Journey into Mystery #632 – Review

by Kieron Gillen (writing), Mitch Breitweiser (art), Bettie Breitweiser (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story: Loki gets a very special present from Hela, courtesy of Garm.

The Review:  This was originally advertised as something of a Christmas issue, but ultimately, while Gillen delivers on that promise, we get something a little more subtle.  While there definitely is a nice message and a certain Christmas-y atmosphere, outside of an opening scene, it’s never overtly a Christmas issue.  Rather, it’s a charming one-shot that feels appropriate for the spirit of the season.

The first thing you’re going to notice about this book is the art.  It’s a pretty big departure from the look Doug Braithwaite established for the book and yet, it’s utterly gorgeous and totally appropriate in its own way.  Much like the Allreds, the Breitweiser husband/wife duo are perfect artistic compliments to one another.  They come together to bring you a book that feels, well, mysterious.  It’s a book that’s heavy on atmosphere and one really gets the feeling of a fantastical wintry wonderland.  And then there are the little puppies which are the core of the issue, and the Breitweisers do an absolutely adorable job on them, making them little bundles of malcontented fur.

And really, those puppies sum up this issue: completely and utterly charming and adorable.  This is a comic with a big heart, but one that also has mature sensibilities when it comes to its storytelling.  Loki, Leah, the puppies introduced in this issue, all of them are just so bloody lovable.

This helps Gillen in getting the reader to really become emotionally invested in the issue.  On the one hand, yes, the ending was predictable and yet, in spite of that, I was still crying out at “Loki, don’t do it!”  The fact that I was so desperate to get the ending I expected/wanted and that Gillen kept me on the hook throughout says quite a bit about this book.  When I finally got that ending, it was all too satisfying.

There are a lot of laughs to be had this month as well.  From Leah and Loki’s always wonderful relationship, to Volstagg’s honorary Christmas job, to the ridiculously murderous quips of Loki’s new pet puppy, you’re guaranteed to laugh out loud with this comic and all of the jokes are of the good-natured sort.

Captain America #619 – Review

By Ed Brubaker (writer), Butch Guice w/ Stefano Gaudiano & Mitch Breitweiser & Chris Samnee (artists), Bettie Breitweiser (color art), VC’s Joe Caramagna (letters/production)

The Story: Still trapped inside a Russian gulag for crimes committed as the Winter Soldier, Bucky makes a horrifying discovery that necessitates his immediate escape. But, surrounded by enemies, outnumbered and outgunned, can even the Black Widow help Bucky overcome the odds?

What’s Good: Alright, I’m going to admit something here that takes a bit of pride swallowing: I no longer wince every time Bucky shows up in my Captain America book. In fact, this arc has done quite a bit to convince me that the character is more than just a Cap-wannabe. Admittedly, a large part of that probably has to do with the fact that Bucky is acting as himself here, and not trying to carry a mantle that I (in my own opinion) don’t feel he was ever meant to carry. Acting as himself, and on his own behalf, Bucky does very well for himself, and it is quite a lot of fun to watch him use his brain, as well as his brawn, to think his way out of his predicament. The loose end leaves plenty of room for additional growth and stories for the future.

Shockingly for such a huge and diverse art team, the visual look of the book is extremely solid. The gulag scenes in particular have a rough, gritty texture that perfectly complements the terrible and oppressive nature of the setting. The action flows well and, while the individual panels don’t always convey the sense of motion I like to see in fight scenes, the overall page layouts do an excellent job of visually expressing the action and story arcs.

Captain America #615.1 – Review

by Ed Brubaker (writer), Mitch Breitweiser (art), Bettie Breitweiser (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Steve Rogers looks to both stop and save a new super soldier intent on taking up the mantle of Captain America.

The Review: I like Bucky Barnes.  I like Bucky-Cap.  With that said, however, this is probably the best issue of Ed Brubaker’s Captain America to come around it quite some time, the last 12 months at the very least.  Unfortunately for Bucky, who never even shows up here, I think that’s largely to do with Steve Rogers, who finds himself as the protagonist.

Ed Brubaker just has such a fundamental grasp on who Steve Rogers is.  In this issue, we see his sense of burden as well as his frustration over the current desk-duties he’s forced to deal with.  We see him yearning for those explosive WWII adventures of old.  It’s a quiet and subdued frustration that suggests a man uncomfortable, and perhaps not built for, his current job.  Brubaker’s Rogers ends up feeling very compelling as a result, and we get an issue that, for all its action scenes, ends up feeling all the more personal for Rogers.  Quite honestly, this issue has all the heart, vitality, and downright importance that the last few issues of Cap have lacked.  There’s a life and energy here that distinguished Brubaker’s prior work on the series and, if anything, this issue is a total return to form.

The particular conflict this month only allows us to delve further into Rogers’ inner turmoil.  Faced with a Cap wannabe, Rogers is forced to recognize the importance of Captain America and America’s need for him as an icon and a rallying point.  Again, this has been another strong point of Brubaker’s run, so seeing it again so heavily factoring into a story is quite the treat.  Enhancing this is all on a technical level is Brubaker’s restrained use of narration, again one of his strongest tools.

Captain America #607 – Review

By Ed Brubaker (writer), Mitch Breitweiser (pencils), Butch Guice with Mitch Breitweiser (inks), Dean White and Elizabeth Dismang (colors), VC’s Joe Caramagna (letters and production)

The Story: Zemo continues his nefarious campaign against Bucky, this time by taking over his very mind and causing very dangerous and destructive hallucinations.

What’s Good: This was a fun story—the most fun I’ve had with this book since Steve Rogers passed on his shield. Bucky’s mind being taken over isn’t exactly the newest plot device Brubaker and company could have pulled out, but the fact that it’s not just Bucky that’s being controlled, but Captain America himself being controlled gives the situation the extra weight it needs to effectively resonate. It’s quite clearly intended to link this new chapter of Cap-history to the early success of Brubaker’s “Winter Soldier” storyline, and I’d ordinarily be more than a little bit cynical about that sort of thing (“trying to sell me on Bucky-Cap by resurrecting an old Steve Rogers storyline, eh?!”), but in this instance it really does work well.

I’d also like to mention how much I like this art team. The angles and colors give the whole book a very brooding, almost noir-ish look that is very appealing. (And again, it’s worth noting that this style is more than a little reminiscent of “Winter Solider.”) My only quibble is that, while Breitweiser’s pencils are very gritty and expressive (especially when it comes to action and motion), the roughness doesn’t lend itself well to facial expressions. The more emotional a character is, the odder the pencils seem to make his or her face.

Captain America # 600 – Review

By Ed Brubaker, Roger Stern, Mark Waid (writers), Alex Ross, Dale Eaglesham, Butch Guice, Howard Chaykin, Rafael Albuquerque, David Aja, Mitch Breitweiser, and Kalman Andrasofszky (art), Frank D’Armata, Edgar Delgado, Matt Hollingsworth, Paul Mounts, Marte Gracia and Mitch Breitweiser (colors)

The Story: Everything you knew about the death of Captain America is wrong. On the eve of the one-year anniversary of that fateful day, Sharon follows a path built by fractured memories to discover a game-changing clue in Steve’s death. On the other side of town, while heading towards the memorial at Central Park, the Patriot meets a new hero from a different world, or at least she says, who has a particularly strong connection to both Bucky and Steve. Also attending the memorial is Bucky and the new avengers where they get a swift punch in the gut from Osborn, but not in the way you think.

What’s Good: Brubaker goes back to his mastery of spinning a mystery, crime noir story by starting with revisiting the first piece of evidence at any murder scene. From there, he weaves in hints of upcoming story-plots, centered around The Grand Director and this new, alien character, but then comes back to main issue at hand — Steve’s return. Most interesting is the surprise return of the Red Skull who we knew was out there somewhere, so don’t worry, I didn’t spoil anything here as its what he says that is the big reveal.

For me, it’s not just that Cap is back, but rather the whole series is back. I’ve felt that since Bucky became full-time Cap this story has been running on fumes and that all though it is extremely well written, it seemed like Brubaker was killing time or playing it safe. And this issue confirms my suspicions as all the dynamics, tone, feel, and even characters are back to where this series was at around issue 25. I’m no fan of Bucky being Cap at all, but who knows, the fact that this new direction is in full force and Cap is back, maybe it will retroactively sweeten Bucky’s roll for me? Also, there is a nice little vignette involving Crossbones and Sin that is sweet and yet so, so disturbing.

There is a team of artists on this book and I found each one of their parts to be executed to near perfection. My favorite was the art on the Red Skull tale, where the ultra-villain’s flash backs and current state were equally intense, his power and plans foreboding.

What’s Not So Good: As with all annual’s or event comics, like this “hundredth” issue, this pamphlet is a mixed bag as far as price. I’m not sure with the entire buzz and greatness imbued in Brubaker’s main tale, there was little worth reading in the smaller tales by Stern, Waid, and Lee. Waid’s didn’t make sense at all in the current marvel Universe as we see Tony Stark poised behind a desk with an assistant. Perhaps those that follow the Captain America Universe very tightly will have nostalgic feeling towards what these tales were about, but I didn’t and rather have had the extra cash to put towards another comic this week. I mean this comic was $5.30! That’s half of a decent trade. Tossing in these throwaway tales and cover gallery doesn’t justify the price point for me. I’m sure some collectors are happy with this and for them Marvel should offer two choices: a collector’s edition, like this issue, or a regular edition, with just Brubaker’s tale.

I think it is a fair critique to say that despite all the artists doing a yeoman’s job on their given task, the overall aesthetic feel for Brubaker’s main tale is jaded at best. Having Chaykin follow Guice next is like using a sponge instead of sandpaper. When I returned to the normal visual feel of Captain America at the end of the story, it felt like I was reading several other comics in between. Besides showcasing Marvel’s talent, there was nothing gained by using such radical art styles on one story. In fact, this decision hurt the book.

I know that Captain America has a rich history of team-ups, so I will wait and see how this eventual team-up between the Grand Director and this alien girl goes, but for now, I’m not sure that the Captain America mythos needs another partnership or anymore characters. Especially with the Skull and Steve returning.

Conclusion: Because of Captain America # 600, Reborn is by far the most anticipated event for me. This is the upcoming project helmed by Brubaker and Hitch that continues what was laid out here. I didn’t think anything could dampen the excitement around Blackest Night, but Steve’s return does. Most surprisingly, I am not pessimistic about how Steve’s resurrection will be handled as I have great faith in Brubaker and his talents, especially with crafting a good old-fashioned murder (or not) mystery. Brubaker’s story is an easy A, but with all the mishandled art oversight and expensive fluff stories, I have to give Captain America #600 an…

Grade: B

-Rob G.

The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall, And The Green Mist of Death #1 – Review

By Matt Fraction (writer), Russ Heath, Nick Drgotta, Mike Allred, Laura Allred, Lewis LaRosa, Stefano Gaudiano, Matt Hollingsworth, Mitch Breitweiser (artists)

What a wonderful book. I always wondered what Iron Fist would be like if Ed Brubaker wasn’t around. Thankfully, it’s just as good, which gives Matt Fraction the “street cred” he so rightfully deserves. This one-shot centers around John Aman, The Prince of Orphans, and his pursuit of Orson Randall, an earlier version of Iron Fist.

The story’s broken up into four parts – each centering on a different time. For instance, part one is pure Golden Age Iron Fist – something that was briefly touched upon in the series. Here, we see more of his group, the Confederates of the Curious. They’re a fascinating team that very much resembles a circus act. I’m hoping we get a mini-series of their exploits down the line. The art teams on this issue are to be commended for rendering each of their sequences to match the era; it’s crazy because this book jumps all over the place. It feels nostalgic in essence – moving from Victorian to western to horror eras. It should feel uneven and chaotic, but some how Fraction makes it all gel.

As the story progresses, it skips through time. We meet Wendell Rand, father of current Iron Fist, Danny Rand, and we see him grow up and study Orson’s techniques. Eventually, Wendell ends up shot and Orson brings him to the most unlikeliest of places to have his wounds fixed – Frankenstein’s castle! But, in a stunning turn of events, the Aman comes to Orson and Danny’s rescue and from there, the entire story and relationship between the two men changes.

This issue answers a lot of questions currently being addressed in the current Iron Fist series. It also offers a wealth of information and backstory to Iron Fist mythos. Iron Fist was never this rich of a character (in terms of history and depth) until Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction restarted his series. Here, Fraction goes the extra mile, painting a lush tale and bringing so many mysterious characters to life. This is one of the best Iron Fist stories ever. (Grade: A+)

– J. Montes

Captain America: The Chosen #6 (of 6) – Review

By:  David Morrell (Writer), Mitch Breitweiser (Art)

I’ll start off by saying Mitch Breitweiser’s got a long comic book career ahead of him. This guy not only knows how to draw Captain America, but he knows how to draw great action. The art in this series has always been top notch, and this oversized issue is packed with some great sequences and splash montages.

How’s the story? Eh, I was hoping for more – especially from David Morrell (author of First Blood and creator of John Rambo). The first five issues chugged along and felt decompressed. This issue finally gives us a pay off but the first two-thirds of the issue are overly preachy and, dare I say it, sappy. It’s the same redudant Captain America speech we’ve heard before. It’s his idealism, his hopes, his dreams. We get it; we know what Captain America’s about.

By issue #5 I thought I had the story figured out. Captain America is dying from his wounds from Civil War and is grooming his replacement. It seemed like the story was veering towards Corporal Newman somehow getting Cap’s strength and taking the mantle as the new Captain America. Instead, Morrell gives us a whole new story – an “elseworlds” story, if you will. It’s not a bad thing, but the story no longer fits into Marvel continuity!

The end of the issue wraps things up nicely. I like the general premise of this story and the art is beautiful, but it could have used less preaching. It also could have been told in three or four issues. It sucks when stories are drawn out for the sake of selling a trade paperback later on. (Grade: C)

– J.Montes