Review- CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE CAPTAIN

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE CAPTAIN (Marvel, 2011; Softcover)

Collects Captain America Nos. 332-350 and Iron Man No. 228 (cover dates August, 1987- February, 1989)

Writer: Mark Gruenwald

Artists: Tom Morgan, Kieron Dwyer, Al Milgrom, Ron Frenz (covers only), and other inkers

The gist(with spoilers in this paragraph)- Steve Rogers, a/k/a Captain America, is called before a committee who informs him that since the Government paid for the Super Soldier Serum, costume, shield, and came up with the name Captain America, then the Government owns Captain America. They then offer him a job to carry out their missions. Rogers decides that he serves America as a whole and not just the wants and needs of this committee and quits. This causes the Government to seek out a replacement Captain America. Enter John Walker, formerly known as the Super-Patriot, who is more than a little unhinged. Cracks in his sanity are almost immediately apparent, and as time goes on he shows more and more ticks until he completely snaps after watching his parents get murdered in cold blood right in front of him at the hands of the Watchdogs. 

Steve Rogers continues being a superhero, and since he can no longer legally be Captain America or wear red, white, and blue, becomes the Captain. He has a loose knit entourage of crime fighters with him, including the Falcon, Nomad, D-Man (Demolition Man), and Vagabond. D-Man's costume is dreadful, being a hybrid of Daredevil's quickly aborted original costume and Wolverine's headgear. Just a terrible, terrible costume design. He is a super-powered former wrestler who bankrolls many of this ragtag group's exploits, including Cap's new costume. Captain America gets a new shield from Tony Stark (Iron Man) which is made of adamantium. I won't go into the whys and wherefores of it, but this gift is short-lived, as Rogers gives it back under protest. Then the Black Panther (T'Challa, ruler of Wakanda) gives him a shield made of vibranium. 

The Serpent Society are recurring antagonists throughout this book, as are the Watchdogs, Left-Winger and Right-Winger. The Flag Smasher arc is good, ditto the return of the Red Skull. The late Mark Gruenwald really turned things upside down without making it feel disjointed or off-putting. The art is mostly solid throughout this book as it rotates between the stable of artists listed above. 

I bought issues 334 and 337 off of the stand back in 1987. They didn't make a whole lot of sense to me at the time, since they were both parts of a larger epic. I am glad that Marvel is reprinting these “lost” classics and putting them back out there for modern audiences to discover, and for us older fans to get a chance to experience as well. 

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I love love love the paper stock that is used in this book. It's the exact same grade that Marvel uses in their softcover Masterworks and Classic trades. It has a dull, matte finish, but is of a sufficient weight coated stock where it doesn't feel cheap. It looks and feels like an old comic book without being as chintzy as one. The cardstock cover has that same nice, thick lamination that all Marvel trade paperbacks have.

Linework restoration rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5. This has a nice thick band of glue, and you don't even hear a creak when you fan through it.

Cardstock cover rating: 5 out of 5.

Follow my blog on Facebook.

Join my Facebook group, DC Collected Editions Fans Who Want Sewn Binding and Books That LayFlat, a watchdog organization dedicated to top notch production values in DC's collected editions.

Review- CAPTAIN AMERICA: SCOURGE OF THE UNDERWORLD

CAPTAIN AMERICA: SCOURGE OF THE UNDERWORLD (Marvel, 2011; Softcover)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man No. 278, Captain America Nos. 318-320, Marvel Fanfare No. 29, US Agent Nos. 1-4, the US Agent back-up stories from Captain America Nos. 358-362, as well as additional material (selected pages) from Iron Man No. 194, Thing Nos. 24, 33, Secret Wars II No. 2, Thor No. 358, Captain America Nos. 311, 347, 350, 351, West Coast Avengers No. 3, Avengers No. 263, Fantastic Four No. 289, and Amazing Spider-Man No. 276 (cover dates May, 1985- September, 1993)

Writers: Mark Gruenwald, John Byrne, and others

Artists: John Byrne, Mark D. Bright, M.C. Wyman, Paul Neary, and others

“Justice is Served!”, fired by a gunshot, is how it all began. My first encounter with the villain eventually known as Scourge was in Thing No. 24, a healthy portion of which is reprinted in the beginning of this book. This book is what I call a “Jeph York special”, meaning that Jeph York of Marvel pored over countless comic books, cataloging incidents that tied into the larger whole of the story. He takes pages, in a virtual razor blade style, slices them out of various titles where the villain would appear, and collates them into a cohesive, fully explained introduction. Scourge would pop in the middle of any title, and you'd see a villain, i.e. the Human Fly, vowing to get Spider-Man, but before he could even so much as escape, Scourge would plug him and shout Justice is served!

This happened for a year or so before finally being addressed in the pages of Captain America and the Amazing Spider-Man. I read the ASM issue at the time, but never got to know the nuts and bolts of the villain. This book handily answers any and all questions one could possibly have about Scourge.

The US Agent (whom I'll go more in depth about in my forthcoming review of Captain America: The Captain TPB) ends up locking horns with Scourge over the course of his mini-series. 

Mark Gruenwald handles the majority of the scripts in this book. Gruenwald's a solid writer, able to build things to a boil before dashing off into a completely different direction. I loved all of the twists and turns. A good writer can make or break a book.

M.C. Wyman's artwork on the US Agent mini-series was surprisingly good. I had never heard of him/her, and found the artwork to be fluid and storytelling clear and concise. All of the artwork in this book was decent, and for the time these issues were originally published, above average.

This is an excellent package overall, and reads remarkably well. I missed out on Cap during the '80s, but am making up for lost time now.

The OCD zone- This has the same nice, dull matte finish coated stock as Marvel's Classic and softcover Masterworks lines of trade paperbacks. This is my favorite paper stock currently being used by Marvel for softcovers, and works really well for presenting vintage material. It reads and feels comic book-y without feeling like cheap pulp paper.