Review- CAPTAIN AMERICA BY ED BRUBAKER VOL. 1

CAPTAIN AMERICA BY ED BRUBAKER VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects Captain America Nos. 1-5 (cover dates September, 2011- February, 2012)

Writer: Ed Brubaker

Artist: Steve McNiven

Steve Rogers is Captain America again. It's funny, I normally dislike sweeping changes for comic book characters, but Bucky as Cap was handled so well that I'm sorry to see him go. I guess it's like when Sammy Hagar replaced David Lee Roth in Van Halen. The Sammy era had some good stuff, but most folks were clamoring for Diamond Dave. So I guess that Steve Rogers is like David Lee Roth.

What we have here is another World War II ally who comes back to the present as a villain, this time in the form of Codename: Bravo. The main difference here being that Codename: Bravo isn't exactly wrong. America has gone down the tubes. My Grandpa (who also served in World War II) would have been out in the streets throwing Molotov cocktails at banks and Walmarts. The sense of honor and fair play in this country has been replaced by corporate greed and class warfare. 

There are a few creators who make it easy for me to part with my cash, and Ed Brubaker is one of them. I never worry that the book is going to suck or piss me off. Steve McNiven's artwork is not only the icing on the cake, it's like one of those Hostess Cupcake bonus packs where they'd give you the 3^rd cake for free. Well, when there was a Hostess, before it was stripmined so that a CEO could get richer.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Typical Marvel Premiere Edition Hardcover, with the same production values, advantages and shortcomings that the format has to offer.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Nice thick coated stock, perfect for this material.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. It's glued, but it's a thin hardcover, so it's no biggie. It's not like it's going to fall apart or anything. I normally lose sleep over books with glued binding, but not with these Premiere Hardcovers.

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