Ed Brubaker's Capt America 1-50, 1-19, 600-619, (& Bucky) 620-628, Reborn 1-6 / What is your verdict

[sabongero]

As the old CBR Forums are officially closed to viewing, it is inevitable that an Ed Brubaker/Captain America topic will be discussed.

What did you guys think about this lengthy run from before mid 2000s all the way to a couple of years ago? Eight years or so of brilliant Captain America stories, both with Steve Rogers, and James Barnes.

This was hitting all cylinders from the get-go. The run had so much impact stories, from the return of James Barnes as the Winter Soldier, to The Death of Captain America, and Barnes assuming the duties of the new Captain America. Then he spins our heads around by revealing that it was Sharon Carter that shot Steve Rogers. Great noirish style art by Steve Epting from the beginning to the middle of the run really capped, pardon the pun, the epic run at that point. We eventually knew, that Steve would be back, as comic book death in the Marvel Universe is almost treated to a reincarnation religious rights where you come back from the dead... except for sorry Uncle Ben and Gwen, and a few others.

This epic run brought back Steve Rogers, Captain America back to the forefront of readers and had him being talked about in fans comic book circles. It just shows you that Ed Brubaker is great at these thriller storylines, and his run is going to be remembered for quite some time as one of The Best, if not The Best, Captain America runs in history.

Share your opinions here.

[FanboyStranger]

4.5 up until Reborn. 3 for Reborn and everything after.

I'll give it a 4 overall.

[Tony Stark]

I'd give it a 5 for everything except Reborn. I thought Reborn was really bad, but it didn't put a bad mark on before or after.

[Global Honored]

I likewise wasn't blown away by Reborn but overall Brubaker's extended run on Captain America is one of my all time favorite comics. Everything leading to that was near perfect. What Bru and Epting did for Cap & Bucky is difficult to measure. It shouldn't have worked. Not only did it work, but it sold well, won awards, branched off into other series, made national news and even led to the first direct adaption of a comic to film. Because it was just so good.

[jackolover]

I thought Reborn was alright. What could you do anyway? You had Steve Rogers disappear for about 30 issues but you had to bring him back. The method was always too fanciful, by using a Doom Time Platform to link Sharon Carter with Rogers in time, but because it had to be done, it wasn't that unpleasant.

Looking at the whole landscape of what Captain America was about, Brubakers showed what it requires to be CA by juxtaposing Bucky Cap into the position, and Bucky was the next best thing. Yet, Bucky still wasn't enough to do what it takes to be Cap. (It was Rick Remender who showed the background of the Rogers family dynamic in the depression, that made an impact on the iconic nature of what Steve Rogers means). But just on the surface, Steve Rogers by Brubaker had difficulty keeping a solid Captain America afloat. He achieved it by a circuitous method, showing how others aren't able to hold onto the position of CA with the weight of expectation involved. Brubakers Steve Rogers comes across as that person, because no matter how hard it is, Rogers will be that Man, better than anybody else.

Do we want Captain America to be this perfect? I thought Bucky was a good Cap, even though he was disrespected by Obama. I still think Bucky could have made the suit work. It was Nick Fury who recognised that there was only one CA, and that America needed that one that Steve Rogers represents. I suppose that is the final issue. As an all around super hero, Steve Rogers is the guy who can survive politics, Space Invasions, Death by Time travel, anything that is thrown at him. I'm sure Bucky would do a commendable job too, but Steve Rogers carries it off without the legacy of guilt.

Did Brubaker achieve all this himself? Yes, but there were some flat moments, like after Reborn and the Heroic Age. But from Fear Itself onwards, Cap really stepped up, and that was at the end of Brubakers influence.

Rating 4

[Lady Warp Spasm]

For me, Brubaker was my gateway into Captain America, and more importantly, Bucky/WS. There were a few flat arcs (I didn't like the second Cap/Bucky and I'm still meh on Bucky becoming Captain America, BUT I understand it), but in rereading it I remember why I still get so sucked in: Ed made you care about these characters and I love that he worked espionage and the Cold War into the mix. And Bucky's return remains pretty darn spectacular.

Brubaker made me hate some of the villains (Red Skull, Sin and Crossbones) and appreciate others: Doctors Zola, Faustus and Baron Zemo.

Outside of the original WS story, "Gulag" is my favorite arc. Not just because it sets up the Winter Soldier solo series, but too, because of all the fun tweaks Ed threw into the Red Room etc. That's a storyline I can easily see translating to film. It was a fun way to integrate the brutal Russian prison camp into the Marvel U.

I'd say 4/5 too because I find so much to enjoy in rereading the run.

[JediMindTrick]

I wish they'd kept Bucky as Cap. Before it happened I never would have believed it would work but it did work and it worked great.

[Billy Batson]

I haven't read all of it and I when I started it, I read it in random order and I wasn't really impressed.
Recently I read the first 20 issues or so but it still didn't leave much of an impression.

[MykeHavoc]

It gets a five just for everything it did with Bucky. He's my favorite Cap and I do hope they get the chance to explore that in the films. What Reborn lacked in satisfactory story-telling was made up for in art and sheer wackiness towards the end. And the ongoing was still telling great stories, so it wasn't a total bust. The transition back to Steve as Cap and the new volume lacked the depth and passion that was clearly there earlier. But still, overall, a fantastic run and one of my favorites. I also include stuff like the Super-Soldier mini, Secret Avengers and the Winter Soldier series in the overall epic.

[TheMerc]

One of the best comic book runs ever, in my estimation. I thought that the fifth volume of Cap was weaker than the stuff that came before, but as a whole Brubaker still is MY definitive Captain America writer. He managed to approach most of everything that makes Cap Cap: he touched on the Great Depression/WWII periods, brought up Steve's time with the Invaders, included the Avengers and moreso Steve's relationship with Sam Wilson and managed to write every major Cap villain, all within a few tens comics. The Winter Soldier was a stroke of brilliance: not only did Bru bring back one of the "unreturnables" of the comic book world, but he did so perfectly, made him cool as hell - the look, the name, the background, the abilities, everything . and made people care for him, even those who were against Buck becoming Cap after Steve's "death". The espionage tone was perfectly captured as well. Just pitch-perfect comics all the way around!

It's funny, Brubaker is someone who people just don't seem to give enough credit to. Sure, most everyone recognizes that he's one of the best writers working today, but when it comes to naming the biggest names in the industry of the past decade, Bru's contributions tend to be unfairly forgotten or dismissed. His Captain America was so influential that it spawned an extremely successful and excellent movie, his and Rucka's Gotham Central likewise, his Daredevil was just as good as Bendis' (in my opinion), Immortal Iron Fist tends to be solely attributed to Fraction but Brubaker wrote it as long as Matt did, not to mention his runs on Catwoman or X-Men or his independent work with Criminal, Fatale and Velvet. It wouldn't bother me so much otherwise, but when I see people constantly singing the praises of people like Johns, Bendis or Fraction (who've been just as influential as Brubaker but that probably have far more missteps on their resumes than Ed) while Ed's excellent body of work is ignored, that's when I start thinking something is rotten in Denmark, as it were. Rant over, I guess! :P

[JackDaw]

I shall have to ponder this.

I'm not remotely tempted to give it 5 stars, didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Ed B's work on Criminal, Sleeper, and Incognito, or his contribution to Gotham Central.

I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars. My present bias is 3 stars, but I may be underestimating true worth of run simply because I went into it with such high expectations.

[KurtW95]

One of the (if not the) greatest Cap runs of all time.

[JackDaw]

Having pondered issue more, I've decided to go with my original gut feeling and vote 3 stars.

For me, it was an ordinary solid run, reasonable story line with good artwork.

The main reasons I don't think its outstanding are:-

1/ It just relied too heavily on existing super hero cliches. (Somebody you thought was dead comes back…tick. A supposedly genius level ruthless villain gets his hands on reality changing device, but lacks ruthless and imagination to use it to off the main opposition successfully…tick. A main character dies… but comes back later…tick.)

2/ There were no ground breaking new characters.

Compare that to the FF run of the blessed Jack Kirby and Stan Lee… a run that created stuff that eventually became cliches in hands of other creative teams, and introduced character after character. That FF run is a gold standard for mainstream super hero stories. In my eyes when I compare it to the Ed Brubaker/Steve Epting CA run, the Captain America run falls a long way short.

[HsssH]

If it was 1-50 then I'd probably would give 5, but for whole thing? Probably 3, it started dragging and Reborn completely killed my interest in the story.

[DebkoX]

My all time favourite run.