The following is a review of the graphic
novel “Captain America: Reborn” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection
format.
Sharon Carter, former Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D.,
was struggling with the guilt of killing her lover Steve Rogers/Captain America
while Sharon was under the control of Dr. Faustus and Johann Schmidt/Red Skull.
Sam Wilson/Falcon was searching for William Burnside. Burnside had been the
Captain America of the 1950s and currently believed himself to be Steve Rogers.
Sharon reunited with her old friend Dave Cox. Sharon’s repressed memories of
being pregnant returned and Sharon remembered the loss of Sharon and Steve’s
child due to a fight with Synthia Schmidt/Sin. The return of this memory also caused
Sharon to remember she had seen a figure when Red Skull and Arnim Zola utilized
Sharon in operation of Dr. Doom’s time platform, which was destroyed before it
could reach full operational status.
On James “Bucky” Barnes/Captain
America’s birthday, Bucky battled members of the militia group, the Watchdogs. The
battle brought back Bucky’s memories of Bucky’s previous birthdays during World
War II, before Bucky apparently died and was turned into the Winter Soldier. Following
the fight, Bucky returned home to find the Avengers had prepared a birthday
party for Bucky.
A year after the death of Steve
Rogers, Sharon found the weapon that had been used to kill Steve. A candlelight
vigil in Central Park was planned in honor of the one-year anniversary of Steve’s
death. Eli Bradley/Patriot encountered Rebecca “Rikki” Barnes, Bucky’s
granddaughter from another universe. Rikki followed Patriot, hoping Patriot
could introduce Rikki to Bucky so Rikki could train to be Bucky’s partner. Patriot
told Rikki Bucky wasn’t looking for a sidekick, but invited Rikki to join
Patriot and the Young Avengers at the vigil. Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, who was
in prison for being the sniper involved in the death of Steve Rogers, learned
that Sin was being held in the same prison that Crossbones was incarcerated in
and did everything Crossbones could to be reunited with Crossbones’ lover. The
Avengers planned to attend the vigil, despite their fugitive status and the
fact that Norman Osborn and Osborn’s Dark Avengers would be in attendance.
Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow had to convince Bucky not to attend in Bucky’s
Captain America uniform because this was Osborn’s opportunity to arrest Bucky. The
Dark Avengers identified the Avengers at the vigil, but Osborn chose not to
cause a scene and told the Dark Avengers not to make a move on the Avengers.
Sharon came to the Avengers and told the Avengers Sharon thought there could be
a way to save Steve Rogers.
Bernadette “Bernie” Rosenthal,
Steve’s ex-girlfriend, who had been at the scene when Steve was killed, and
Josh Cooper scattered the ashes of their friend Mike Farrel, who died saving
Bernie.
An auction was held by Joseph Paglino
for pieces of Captain America memorabilia.
Norman Osborn had one of Osborn’s
H.A.M.M.E.R. agents interrogate Sin, offering Sin a place in the Thunderbolts if
Sin revealed who the second shooter in the death of Steve Rogers was. Sin tried
to fight Sin’s way out of the H.A.M.M.E.R. facility, but was stopped by Osborn’s
Dark Avenger Bullseye, who was pretending to be Hawkeye. This interrogation led
Osborn to question the deaths of both Steve Rogers and Red Skull.
Bucky and Black Widow infiltrated
the H.A.M.M.E.R. Helicarrier to acquire the remains of Red Skull’s time
platform. Sharon and Falcon went to Vision and Hank Pym/Wasp to analyze the
weapon that had killed Steve. Hank confirmed that the weapon was Doom-tech. On
the H.A.M.M.E.R. Helicarrier, Bucky and Black Widow ran into the Dark Avengers
Mac Gargan/Venom who was pretending to be Spider-Man and Ares. Arnim Zola went
to Osborn and told Osborn that the gun used to shoot Steve Rogers actually
locked Steve’s body in time and space and that the Red Skull had tried to use Sharon
as the constant with the time platform to pull Steve out of the timestream so
that the Red Skull could supplant the Red Skull’s consciousness into Steve’s
body, thus having claimed the ultimate defeat of Captain America, and that due
to the destruction of the time platform, Steve was now unstuck in time. Steve
found himself reliving moments of his past but being unable to act or change
them. Bucky and Black Widow were defeated on the Helicarrier. Falcon and Vision
went on a recon mission to find Bucky and Black Widow. Osborn made a deal with
Crossbones and Sin. Osborn leaked to the press Sharon’s involvement in the
death of Steve Rogers to blackmail Black Widow into bringing Sharon to Osborn,
or else Osborn would kill Bucky. Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic of the
Fantastic Four and Namor discovered that Steve’s body had disappeared out of
Steve’s coffin. The Thunderbolts (Ghost, Scourge, Paladin, and Eric O’Grady/Ant-Man)
were transporting Bucky. Falcon found the Thunderbolts’ plane and attacked.
Ant-Man turned traitor on the Thunderbolts and released Bucky from Bucky’s shackles,
and Falcon and Bucky were able to escape. Sharon turned herself in to
H.A.M.M.E.R. custody. Crossbones and Sin located Red Skull and headed to
Latveria to meet with Doctor Doom. Vision discovered that Steve had left a
message in the Vision’s memory banks and brought the message to Reed and Hank. Red
Skull used Doctor Doom’s time platform and Sharon to pull Steve out of the
timestream, then implanted Red Skull’s consciousness into Steve’s body. Red Skull,
Crossbones, Sin, and an and A.I.M. contingency flew with Sharon to Washington,
D.C. The Avengers (Bucky, Black Widow, Falcon, Clint Barton/Ronin, Wasp, and
Vision) flew after the A.I.M. transport to rescue Sharon. Vision tried to sneak
onto the A.I.M. transport but was caught. The Avengers’ plane was shot down. Crossbones
released the Super-M.O.D.O.K. Squadron on the Avengers. Bucky engaged the Red
Skull in Steve’s body in combat. Steve managed to gain dominance of Steve’s
body and purged the Red Skull from Steve’s body. Red Skull was sent back to a
robotic body. Red Skull was bombarded with Pym Particles and grew to a gigantic
size. Steve, Sharon, and the Avengers had to fight the giant Red Skull, Sin,
Crossbones, and the Super-M.O.D.O.K. Squadron and escape before Osborn and the
Dark Avengers arrived. Steve, who had been unstuck in time, had been confronted
by two futures, and was left wondering which future was true and how Steve
could fight to prevent the dark future Steve saw before Steve.
Bucky was left wondering about Bucky’s
future as Captain America now that Steve was back from the dead. Calvin Zabo/Mister
Hyde escaped from the Raft. Bucky and Black Widow went to apprehend Hyde, with
Steve monitoring the fight. Steve then had to decide who would wield the
shield.
While on a U.S.O. tour in Bastogne,
Belgium during World War II, Steve and Bucky had encountered several of the U.S.O.
soldiers who had been turned into vampires and attacking Steve and Bucky. Steve
and Bucky learned it was not Steve and Bucky’s enemy Baron Blood creating these
vampires and had to learn who was the source of this plague of vampires and put
a stop to it.
Okay, we’ve now completed going
over the plot summary, it’s time for my individual bits of this review. I’ll
start off, as I always do, by sharing my own personal insights about the book. I
will say that I found the stories in this book to be highly enjoyable. I have
to admit, it took a little bit of getting used to the idea of Bucky being
Captain America. Killing Steve Rogers was not a Marvel plot maneuver I supported.
I especially disliked that the kill-shots came from Sharon. But I liked how she
was the constant in bringing Steve back from the timestream. I actually didn’t
mind the fact that Brubaker made this that Steve wasn’t really dead, he was
just lost in time. Sometimes that plot maneuver doesn’t really do it for me,
but in this case, I’ll let it fly. I enjoyed the total scope of the Red Skull’s
plan to ultimately defeat Captain America, going from beyond killing his
greatest enemy to actually becoming his greatest enemy, I thought that was a
brilliant plot, and I’ve loved watching it build over the four volumes of this
series. I also enjoyed Norman Osborn’s part in this drama, even when he’s not
the Green Goblin, he’s still a dangerous villain. I would’ve enjoyed a little more
presence from the Dark Avengers; I would’ve liked to have seen a full-on fight
between Bucky’s Avengers and Osborn’s Dark Avengers. Still, the final battle
between the Avengers and the Red Skull’s forces was satisfying enough for me. In
the One Year After issue, I liked all of the vignettes, seeing all the
substories was extremely entertaining for me, particularly “The Youth of Today”
with Patriot and Rikki Barnes. Now, since this is a graphic novel, I also have
to evaluate the graphics of this book as well as the story, which is just as
important. There were a lot of artists in this book, and I did, for the most
part, enjoy most of their work. There were a few here and there I disliked. I
will say that I love the stylizations of Bryan Hitch, and his work in this book
was outstanding in my opinion. I also enjoyed Luke Ross’ work in this book in particular.
I would also like to go on the record as saying that I think that Bucky’s
Captain America costume is a lot cooler than Steve’s. Another aspect of Marvel
Epic Collections I evaluate is the title. I judge how appropriate I feel a
title is for the book. This book is titled “Reborn.” The majority of this book
is the “Captain America: Reborn” limited series, as well as the “Captain America:
Reborn” Digital Prologue and “Captain America Reborn: Who Will Wield the Shield?”
one-shot, so I will agree that “Reborn” is the most appropriate title for this
book. And though it seems extremely nitpicky, I do also evaluate the
appropriateness of the cover for the book. What I’m looking for is two things.
The first is if what is shown on the cover actually happens on the pages inside
the book. The second is if it properly represents the main essence of the book
as a whole. This book’s cover features both Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes as Captain
America charging into battle. I will say that this is a perfect cover for this
book. This book features both Steve and Bucky as Captains America running into
battle, and the two are the primary foci of this book, so I have absolutely no
complaints about this as the choice of the cover. For the most part, I found consuming
this book to be a positive experience, and the marketing for this book is
absolutely appropriate.
Our next topic of discussion is
accessibility. I’ve done over seven dozen reviews like this, and each time I explain
the meaning of the usage of this word in application to a graphic novel because
I always have new readers every time I do a review who don’t know what I mean
when I use the word, so if you’ve ever read one of my reviews before, please
bear with me while I explain myself to the newbies. So, when I use the word “accessibility”
when talking about a graphic novel, what I mean is how easy it is for someone
who knows absolutely nothing about Captain America or Marvel in general to obtain
this graphic novel, read the comic from cover to cover, and understand
everything they have just read, with no outside context. So, when evaluating
the accessibility of this book, I have to bring up that this book is marketed
as Vol. 4, and it does continue a thread that’s been building over the previous
three volumes. Not having read the whole storyline is extremely detrimental to following
the story in this volume. That said, I will point out a few things that help
with accessibility, as well. This book does not pick up directly from a story
begun in the previous volume. It also does not tie in to any events going on at
the time. All the series contained in this volume are Captain America titles.
This book does not contain any crossovers into other ongoing series. However,
if you’ve never read a Marvel Comic book before and are looking for your first
volume, I would not pick this one as a first choice.
Moving right along, we’re up to the
scoring. The numeric score is one of the most essential aspects of my reviews.
I know I have people who come primarily just to see how good I think a book is before
they commit to reading it, but there are people who love coming here so they
can read about the story, but every segment of my reviews holds a point of
value, so there’s no saying that any one paragraph of my review is the most
important to everyone. So, on that note, I think first I should explain my scoring
system. It’s extremely simple. I score on a scale of exact whole numbers ranging
from one to ten. One is the lowest score I can possibly give, and that means that
this book is so horrible that I wouldn’t even tell the people I dislike the
most to read this book, as it’s a total waste of time and money and should be
avoided at all costs. Ten, on the other hand, is my highest score, reserved
only to books of absolute sheer perfection. To get a ten from me, a book has to
have a storyline that totally engages me and I can find no faults with, artwork
that is consistently visually appealing, a title that perfectly describes the main
point of the content in the book, and a cover that accurately depicts what a
reader can expect to see and perfectly captures the essence of the book. It is
extremely difficult for a book to get a ten from me, I don’t often find a book
to truly be what I consider perfection. So, upon careful consideration, when
taking every one of those factors and analyzing the entire comic, I would score
this book at… an eight! The story was, for the most part, enjoyable, but I
wouldn’t say it’s one of the best reads I’ve ever had. In general, the art was
relatively decent, but there were a few artists here and there that were just
not visually palatable. The title fit the book very well. The cover captured
the essence of what was contained within the pages of this book. Overall, I
thought this book was an outstanding production, and I highly enjoyed consuming
it.
Continuing on, we’re going to my
recommendation segment. This segment is designed to answer two questions. The
first is, do I, Tim Cubbin, personally recommend this book to you, my wonderful
readers? The second is, regardless of if I give this book my personal stamp of approval,
who is the perfect audience for this book, going beyond the obvious of fans of
Marvel, Captain America, and the creative team, and looking at key components
of this book that reading demographics could find appealing? To answer my first
question, yes, this book does get the Tim Cubbin recommendation, so if you were
considering reading this book based solely on just the words I’ve been typing
for the past several hours and were waiting to see if I would tell you to read
it, I will, so hop onto your favorite online retailer, head to your local bookstore,
comic book shop, or library, or hit up someone you know who collects Marvel
graphic novels, and get your hands on this book and read it. If you enjoyed
reading this review, you will definitely enjoy reading the actual book. As for
who would be the perfect audience, I would say it would be appealing to people
who served in the military or fought in a war, as there are a lot of war
scenes, and Captain America and Bucky Barnes are relatable to people who have
been in the military. If you’re interested in World War II fiction, this book
does have several scenes that come from the time-period, so they could be
appealing.
Okay, we’re getting closer to the finish
line. There are things I need to say before I hit publish and let you go about
your business. First off, feel free to keep on exploring timcubbin.blogspot.com
for tons more content. I’ve been working on this blog for six years now and have
done over two hundred posts. I’ve posted several short stories, poems, essays,
articles, and editorials, as well as reviews. I’ve reviewed prose novels, comic
book events, and manga, as well as over seven dozen other Epic Collection
reviews just like this one. The current primary focus of this blog is on Marvel
Modern Era Epic Collections and Ultimate Epic Collections. I purchase every one
of those as soon as I can after they are released and put up a review of it as
soon as possible. Seeing as this is the case, I publish posts very often,
usually at least once every two months. If you enjoyed this review and want to
read something similar, search for my reviews of “Captain America: The Winter
Soldier” “Captain America: Death of the Dream” and “Captain America: The Burden
of Dreams” for more Captain America content. For those of you curious about what’s
coming next, my next review is going to be “Hulk: Fall of the Hulks” which you can
expect to see within the next two months following the posting of this review. I’m
going to be doing this blog for as long as I’m able to, so don’t expect there
to be any end to Tim Cubbin content in sight. If you have anything to say,
please feel free to drop a comment on this blog page or on whatever site you’ve
found this review on, and please like, share, retweet, and tell all your
friends about this page, spread the word, I appreciate all the love and support
from my readers. That’s all I have to say for this review. Until next I post,
Tim Cubbin… out!
