Captain America: Lives! [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

Captain America Lives Omnibus is the third omnibus collecting the stellar run of Ed Brubaker on Captain America and is well worth the money and investment of time. Picking off right where the previous omnibus ended, the initial issues here involve an excellent story about Bucky initially facing Batrock the Leaper followed by a confrontation with a ghost from Bucky Cap's past. The important thing to note about Brubaker's run on Cap is that the book is spy intrigue disguised as normal superhero fare, and Brubaker continues that trend here to great effect. The confrontation between Bucky and his old enemy adds further depth to the character and fleshes out his background somewhat, while also underscoring that Bucky is slightly more an underdog in the role of Cap than Steve, a fact which makes the character that much more interesting to the reader. Following this, are several "anniversary" type stories by Brubaker and other creators which alternate between pedestrian, (Brubaker) slightly maudlin (Roger Stern), and over-clever for its own good (Mark Waid.)

The story that follows however, is the much anticipated and discussed Captain America Reborn, and while I was initially concerned that the actual series could never actually live up to the excitement, Reborn proved an entertaining if also imperfect vehicle for the return of Steve Rogers. Although a generally lyrical story which manages to move on at reasonably brisk clip, Reborn suffers from two major problems. First, is that Steve's precise plight is never actually explained or directly addressed in the pages of the series - we understand that he appears to be jumping around in time in his own body, reliving previous experiences, but the reasons for this are only vaguely addressed. We understand that Sharon Carter is somehow a key to the affair, but what exactly happens to Steve's body, what the Skull's real objectives were, and how he managed to achieve those objectives, (beyond using Sharon) are only indirectly touched upon. Such is the state of mainstream comics that even though entire events are orchestrated around a characters apparent demise and return, neither the writer nor editorial powers that be, deem it worth it to provide a compelling and convincing explanation in the narrative itself. It's as if Brubaker realized he didn't really have an explanation for how Steve came back so he decided: Steve died, he was somehow resurrected, he was travelling through time - that's all you need to know, please move on... Never mind that the actual narrative makes little sense or that the explanation for this strains credibility even for comics. The other problem is that the Red Skull's persistence at remaining alive is now bordering on the ridiculous, but more importantly, the final confrontation between Steve and the Skull is somewhat anti-climactic, and a little too neat. Despite a story over five years in the making, all Brubaker can seem to muster when he finally brings Steve back, is a hackneyed confrontation between the characters that is nearly a page for page repeat of Mark Waid's excellent Operation Rebirth, without hitting the same emotional crescendo.

In fact, there's a lot about Cap Reborn that's derivative, but that is less a criticism of Brubaker than it is of Marvel's tendency to re-do successful stories from its characters' pasts. For all this criticism though, the truth is that Reborn is actually a pretty entertaining read, if you ignore the niggling problems, and Brubaker at least must be commended for following through on what seems to have been a reasonably well laid out plan of some sort. The art by Bryan Hitch is astoundingly good as usual, although not his best, as the inks by Butch Guice weighs down the lines a tad too much and muddies panels that could use some negative space every once in a while. With all the detail Hitch tends to include in every panel, heavy inks cause a claustrophobia-like effect on the page that irritates after a while. All the characters in Brubaker's run are effectively utilized and each issue is enjoyable as a solid chapter in its own right, that advances the overall story.

The final stories in this omnibus include one drawn by the legendary Gene Colan, who, despite waning powers, proves that he remains one of the mediums best storytellers.

Despite whatever criticism above, this omnibus is an excellent collection of pretty good stories by Brubaker and the various artists who accompany him on this wonderful journey he's been taking us on since the series began. Captain America under Brubaker has been one of Marvel's most consistently good products and Brubaker is largely to be credited for that, due to his general affection for the character and his intelligent decision to write according to a larger plan. I've removed one star for two minor niggles about the general run of stories contained in this volume, which are also somewhat applicable to previous collections. First, if there's one thing that can be slightly annoying about Captain America, is that it's a series firmly grounded in the past, and therefore, it's nearly impossible to go more than two or three issues of the series without a rehash of Cap's origin or a 're-telling' of a story set during the war.... While I love WW II era stories, their frequency in Captain America series diminishes their uniqueness and I feel they are being over-done. It's time for Marvel to let the character breathe and stretch a bit and think a little more about the future and less about the past so much. The second minor niggle is that the art and coloring in this collection are almost muddy and quite dark in some places - a reflection possibly of the influence of inkers like Butch Guice but also of a general choice of the colorists involved. To some extent, a slightly darker pallet is understandable or even desirable - in a series dedicated to high spy intrigue too many bright super-heroey colors would seem out of place. But you can go too far to the extreme in the other direction, where things get so dark your art gets lost or you can't really tell what's going on from panel to panel. Comics are a visual medium, and all the style or art direction in the world mean nothing if you can't literally see your story unfold. It's a problem especially acute in the issue drawn by Colan, and it was such a factor there that it actually proved distracting to me and lessened my enjoyment of the story.

Other than those two minor things, this Omnibus is a must own for Cap fans and an essential continuation to one of the most fascinating runs in modern comics. My highest recommendation.

Another great omnibus of Cap, or rather mostly Bucky, as penned by Brubaker. A strong ensemble cast features with Falcon and Black Widow playing significant roles and even Namor showing up. Now, all we need is another omnibus with Brubaker's next issues.

First third it's a little slow, but the reborn of Steve Rogers it's a great story, all parts come together at the end.