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A review by mcbenzie
Captain America: Winter Soldier by Ed Brubaker
4.0
I've never been much of a one for patriotic heroes, but The Ultimates version of the character and the recent film made me appreciate Cap in a new way. He's a more complex character now he lives in our modern world, and this book doesn't present him as a simple man. He was a soldier, after all, and his job was to kill people in war; now he's living in a time of relative peace, at least as he understands it, and working not on the front lines but as a supposedly covert operative.
This run is great; strong story, great character work, great art. The usual superhero comic book conventions are still there - I won't mention which ones, it'd be a bit of a spoiler - but the emotional weight of the story meant I gave a damn about those things, too.
If I have reservations, there are only a couple. Agent 13, the series' only female character, is potentially an interesting woman, but she's not deeply drawn; sure she's capable in the field, but of course has been the girlfriend of two of her fellow agents, and when she's sent off on a mission alone, she of course gets captured and needs to be rescued. She's a good woman hero for a comic, it should be said, but the bar is set so low, even these days. Thankfully they at least avoid any overt romantic sub-plot for her.
There's also the matter of continuity; this is surprisingly light on, especially for a Marvel or DC title, but I'm still a little shaky on who some of the guest characters are (particularly Falcon) and the MacGuffin of the Cosmic Cube - seemingly capable of limitless magic-at-a-price in this book - is a little dissatisfying when I don't really know what it is or what it can do. Especially since so many characters say things like "is that what I thin it is?", or "And you know what the Cosmic Cube can do..."
But those things don't prevent this from being a very strong script and a killer story. I really enjoyed it; I'll be looking out for more Brubaker.
This run is great; strong story, great character work, great art. The usual superhero comic book conventions are still there - I won't mention which ones, it'd be a bit of a spoiler - but the emotional weight of the story meant I gave a damn about those things, too.
If I have reservations, there are only a couple. Agent 13, the series' only female character, is potentially an interesting woman, but she's not deeply drawn; sure she's capable in the field, but of course has been the girlfriend of two of her fellow agents, and when she's sent off on a mission alone, she of course gets captured and needs to be rescued. She's a good woman hero for a comic, it should be said, but the bar is set so low, even these days. Thankfully they at least avoid any overt romantic sub-plot for her.
There's also the matter of continuity; this is surprisingly light on, especially for a Marvel or DC title, but I'm still a little shaky on who some of the guest characters are (particularly Falcon) and the MacGuffin of the Cosmic Cube - seemingly capable of limitless magic-at-a-price in this book - is a little dissatisfying when I don't really know what it is or what it can do. Especially since so many characters say things like "is that what I thin it is?", or "And you know what the Cosmic Cube can do..."
But those things don't prevent this from being a very strong script and a killer story. I really enjoyed it; I'll be looking out for more Brubaker.