Captain America

Fear Itself #7.1

fear-itself-7-1-coverIt’s no big secret that I wasn’t a big fan of Fear Itself (or as I like to call it Marvel Comics Hammertime). Nor do I usually give even a first glance to Marvel’s slate of .1 issues which seems like a really odd attempt to explain storylines that writers aren’t doing well in the monthly titles. So the fact that I even glanced at this issue, let alone bought it, might at first appear odd.

The issue (finally!) wraps up with the death of Bucky Barnes from Fear Itself #3 with Steve Rogers preparing the eulogy for Bucky-Cap’s funeral. It also includes a scene where Rogers beats the ever-living-crap out of Nick Fury. And a second where he threatens to give the spy a second beatdown. Why you ask? Spoilers follow!

Bucky isn’t dead. Yeah, you read that right. Fury used the last of the Infinity Formula to save his life (making him yet another Super Soldier… how many does Marvel Comics have now?) and covered up the incident to make it appear the wanted fugitive had died fighting Sin and her magic hammer. Needless to say Cap ain’t too happy about being lied to.

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Captain America: The First Avenger on Blu-ray

  • Title: Captain America: The First Avenger
  • IMDB: link

captain-america-first-avenger-blu-rayMarvel’s first big budget Captain America film gives us the origin of  Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) through he days in WWII and even his reappearance in present time. Evans is terrific in the role and Captain America: The First Avenger provides just the right mix of action, earnestness, and cheesy sentiment. For more the film itself check out my original review.

The film worked slightly better for me on Blu-ray. The CGI effect of skinny Steve Rogers was more believable and a couple of the sequences I had slight problems with felt more natural the second time around. I still have a few issues with the film including the awkward slow motion jumps Cap makes in front of explosions, the lack of Nazis, the clumsy sequence where our hero gets captured by the Red Skull‘s (Hugo Weaving) men, and the costume still has far too many unnecessary straps.

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Captain America #3

The story picks up right where the last issue left off: Captain America is battling the Ameridroid (a giant robot with the brain of a crazy scientist, made to look like Captain America) while Sharon Carter has her own hands full with Baron Zemo.

Meanwhile, Codename: Bravo and his mysterious lady friend continue to work behind the scenes using the comatose Jimmy Jupiter to play havoc with reality and pull a certain patriotic super-soldier into the dream world.

Writer Ed Brubaker does a good job explaining the Ameridroid without pausing the action. And even if the character is insanely goofy, it works well as a real threat to Cap. The fight between Agent 13 and Zemo isn’t quite as exciting but it does allow Sharon to get a couple zingers at Zemo’s expense. (I also liked Sharon’s attempt to throw Cap his sheild, which, of course, doesn’t go exactly as planned).

With Cap locked in the dreamworld for the next issue I’m assuming the craziness seen here is only the beginning. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Captain America #2

captain-america-2-coverAlmost 70 years ago a team of special team of Allied Forces and the Hydra agents they were lost in a dream world when Captain America‘s team was infiltrated by spy. The young boy, Jimmy Jupiter, who had the power to open rifts into this dreamspace and transport people across worlds was knocked into a coma from which he has only now, decades later, finally awoken.

With the second issue of the newly rebooted series writer Ed Brubaker gives us a little more insight into the mission that went wrong as well as give us glimpses how the dreams of both Cap and Sharon Carter are being affected by Codename: Bravo and others lost in the dreamspace.

The issue is solid, and includes Cap beating down several Hydra soldiers, but only reveals part of the puzzle (and if I have a complaint it’s that the revelations feel more drawn out than necessary).

The final panel shows us things aren’t going to get easier for Cap anytime soon with the return of the Ameridroid and Bravo playing Casanova in Sharon’s dreams. Creepy! Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Captain America: The First Avenger

  • Title: Captain America: The First Avenger
  • IMDB: link

Captain America: The First AvengerDespite being around for 70 years, Marvel’s second most iconic hero (behind only Spider-Man) has had trouble finding his way to the big screen. Aside from his appearances in various cartoons over the years Captain America‘s career boils down to an old WWII serial, the perhaps best-forgotten 1970’s made-for-TV movies starring Reb Brown, and the 1990 live-action film which ended up going straight to video.

Attempting to rectify this oversight Marvel Studios and director Joe Johnston bring Captain America to the big screen with Captain America: The First Avenger which tells the basic story of Steve Rogers’ origin with a few interesting changes.

We meet Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a plucky young patriotic American who wants to enlist to fight Nazis alongside his best pal Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), as he’s turned down yet again for service due to medical reasons. Just looking at the scrawny young man you’d have a hard time believing he would eventually become the world’s greatest soldier.

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