Saturday, August 22, 2009

A Quick Look at Captain America Reborn #2(of 5)

This comic is written by Ed Brubaker and pencilled by Bryan Hitch.

-We start off with Steve Rogers still taking an unwanted joyride through time, reliving events he has already lived through. A battle during WWII, a meeting with President Roosevelt, as well as the moment he received the Super-Soldier Serum. Steve is still at a loss as to why this is happening to him.

-Meanwhile, Bucky and the Black Widow are captured by Venom and Ares after the ambush last issue.

-Pym and Mr. Fantastic run some tests on Sharon Carter and Reed discovers something foreign in her bloodstream. Reed also begins to think back on Steve Rogers' autopsy results.

-Osborn(AKA Mr. Everything)tells Sin and Crossbones he wants them to pull a job for him, one only they would be able to accomplish. Osborn then mentions the possibility of a reborn Captain America leading his band of Avengers and the huge PR boost he would get from that.

-We end this issue with Osborn(yes, him again)meeting with his captives, Bucky and Black Widow. Osborn tells them he informed the media that Sharon Carter was involved in Steve's assassination, which infuriates Bucky. He then tells BW that he wants her to find Sharon and convince her to surrender to him. BW scoffs at that notion, but Osborn warns her that if she doesn't do as he says, Sharon will have the death of a second Captain America on her conscience.

This was an OK comic book. I wasn't blown away by anything here, since this mini is still setting the table for what's going to happen down the road. This issue gives Osborn a motivation for wanting to see Steve reborn(he wants Cap leading the Dark Avengers), as well as providing us with some pieces to what Red Skull's ultimate plan was regarding Cap's assassination. Apparently, Armin Zola and Skull wanted to implant Skull's mind into Steve's body, which makes perfect sense. Remember, at that time, Skull was inhabiting Aleksander Lukin's body. Possessing Steve would give Skull a better body than he was currently in, but more importantly, any crimes Skull would go on to commit would be done using the body of the Skull's greatest nemesis. That seems EXACTLY like the sort of thing Skull would want to do. What better way to destroy your greatest enemy's reputation then by having him go around committing heinous crimes? For a score, I'll give this comic an 8 out of 10. This was another good set-up issue, which will hopefully lead to some great fireworks down the road.I love the hostility between Reed and Pym here!

5 comments:

  1. Quick question since I don't read a lot of Marvel nowadays: Why is there so much animosity between Reed and Hank?

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  2. They had a throwdown in Mighty Avengers a few issues back when Reed wouldn't give Pym some gizmo Pym felt he was entitled to, since Pym co-created it. Reed thought it would be dangerous to allow someone as unstable as Pym to take possession of the gizmo. Although they wound up smoothing things over, there seems to be some lingering hostility.

    Besides that, personality-wise they just don't blend together very well. Reed has a habit of talking down to everybody, including Pym. Since Pym is a genius in his own right, he tends to take offense at that, which usually leads to some funny stuff between the two of them.

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  3. Thanks for the info, X-Man.

    Oh, and if you're still awake, I need your help, haha. I got a bunch of comic trades at my library a few days ago just to have some comic books to read this week, and I can't decide where to start!

    I picked up Marvels, Wolverine: Origin, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, and the Age of Apocalypse Volume 2 (they didn't have Volume 1). Which one should I read tonight, er, this morning???

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  4. X-Man, I'm feeling good because we're actually reading these books at the same time. How relevant!

    I have to agree with everything you said here. Like the first issue, this was solid, but not extraordinary. I did think the scene where Rogers relives his origin was pretty awesome though.

    I was surprised by how many people now know that Bucky is Cap. For a character who used to be "off the grid", he sure has come a long way.

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  5. Sorry I couldn't be of any assistance last night Robert, with school starting back up soon(and me having some 8 AM classes)I'm trying to get myself back into a normal sleeping pattern(which isn't easy!). AOA was my all-time favorite x-over in any company, so there's that, however, starting at vol. 2 might hurt the overall reading experience(I think there are 4 volumes in all). Wolverine: Origin was very good too. It's been a while since I gave it a read, but I remember really liking it. I actually own both Marvels and DKSB but haven't read either one yet. Let me know what you think of those books!

    Yeah Kello, that's the best thing about you getting your new books every three weeks and me having to wait for mine to arrive in the mail, we'll both be reading them around the same time(late)!

    I didn't even think about the thing with Bucky, but it's so true. So much for the secretive Winter Soldier days!

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