The Marvels Project: Birth of the Super Heroes - Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting

This hardback collection reprints a mini-series published in 2009 and 2010, a short time before I started reading comics again, but somehow I'd never heard of it until I came across a copy at the Half Price Books in Corpus Christi last summer. It's written by one of my favorite modern comics authors, Ed Brubaker, and drawn by one of the best artists, Steve Epting. Since those two were responsible for what's probably the best run on CAPTAIN AMERICA since the days of Lee and Kirby, I expected to enjoy THE MARVELS PROJECT, and I certainly did.

Like Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross's iconic MARVELS, this story takes a look at some familiar events from a different perspective. The primary point of view character in THE MARVELS PROJECT is Dr. Thomas Halloway, who was also the masked crimefighter known as The Angel in Golden Age comics stories published by Timely, the company that would one day become Marvel Comics. Through Halloway's eyes we get a fresh look at some pivotal events in comics history: the creation of the original Human Torch; the attack on New York by Prince Namor, the Submariner, and the epic battles between him and the Torch; the transformation of Steve Rogers into Captain America; the introductions of the sidekicks, Bucky and Toro; and finally, after foiling a diabolical plot by the Red Skull, the formation of The Invaders, the first superhero team. Along the way, a number of other familiar characters show up, such as Nick Fury, The Destroyer, and even The Two-Gun Kid.

That last line is enough to tell comics fans that THE MARVELS PROJECT is a mixture of comics history from the actual Golden Age and some modern-day retconning that includes elements like The Invaders and John Steele. I'm generally a purist when it comes to such things, but Brubaker, after all, is the guy who not only did the unthinkable—bringing Bucky Barnes back to life after fifty years—but made even comics curmudgeons such as myself not only accept it but like it. He does a great job here, telling a fast-paced story steeped in history and nostalgia. Epting's art is excellent as well. His Captain America is the best since Jack Kirby's, and his period details are top-notch.

I'm glad I came across this one. It's thoroughly enjoyable and brought back a lot of good memories of Golden Age stories I've read, mostly in reprint volumes but a few in the original comics that I bought many years after they were first published. It was a different era in comics but a good one, and if you'd like to revisit it, THE MARVELS PROJECT is well worth your time.

Captain America: First Vengeance - Fred Van Lente

This trade paperback reprints a recent mini-series that serves as a prequel to the upcoming movie. As a result, there are some differences between this version of Cap and the established comics version. Purists, consider yourself warned.


And speaking as a purist myself . . . some of the changes are okay, the sort of thing you can expect when Hollywood gets its hands on something, and some are less so. Right off the bat, Cap’s costume is different, since he’s drawn to look like the movie version of the character. That’s actually all right with me. The look works. In the half-okay version, the Howling Commandos are only partially there. Dum-Dum, Gabe, and Percy show up and are portrayed pretty close to their comics versions, but where are the rest of the Howlers? And who’s that French guy running around with them? And Bucky Barnes is a Howling Commando? No way!


Which brings me to my biggest complaint, the fact that the movie continuity makes Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes roughly the same age. I realize that the current incarnation of these characters takes the view that Bucky was a teen-ager during World War II, instead of the adolescent “kid sidekick” he was in the original Simon & Kirby stories, but that’s not nearly the same stretch as making him and Steve contemporaries. That doesn’t work at all for me.


All that said, the story is fairly entertaining and the artwork is good for the most part. Viewed as an alternate universe Captain America story (which is usually how you have to view movie adaptations anyway), CAPTAIN AMERICA: FIRST VENGEANCE isn’t bad. It’s not really necessary unless you’re a completist or really enjoy the movie, though.

Captain America: Man Out of Time - Mark Waid

Since I’ve started reading comics again, there’s no doubt my favorite character has been Captain America. This volume reprints a recent mini-series that’s a retelling and expansion of events first chronicled in AVENGERS #4 – 8.


Now, I bought all those issues brand-new off the spinner racks at Trammell’s Grocery and Tompkins’ Pharmacy, so I was familiar with the story. But Mark Waid, one of the more dependable comics writers these days, does a good job and doesn’t monkey too much with what happened in those nearly-50-year-old stories. And it always does this old man’s heart good to see the original Avengers again, looking and acting like they did back then. The art by Jorge Molina and Karl Kesel is pretty good, too, with some decent storytelling.


To me, the appeal of this volume is primarily nostalgic, but even if you didn’t read those AVENGERS issues ’way back when, this is a good solid superhero yarn. Recommended for the comics fans among you.

The Trial of Captain America - Ed Brubaker

Ever since writer Ed Brubaker brought back Bucky Barnes from his apparent death in the closing days of World War II (and dang it, I still have to read that storyline, I’ve got the reprint collection sitting right here), the crimes he committed as the Soviet super-assassin The Winter Soldier have hung over his head. It was inevitable that somebody would want him to answer for them, and in THE TRIAL OF CAPTAIN AMERICA, it’s the U.S. government that comes after him. Although oddly enough, it’s New York City D.A. Blake Tower who’s in charge of the prosecution, not some federal attorney.


Anyway, as if being on trial for things that he did while he was under Soviet mind-control isn’t enough of a problem for Bucky, the new Red Skull (who is the old Red Skull’s daughter, previously and sometimes still known as Sin) is out to make his life miserable, too.


This story arc is a little slow-moving but still entertaining as it leads up to a final showdown at the Statue of Liberty (always a good spot for superhero fights), followed by a twist ending. Brubaker’s writing is good as always, and so is Butch Guice’s art (with the exception of D.A. Tower’s age and physical appearance being portrayed incorrectly, as Troy Smith pointed out in a comment on a previous post).


Under Brubaker’s guidance, CAPTAIN AMERICA continues to be one of the best comics out there today. While I didn’t enjoy this arc as much as some of the others, it left me eager to find out what’s going to happen next. That’s the true test of any form of serialized storytelling, I think.

Steve Rogers: Super Soldier - Ed Brubaker

Let’s recap. Steve Rogers was the original Captain America, but he died a while back, assassinated during the superhero civil war. (I missed all that, but I caught up.) Captain America’s former sidekick Bucky Barnes, who was thought to be dead since all the way back at the end of World War II, really wasn’t, so he took over as Captain America. Turns out Steve wasn’t really dead, either, but when he came back he didn’t want to take the Captain America identity away from Bucky. So, since his secret identity went out the window a long time ago, Steve Rogers becomes sort of a super national security advisor and also is placed in overall command of the various teams of Avengers.


If you’re still reading and haven’t gone, “Oh, no, more of that crazy comic book stuff!”, that brings us to STEVE ROGERS: SUPER SOLDIER (because it was the Super Soldier Formula that gave scrawny, sickly young Steve his powers back in 1941, you know), a new hardback reprinting the mini-series that introduced the character to the Marvel Universe in his current role. It’s written by Ed Brubaker, who also writes the regular Captain America comic and SECRET AVENGERS, the best of the numerous Avengers titles.


The plot of this story goes all the way back to Captain America’s origin, as Steve gets involved with the grandson of the scientist who invented the Super Soldier Formula. The secret of the serum was thought to be lost ever since its creator was murdered by a Nazi agent right after giving the initial dose to Steve. Now the grandson appears to have recreated the formula, but instead of using it for good, he’s going to sell it the highest bidder.


Or is he? That question is just the first of several nice twists that Brubaker throws into the plot over the course of the story, saving the last one for the very end. This isn’t ground-breaking stuff, but it’s very well-done superhero action, the sort of yarn I was reading and enjoying in comic books more than forty years ago and obviously still am. Brubaker’s script is nice and hardboiled, not too silly, and flows right along. The art by Dale Eaglesham is good, too, with a strong storytelling sense.


For good measure, the book also reprints the actual Captain America origin story from the first issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS in 1941, which was written by Joe Simon and drawn by Jack Kirby. This story has been reprinted several times and I’d seen it before, but the juxtaposition of it with Brubaker and Eaglesham’s yarn is a nice touch. Overall, I enjoyed STEVE ROGERS: SUPER SOLDIER a great deal and recommend it highly for comics fans.

Captain America: Reborn - Ed Brubaker

When I first heard that Marvel was going to kill off its iconic character Captain America, my immediate thought was “Yeah, right.” I thought the same thing years ago when DC announced that Superman was going to die. Call me a cynic, but after fifty years of reading comic books, I know that death is seldom forever in that world. (Aunt May and Norman Osborn, for example.) But killing off a character, even apparently, can make for a good story in the right hands.


When I decided to start reading Marvel Comics again, I knew I didn’t have the money, the time, or the desire to catch up on everything I missed since I gave them up in disgust more than a decade ago. I figured I’d read just enough older stuff to get up to speed on the current storylines. I wasn’t the least bit interested in any of the big mutant-related mega-crossovers, and from what I’d heard about the Civil War storyline, I didn’t really care about it, either. I knew pretty much what happened and knew that the assassination of Captain America was part of that plot. But since I wanted to start reading Cap’s book again (he’s one of my favorite characters and has been since I bought AVENGERS #4 off the spinner rack in Tompkins’ Drugstore), I backtracked and read the trade paperbacks ROAD TO REBORN and REBORN, figuring that would tell me all I needed to know about Cap’s return from the dead.


I was right, but those reprint collections filled me in everything else that’s been going on since Ed Brubaker started writing the character. Bucky Barnes is really alive? Nah, couldn’t be. But remember what I said earlier about death seldom being forever in comics. Yeah, Bucky’s alive, and the explanation is actually fairly plausible. Bucky even takes up the shield and assumes the role of Captain America after Steve’s death (not the first time by any means that somebody else has been Captain America, and probably not the last). But then Bucky, Steve’s former girlfriend and ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter, the Falcon, the Black Widow, and assorted other characters discover that maybe Steve’s not really dead, and so we get an epic tale of the attempt to find out what really happened and set it right.


Clearly, Brubaker planned all this out years in advance, and I love that sort of long-range plotting. Sometimes it doesn’t pan out due to forces beyond the writer’s control (I still get emails from readers complaining that some of the series I’ve worked on didn’t wrap up well enough), but when it works, it’s great. And it certainly works in this case. Brubaker’s scripts are top-notch, and the art by Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice ranges from very good to spectacular, with only occasional lapses into sequences that are hard to follow. There are some great emotional full-page panels of Cap in action, too. If you’re a backslidden former Marvel follower like me who wants to start reading some of the books again, CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN wouldn’t be a bad place to start.