1. I thought the point of having two rotating art teams was to have two rotating art teams, if one is Luke Ross on pencils and the other is Butch Guice, then why is Guice inking over the pencils of Mitch Breitweiser? Is he already hitting delays? I mean, this is the second issue of the book for him, so that’s almost embarrassing to be late that early on. And I say this with no great pride or joy, as I’m a fan of his.
2. I do love this book, I do. I love Brubaker’s characterization, I love Bucky as Cap, I love Falcon in a consistent supporting role, I love Steve showing up and being awesome, and I even love Natasha and Sharon. There is so much to like about it, so why do I not find the same level of interest reading this book as I used to? Nothing has changed, I mean, it’s the same quality it always was, but for some reason it’s just starting to feel tired.
3. I don’t, however, like seeing Sam “The Falcon” Wilson always in a state of peril. Last arc he was kidnapped and beaten, this arc he gets blown up. Sure, he always comes back to be awesome in the end, but he shouldn’t be a man in distress anymore then Natasha should be a damsel in the same way.
4. A very valid point was raised about Buck and his secret identity, and how he spends as much time in costume without a mask as Ultimate Spider-Man. While Buck might be fortunate enough to have been reported dead when he looked ten years younger, and that was sixty-five years ago, so it’s not super likely he’ll get noticed or remembered.
5. Which brings my next point, what kind of a secret identity does he have? I would love to see that aspect of him covered as at least when Bru was writing Steve, he already had a public identity and there was no reason to really explore it. Buck is a blank slate, so something like this would be a great thing to work on.
6. For as much issue as I take with Zemo being a bad guy again, I will submit to the fact that he’s a clever S.O.B. and makes for a great master manipulator, I guess because even as a hero and anti-hero he displayed the exact same attribute. He’s moving people around like pieces on a chess board and nobody has even come close to figuring out his involvement. His involvement which does make perfect storyline sense as it was Zemo’s father who died with killing Bucky as his big claim to fame, so the knowledge that the new Captain America is the sidekick that his father was believed to have killed makes it a matter of family honor. After all, if he can lay claim to one of his fathers accomplishments, then that’s just a massive stroke of his ego.
7. I understand the concept of mind control, but why does Bucky not think twice about a bunch of Nazi’s coming at him from behind police cars? Seriously, how many Nazi’s does he think run around New York in full uniform in the middle of the afternoon? If that’s all he’s seeing, you’d think he could at least question the sheer random and out of place factor behind it. Like, I’ll let him get away with it, but it’s seriously out of place that he’d just accept a bunch of Nazi’s straight out of 1944 running at him in the middle of New York. Hydra or AIM agents? I could see that. Super villains? Sure! Hell, even random people with Nazi armbands! But uniform wearing Nazis? Doesn’t work for me.
8. The Nomad backups have really grown on me over the past few issues, and a great deal after reading the first issue of Young Allies. My own Teen Titans bitterness set aside and I’m finding myself really enjoying with McKeever is doing with this character that I actually have some fond memories of. I enjoy her characterization, and the girl without a world aspect. It’s interesting to see a character who has quite literally found themselves homeless and still super heroing, who has to do their clothes shopping at homeless shelters and the good will. It’s original, well, to me at least, I can’t remember seeing it before.
9. That said, I didn’t like the ‘bad guy’ at all. This isn’t the fault of the writer, as I saw what he was doing, I just can’t stand that sort of character in any medium. I have no sympathy for the crazed grieving parent who killed their kid on accident and now leads new ones in and snaps and starts calling them by the name of their dead kid before killing them. I don’t like at all that I’ve seen this plot no less then four times in the past several years; between TV, movies, and comics. It’s just the wrong kind of creepy to me, and I REALLY don’t like stories about child abduction anyway.
10. Rating: 7/10 because while there’s nothing really wrong with this book, and I mean, it’s a good issue, but there’s nothing standout about it. Maybe the luster has just come off, but as great as Bru’s run is I don’t think I appreciate it anymore. I’ve read and digested his run from Captain America #1 through Captain America Reborn and now up through Cap #607. All in all about sixty issues, but they’ve been good issues if not great issues. So what’s the problem? Probably the same issue I come across with Ultimate Spider-Man where it’s not so much that the book is getting bad, just that when you grow so used to something being a certain way, and it comes consistently, no matter how good it might be you eventually get a little bored. Now I’m hoping that Brubaker does something with this arc to reawaken my interest, but even if he doesn’t this book is still quality and faces no real threat of being dropped. It’s still good, after all.
