I really like this guy, he's a classy, take-no-shit, professional GEEK.
When I saw him at the Midtown comics signing, some D-Bag, "I don't read anything but Scott Pilgrim" online blogger did a quick video-interview with him and asked him "When is Bucky going to receive the Captain America shield, or can we expect him to get his own?"
And the other guys (Fraction, Bendis & Gage) started laughing, Bendis making pretend attempts to hold back Brubaker, who then looked to the interviewer like he had just watched him videotaping his sister take a poop.
Brubaker: "Do you even read the fucking comics man?"
And that began a shpeal about mainstream comics getting a bad rap because stories are supposed to always wrap up nicely and always be the same, so indie-kids never read the book, something "old" like CapAm, 'cause they expect it to never be different. He called the guy out on being an ignorant comic fan (this is the parts the conversation I could make out over the laughter from Bendis/Fraction/Other viewers/patrons of the store). Most of what he said was hilariously accurate though.
From there, I realized I needed to read this title. Brubaker was a guy who knew his stuff.
He keeps things fresh, despite a character who is anything but. I didn't want to warm up to him at first, but after Freak introduced me to the wonders of Barron Zemo (and I am now finally just getting into Thunderbolts), I began to delve deeper and deeper into this world of "Heroes Time Lost", and found Brubaker has no hang ups.
He drags dead characters back to life, in terrible ways that would be emotionally scarring for just about anyone, or finds ways to make people believe they were from that generation, or to hop into their grand-pappy's spandex, just for the thrill of saying "WE GOT TO STAND BY/UP TO CAPTAIN AMERICA"!
And always, Rogers just stands there saying "When is this nonsense going to end?"
It's great because it's often times a bit like reading Batman.
Hold on, don't roll your eyes yet I'm not done explaining -- LOL!
You never really know what's going on until the very end of the arc, and even then, each story sort of bleeds into an overlying, continuous plot.
Be it Red Skull (who is now -- supposedly-- dead), Zemo, Nazi professor Lyle Dekker as the Ameridroid, or Bravo & Jimmy Jupiter, these characters keep finding ways to come back from a void, an abyss, that characters who were "not cool" get sucked into, and they come back out as very cool, very scary, or very intimidating characters.
Brubaker doesn't let any story go untold, he gives details to everything, and he's always got his talented, trusty artist, Steve McNiven at pencils by his side. With Brevoort and Lauren Sankovitch editing (two people who I trust with editing, unlike the X-Team), this title is a great read for anyone who is looking for a classic character in a great-new-way.
Also -- if you're new to Captain America, there's some definite "have-to's" to pick up, most if not all written by Brubaker, but honestly we're only on issue #3 here, so if you want to go back and read the other stuff before Steve's return to "The Blues", you'll always have time. Now is a great pick-up point.
Happy reading!
[Edited on 24/9/11 by Ult_Sm86]
6/22/11 USM#160
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They're fighting!