I actually could not find the entire cover picture and since I don't know how to make my own, here we are...
Not gonna lie--I am super excited about reading this issue. The biggest reason is:
Ed Brubaker.
Dude is really a great writer, and he does amazing things with the character of Captain America. He kind of looks cool up there--I was actually expecting someone a bit older than he is. I like the hat and goatee look--a little Frank Miller, but Miller doesn't own that look.
Plus, Steve McNiven is no slouch himself. His artwork is consistently attractive, which I appreciate.
The other reason that I am excited about starting this issue is because I think (and I could be wrong) but this may be Steve Rogers getting back to his calling as Captain America after the death of Bucky and Steve's stint as director of SHIELD but not director of SHIELD.
If I am right about that--which I may be entirely off-base; this may be entirely unrelated to the current Fear Itself storyline, and indeed, all the background images of the front cover harken to WWII--then it is kind of a sad thing too.
For one thing, Bucky finally gets (in the past couple of years) to be resurrected, comes into his own as a character first as Winter Soldier and then as Captain America...and then he gets axed. It's pretty sucky, to be honest, but if we wanted Steve back as Captain America, then Bucky had to be taken out of action in someway, and dying in battle is probably the most dignified way. Better, perhaps, than leaving him too crippled to serve or in a coma or evil. If you leave that door open, then there is a chance he could come back and take over the mantle.
The other reason I would be sad about the return of Steve Rogers as Captain America is because
That costume rocks. I am a big fan of Steve's new "director" look, but if he is returning to an iconic role then he is going to return to the iconic look. This costume will be shelved to be remembered fondly as an alternate skin in Captain America games in the future, which (in my opinion) is a rather bleak future for such a cool idea. Granted, it's not like anyone else can inherit it; the only thing left to do is put it away.
Into the issue I dive.
Ugh, am I the only one that thinks that the "Got Milk" ad with Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern is stupid? There is absolutely no good reason that Hal Jordan would make a good spokesperson for the benefits of milk--it's not like you will drink milk and gain the powers of a Green Lantern, which is undoubtedly what they are trying to get kids to believe. Ridiculous.
The title/recap page is a really hideous shade of salmon in the background. Makes me think of tomato soup, and it's yucky.
I actually read the first few pages of this comic at the end of the Supreme Power that I wrote about last time.
Who is Margaret Carter??? Why are we burying her in Paris?? Curiosity.
Ahhhh, Peggy Carter. Forgot that Peggy was a nickname for Margaret. Which was a weird origin anyway--there were so many Margarets, sometimes multiples per family, so they had to have nicknames to distinguish. First it was Meg, then Peg, then Peggy. Which I guess could make some kind of odd sense, but it is still very bizarre.
I had thought when I saw the coffin that this was referring to Bucky's death, but obviously there are two problems with that--
1) Captain America is in the middle of a war with the rest of the avengers against the Worthy. He would not be able to leave, even for a funeral, until the situation was neutralized.
and 2) One would hope that after how hard he worked to earn the respect and friendship of the Avengers as Captain America that more people would show up (including media) to honor him in death. Not for the least because he died while fighting for the country. But once again, Paris would make little sense to me for a burial plot for Bucky.
Because of this, I am led to believe that this is probably running parallel to the Fear Itself line. It hasn't referenced it in any way, and has not given any indication that this is complimentary to that story line.
I don't like the way that Nick Fury was drawn, but I love Dum Dum Dugan =) That hat is just awesome. Fury looks like their is...too much humanity and compassion left in him in that scene, which may have been what they were going for, but on Nick it just ends up looking sappy and out-of-character.
Not certain who the guy shooting at Dum Dum was, but that explosion was drawn and colored gorgeously. The name didn't mean anything to me either; I do remember that when Cap was talking about the War back at the beginning of the issue that he was fighting someone that I did not recognize, but I figured it was a minor point.
Two things: one, isn't Baron Zemo dead? I seem to remember him joining up with the Thunderbolts, becoming the leader, and then dying as a hero. Is that not the truth, or is that just separate and apart from this story?
The other thing is...is the guy that was shooting at Dum Dum at the funeral just casually standing there, listening to the brief like nothing happened? Because if so--dude, balls.
They are discussing Hydra like it is an unknown entity, so I am thinking this is actually a flashback; which personally, I prefer when they TELL the reader that it's a flashback, but whatever. That would explain why the would-be assassin that shook Steve to the core is standing there--he may have been an ally back then. Maybe Steve saying "someone I haven't seen since 1944" was the lead into the flashback.
Sorry--flipping back, yeah, they did say "Paris, 1944", I just somehow missed it. Blame the cat, since he was laying on my hands when I was writing and reading that.
Codename: Bravo is a neat alias. Where is Bucky?
Doubly confused--Cap mentioned Jimmy when he saw the red goggled fellow; was he referring to the kid driving the bike that he jumped on to???
SHIELD no longer exists, so this has to be somewhere hovering around the mainstream story.
Peggy Carter = bit of a ho. Seriously, Cap can probably still taste Richard on her lips. And she gave that poor guy that "we were just lonely" thing, but pursuing Steve...either she doesn't think Richard can take care of that lonesomeness anymore, or this is incredibly cruel. It's like "Oh, I was just playing with you, but I am totes serious about this other guy". Ouch.
But if Bravo hated Steve, why aim for Dugan?
AHHHHH!!! Baron Zemo!!!!!
Bad. Ass.
Some questions left, but all in all, I am still giddy that Zemo is back. What a classy bastard.
I will note: Bravo said "what kind of Baron Zemo would you be..." last line of the comic. He didn't imply it was THE Baron Zemo, but maybe someone that has taken over the costume and name. Maybe it is me over-analyzing little words, but that would explain why the last one died as a hero and then this one came back as a fucker.
Okay!! Gotta go make clubs =)
~Andie~
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