Captain America Omnibus, Vol. 1
by Ed Brubaker
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ed BrubakerIllustrator: Steve Epting
Illustrator: Mike Perkins
Illustrator: Michael Lark
Illustrator: Marcos Martin
Illustrator: Lee Weeks
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-10-03
ISBN: 0785128662
Number of pages: 744
Publisher: Marvel
Book Reviews of Captain America Omnibus, Vol. 1
Book Review: recession shmrecession - this one is must-read, must-own (hells, I'll just eat ramen cup-o-noodles for a month)
Summary: 5 Stars
Some superheroes are better served when allowed to do their thing in as close to a realistic backdrop as possible, and as near to street level. Daredevil is one such, Captain America is another, and it's awesome that my man Ed Brubaker is writing both. Of course, there's a grain of salt to this "realistic backdrop" thing as relates to Cap. Star-spangled dude does dwell in a holographic-enhanced building and gets to drive a nifty flying Porsche. Cap isn't the easiest character to write and to keep interesting to the reader. He's this noble but uber-bland boy scout, a leader of dudes, and is just about unbeatable in a scuffle. It's a given that when Captain America throws his mighty shield, all those who oppose his shield must yield (yep, I'm hummin' it as I'm typin' it).
Steve Rogers hasn't piqued my interest in forever long, and it took Ed Brubaker for me to start reading CAPTAIN AMERICA again. If you're any sort of comic book fan, then you're already clued in that Brubaker is one of the best writers currently going in this medium. He's known for penning gritty, hardboiled tales (Daredevil: The Devil, Inside and Out, Vol. 1, Criminal Vol. 1: Coward (v. 1), Sleeper Vol. 1: Out in the Cold, INCOGNITO) and he brings his first-rate sensibilities and knack for storytelling to these pages. What has worked fantastically is Brubaker's keeping Cap away from those generic superhero elements and planting him in an ongoing espionage thriller, a genre in which Cap's presence really makes sense, what with his close affiliation with S.H.I.E.L.D. and an emphasis on Cap being more supersoldier than superhero. Also, occasional black and white flashbacks to Cap's days in WWII lends him degrees of pathos and reminds us that he's a man whose own era has passed him by. As the first issue opens up, Cap is feeling pretty torn up and ticked off, what with the Scarlet Witch going bonkers, Hawkeye dying, and the Avengers ending up disassembled. So, yes, you could say that Brubaker has injected a measure of complexity into Steve Rogers.
SPOILERS now.
Naturally, Herr Red Skull isn't too far away and he's got his henchmen Crossbones, Dr. Faustus, and Arnim Zola lurking in the wings. And, again, Old Bony Face's long-ranged scheme involves the Cosmic Cube, the downfall of America, and the effing up of Steve Rogers. There's also a renegade Soviet general doing his evil thing, amassing influence and fortune and taking over corporations left and right. So far, it sounds ho-hum, yet Brubaker spins all this into a gripping, fast-paced story arc. Two things really stand out in Brubaker's first 25 issue run. Count me as one of those folks up in arms about Bucky being resurrected, yelling like nuts that this ain't no way, no how gonna work. And now I am completely sold on James Buchanan Barnes. It's all about how Brubaker went about it: taking his time, flirting with the notion of Bucky being alive and then introducing him (in his wicked persona of the Winter Soldier) and making him into a viable must-read contemporary character. When these issues were first coming out, believe me people were on edge waiting for that inevitable Captain America/Winter Soldier clash. When Captain America was assassinated in issue #25 (that was the other thing), shocked as I was and believing even now that Steve Rogers will return someday, I felt that no one but Bucky deserved to pick up that shield.
Brubaker also does justice to Cap's other supporting characters. Agent 13 (Sharon Carter), the Falcon, Nick Fury and Tony Stark pop in and out and fit in seamlessly. It was nice to have Agent 13 hanging out again with Cap and even picking up where they left off, romantically. We find out some wonderful tidbits along the way, such as the other Captain Americas who took up the mantle when Steve Rogers was taking his iceberg nap. One of my favorite arcs has Cap and Agent 13 teaming up with Union Jack and Spitfire in London as they go up against super-powered neo-Nazis (the 4-part "Twenty-First Century Blitz"). Meanwhile, one heartwrenching bit of read is that issue devoted to Jack Monroe's last pathetic days on earth (issue #7). If you're at all a fan of Nomad, then you won't like how he ends up, the supersoldier serum in his body having failed him and rendered him dangerously delusional.
End SPOILERS.
There's no page count in this trade hardcover, but this sucker is thick enough to kill a donkey, maybe two donkeys and a wee pony. CAPTAIN AMERICA OMNIBUS Vol. 1 collects issues #1-25 of Ed Brubaker's run, as well as CAPTAIN AMERICA 65th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (meh) and the pretty damn great WINTER SOLDIER: WINTER KILLS one-shot special. Time- and continuity-wise, these 25 issues cover quite a bit of ground, starting from when the Avengers had just disassembled, to the House of M tie-in (issue #10, which is the last story presented in this trade), to the founding of the New Avengers, to the Civil War tie-ins. This collection dazzles with 75 pages of bonus stuff: an Ed Brubaker intro; three interviews with and a quick bio of Ed Brubaker; an interview with Steve Epting; concept designs, page layouts, finished pencils and cover roughs by Steve Epting; variant covers by other artists; the script for issue #25; Jim McCann, from Marvel Sales & Marketing, reflects on the phenomenal news coverage re Steve Rogers' death; and comprehensive biographies on Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. Very cool!
Remarkable as the writing has been, the visuals have been just as key to this relaunched series's overwhelming success. Steve Epting, Mike Perkins and Michael Lark (on the flashback sequences) submit some ridiculously good, realistic-looking artwork. Cap has never looked better and doughtier and as for the Winter Soldier... well, you can see why you can't front on this dangerous cat. Do yourself a gynormous favor and pick this up, if you don't yet have the original collections. For what's offered in this very dense trade hardcover (which by the way can stop bullets and dissuade rampaging buffalos), the price is affordable; this is a fantastic way to spend a day or two, catching up with Captain America, as you pore thru all nine thousand, thirty-two pages of this enormous honking book, which also comes with its own gravitational field.
Summary of Captain America Omnibus, Vol. 1
Collecting Eisner Award-nominated Best Writer Ed Brubaker's first 25 landmark issues of Captain America in one titanic tome, plus the Captain America 65th Anniversary Special and Winter Soldier: Winter Kills one-shots! This deluxe hardcover, fat-packed with extras, features the story that stunned readers worldwide and sent shockwaves through the entire Marvel Universe: the death of Captain America! Also including the return of Cap's wartime partner, Bucky Barnes, as the Winter Soldier; the death and life of his greatest enemy, the Red Skull; and the emergences of a new threat, General Aleksander Lukin, the head of one of the most powerful corporations in the world! Collecting Captain America #1-25, Captain America 65th Anniversary Special and Winter Soldier: Winter Kills.Superheroes Books
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