Captain America #607

What looks to be one of my favorite Captain America story arcs continues this week with the evil Baron Zemo targeting Bucky/Cap. Last issue we saw Cap dealing with the aftermath of the Steve Rodgers resurrection and Zemo’s new interest in him. This issue continues that plot with the mechanics of Zemo’s plan swinging into action. It’s a pretty action oriented book this month and not a whole lot of plot development. But what we do get to see is one of my favorite old school Cap resurrections, the awesome Iron Hand Hauptmann, fight Captain America in a hospital. As Brubaker does so well, he once again makes this fight ring with the old while being completely modern at the same time. Seeing Iron Hand swinging into action again is one thing, having him battle Cap in a hospital makes it feel old school Marvel. I’m not sure why that is but it just seems like a plot line stolen out of the brain of Stan Lee in the 60’s.

The whole issue reveals that Zemo is planning something big and is intent on digging up as much as he can on Bucky and his days as the Winter Soldier. As I said last week, only good things can come from Brubaker writing Zemo and so far these have been some of the most solid and exciting Captain America issues we’ve had in some time. With the way this book has been going over the last five years, that’s saying something. If you’re not reading this series, you’re being foolish. Go get it.
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It’s been a good couple weeks in comics and I thought I’d talk about a few of the more interesting issues. A couple of awesome Ed Brubaker books have hit that deserve some mention so we’ll start with those.

Secret Avengers #1
First on the docket is the brand new (and much hyped) Secret Avengers #1. While I haven’t been keeping real close tabs on the whole Secret Invasion or it’s Siege-based aftermath, I have noticed that the Avengers sure have been getting some love from Marvel as of late. With a new movie in the works, the team being the centerpiece of both the Civil War and Secret Invasion story lines, and now a bunch of new books, it seems that the Avengers are once again the team of choice at Marvel.

The most interesting thing of this convoluted mess of a universe shake up is how Ed Brubaker has managed to make part of it cool by working in a few of his own storylines. When he killed off Steve Rogers in 2005, we all wondered how he was going to be brought back. While we all knew it was going to happen we can at least thank the comic gods that he held off a good 4 years before bringing him back. While the method in which Steve Rogers was returned to the Marvel Universe was typically cheesy and far-fetched, what I can’t complain about is how they’ve positioned him in the post-Siege world. Deciding to leave the shield and Captain America persona in the hands of his old parter Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers is simply being himself and leading the charge of rebuilding the mess that has been left in the wake of recent Bendis inspired events.

Enter Secret Avengers. The premise of this book has Steve Rogers leading a team of covert heroes that only band together when needed on a mission. The idea is to stay off the grid, in the shadows and take care of business in a more clandestine and old school manner. This type of team really draws from the old days when Steve Rogers ran the Invaders and super heroes did secret government work. I’ve always thought he idea of a small team turning the tide of war in the background was always a cool idea and one that is very “Marvel-esque”. It’s also a premise that Brubaker has explored numerous times in his Captain America books and more recently in the Marvels Project mini-series. To have him create a brand new team with a covert and old school emphasis is a breath of fresh air for the Avengers canon. With pencils by Mike Deodato, this first issue is a very strong start to the series and I can’t wait to see where it goes in the future.
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