Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Captain America: Man Out of Time - Mark Waid

Since I’ve started reading comics again, there’s no doubt my favorite character has been Captain America. This volume reprints a recent mini-series that’s a retelling and expansion of events first chronicled in AVENGERS #4 – 8.


Now, I bought all those issues brand-new off the spinner racks at Trammell’s Grocery and Tompkins’ Pharmacy, so I was familiar with the story. But Mark Waid, one of the more dependable comics writers these days, does a good job and doesn’t monkey too much with what happened in those nearly-50-year-old stories. And it always does this old man’s heart good to see the original Avengers again, looking and acting like they did back then. The art by Jorge Molina and Karl Kesel is pretty good, too, with some decent storytelling.


To me, the appeal of this volume is primarily nostalgic, but even if you didn’t read those AVENGERS issues ’way back when, this is a good solid superhero yarn. Recommended for the comics fans among you.

5 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

Never read a lot of Captain America. I recently read the first collected issues of Silver surfer. The opening one was good but after that they were pretty lame.

McNerderson said...

Cap is my personal favorite, and your title "man out of time" is the reason. He doesn't fit in this modern world, and when that is well written, as in the Ultimates line, it is some of the best comic book story telling I have seen.

Also, check out Marvel Unlimited digital downloads for a big stack of back issues for cheap. I have read several Golden age Cap stories, and while they are not the same quality of the more recent books, they are terribly interesting none the less.

James Reasoner said...

The Golden Age Cap stories are pretty good, all right. Marvel recently did a 70th Anniversary reprint of CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 that included the entire issue from 1941, including the first appearance of the Red Skull (very different from what he later became). It's well worth reading.

I haven't read any of the Ultimates line yet, but some of it does look interesting. I'm sure I'll give it a try sooner or later.

McNerderson said...

George Maxon Red Skull is a different Character than Johann Schmidt that we all know so well.

If you can forgive the shameless self promotion, there is a short piece on George Maxon on my site.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Cap is one of my favourite superheroes too and I am waiting for the release of Captain America: The First Avenger later this year. I wonder if Chris Evans will be convincing as Steve Rogers/Captain America after playing The Human Torch in F4. I am definitely waiting to see British-Australian actor Hugo Weaving play Johann Schmidt or Red Skull. He's back with a big-ticket film after the Lord of the Rings and Matrix series. Should be fun.