I used to have time to read my comics in a coffee shop. Now I have to read them in the bathroom. Then I write reviews of them. I wash my hands in between.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #19
All right, I admit it, I am a johnny-come-lately to the world of Captain America. I got on board with the ‘Death of’ storyline, but I’ve stuck with him ever since. Even through that hideous and overlong ‘Dimension Z’ crapfest of recent. But I gotta admit, I don’t really have a feeling one way or the other for Steve Rogers. As a person, sure, I get it. He’s the world’s greatest tactician and soldier, a man out of time, blah blah blah. That’s all fine, but the Steve Rogers parts aren’t why I keep buying the book. It’s the world he lives in, and all the other characters that inhabit it, that’s why I’m still here, reviewing Issue #19 and still geeking out over the movie I saw two days ago.
I love spies and spy organizations. I love secret government
conspiracies and when those conspiracies blow up in the faces of those
responsible. I’ve always loved S.H.I.E.L.D. and what they represent and the
order they are trying to keep in a world full of Gods & Monsters. And I’m
not the most patriotic Son of the Good Ol’ US of A but I’m nowhere near the
least. Since I got on board with this book/ character the stories I’ve loved
the best have been ones that shake Cap’s faith in his Government and his
mission. Coming back from his death, taking over as the head of SHIELD, dealing
with the anarchists and those who just want to watch the world burn (quote
liberally and intentionally stolen), these have always been my favorite stories.
The Dimension Z tale is the most forefront of the stories I have tuned out on.
I get what they were doing, trying to infuse some of that original ‘man out of
time’ or ‘in an unfamiliar time’ pathos back on the character by stranding him
in another dimension for 14 years, raising a family, etc. But I just didn’t
care. At all. See the above list of stuff I like and you’ll see that none of
that stuff was on hand in Dimension Z.
The Winter Soldier story, though, that was the exception.
Bucky Barnes, for the longest time, was, along with Peter
Parker’s Uncle Ben, an IRREVERSIBLE death in comics. A character whose death
was SO IMPORTANT to the makeup of another character that to bring him back
would be detrimental to that other character. Losing Bucky was a defining
moment in Cap’s life and the general consensus was that there was NO good way
to bring him back that would make Cap’s story better, not worse. Along comes Ed
Brubaker with the idea that Bucky was rescued by the Russians and brainwashed
to become the ultimate assassin and who is still operating today. Cap and TWS
meet head on and when Cap realizes its his old friend, well, the stories that
subsequently came out of it were some of the best of Cap’s decades long run and
revitalized the character like nothing else had. Hell, the SECOND movie with
the character featured The Winter Soldier in the TITLE!
So where does that leave us with this issue? It seems like
every time Marvel needs a new villain or set of villains it retcons a ‘Weapon’
program. Wolverine debuted as Weapon X and we thought it was a cool name. Then
we learned the X was a Roman numeral ten, and that he was the tenth generation
of the ‘Weapon Plus’ program that created the likes of Sabertooth and Deadpool,
genetic anomalies. NOW, we have the ‘Weapon Minus’ program that apparently was
tasked with creating opponents for the Super Soldiers in the world (like Cap)
should they go off the rails. Through the manipulation of a villain calling
himself ‘The iron Nail’ (who may or not be a former SHIELD agent named Shen who
was just introduced in the new Winter Soldier series- SYNERGY) a Weapon Minus
member has escaped. Calling himself ‘Dr. Mindbubble’ (I know) he can generate
bubbles…from…his…mind? That when they envelop your head, you are under his
control. It’s all very trippy. By this issue he’s taken control of most of
SHIELD and one mega-helicarrier and has just crashed two smaller ones full of
innocent SHIELD agents in an attempt to destroy SHIELD’s ‘Big brother-like’
stranglehold on the world. Cap is PISSED. But he races right into the fight and
gets a bubble on his head for his trouble.
Of course he’ll break the control. Of course he’ll save the
day. But those agents are still dead and that’s the kind of stakes I like to
see in my comic books. Even though ‘Dr. Mindbubble’ makes me cringe, I’ll be
back next month. And if you haven’t seen the movie, what are you waiting
for!?!?!?
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