Captain America (Vol. 5) #2
Originally Presented at Comixtreme.com on January 7, 2004
Quick Rating: Great
Title: Out of Time Part 2
One of the deadliest men in the world may be dead. Can Captain America find the killer?
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Pencils: Steve Epting & Michael Lark
Colors: Frank D’armata
Letters: Randy Gentile
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover Art: Steve Epting
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Review: Ed Brubaker’s writing credentials all seem to boil down to two things he does really well - spy comics and crime comics. Even when he’s tackling superheroes (like in Catwoman), he seems to trend closer to those genres than to the typical spandex set. So when I heard he was taking over Captain America, I naturally assumed it would be a spy comic under his guidance.
While there are still lots of spy elements, though, this issue is a solid crime drama. One of the vilest men on the planet seems to be dead, and Captain America is called in to investigate the murder. It may not be a tragedy that this man is gone (if indeed he is), but anyone dangerous enough to take him out is dangerous enough to be just as big a threat himself. Brubaker takes an interesting twist in the investigation as well, and manages to work in some great action towards the end with another old foe of Cap that - to my knowledge - hasn’t been seen in quite some time. It may be more CSI than 007, but this is one of the best stories I’ve ever read from Brubaker and possibly the best Captain America story I’ve seen since the Mark Waid run.
Steve Epting is a veteran - I remember him from his prolonged stay on Avengers in the 80s and 90s - but his work is much fresher and much better than I’ve ever seen it. Maybe it’s because he’s not working with a separate inker, maybe it’s because of the fantastic colors of Frank D’armata, maybe it’s a combination of the two. The bottom line is, the artwork here is great. Cap has rarely looked this good.
We also get a few black-and-white flashback pages by Michael Lark, soon to be late of Gotham Central. His style was the perfect match for that crime drama and it’s unusual to see him on a superhero comic, but the sequences he does here fit his artwork perfectly. I don’t know what he’s got in the works now that he’s exclusive to Marvel, but a World War II-era Captain America comic wouldn’t be a bad idea. Nope, not at all.
Captain America is a great character, one of the real icons of comics, and he’s meandered for a long time. It looks like Marvel has finally landed him with a creative team that knows how to use him, and I couldn’t be happier.
Rating: 9/10
Quick Rating: Great
Title: Out of Time Part 2
One of the deadliest men in the world may be dead. Can Captain America find the killer?
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Pencils: Steve Epting & Michael Lark
Colors: Frank D’armata
Letters: Randy Gentile
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover Art: Steve Epting
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Review: Ed Brubaker’s writing credentials all seem to boil down to two things he does really well - spy comics and crime comics. Even when he’s tackling superheroes (like in Catwoman), he seems to trend closer to those genres than to the typical spandex set. So when I heard he was taking over Captain America, I naturally assumed it would be a spy comic under his guidance.
While there are still lots of spy elements, though, this issue is a solid crime drama. One of the vilest men on the planet seems to be dead, and Captain America is called in to investigate the murder. It may not be a tragedy that this man is gone (if indeed he is), but anyone dangerous enough to take him out is dangerous enough to be just as big a threat himself. Brubaker takes an interesting twist in the investigation as well, and manages to work in some great action towards the end with another old foe of Cap that - to my knowledge - hasn’t been seen in quite some time. It may be more CSI than 007, but this is one of the best stories I’ve ever read from Brubaker and possibly the best Captain America story I’ve seen since the Mark Waid run.
Steve Epting is a veteran - I remember him from his prolonged stay on Avengers in the 80s and 90s - but his work is much fresher and much better than I’ve ever seen it. Maybe it’s because he’s not working with a separate inker, maybe it’s because of the fantastic colors of Frank D’armata, maybe it’s a combination of the two. The bottom line is, the artwork here is great. Cap has rarely looked this good.
We also get a few black-and-white flashback pages by Michael Lark, soon to be late of Gotham Central. His style was the perfect match for that crime drama and it’s unusual to see him on a superhero comic, but the sequences he does here fit his artwork perfectly. I don’t know what he’s got in the works now that he’s exclusive to Marvel, but a World War II-era Captain America comic wouldn’t be a bad idea. Nope, not at all.
Captain America is a great character, one of the real icons of comics, and he’s meandered for a long time. It looks like Marvel has finally landed him with a creative team that knows how to use him, and I couldn’t be happier.
Rating: 9/10