luxury item, then people will look for ways to get their fix cheaper, or not at all.  The internet & the prolific number of file-sharing sites floating around provide fans with a way to get that fix, as well as find the impossible reads unavailable by any other means. Seriously, how the hell else would I be able to read the entire library of Midnight Sons titles & crossovers??

It's a debate that is endless because it effects so many people.  The fan cuts down on the revenue of his local comic book store because he now spends $50/month on physical books instead of $100 and downloads the other $50 worth for free because those were books he had no true emotional investment, he simply just wanted something to read.  Comic shop then orders less books, distributor makes less money so the big guys make less money so maybe the prices get bumped up to compensate for the revenue loss.  AND we start the cycle all over again.  These are assumption on my part about the way this particular wheel spins obviously, but it's something that makes sense within my little brain.  I've had this conversation with friends who run shops, and they find it hard to disagree with me knowing first hand how much this fanboy fascination of ours costs.  The only advice I have: buy the books you love, figure out the rest...

Oh, and here links to the digital services offered by Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse in case you're interested. Just click on the company names...
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Think I'll wrap this up now and continue my ramblings in another blog.  So please join me next week when I rant about re-boots and when spoilers get disguised as solicits!