I'm sorry, but "
Captain America Reborn: Who Will Wield the Shield" #1 will not only go down in history to me as a book with the longest, most confusing title of all time, but is also as
disappointing as my Junior Prom.
**SPOILERS** DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THIS BOOK.**When Ed Brubaker first started writing the series, I bought 2 of every issue. I absoutely loved the series. It had a modern adventurous yet Kirby-esque quality about it that put it on the top of my weekly pull list. Then
CIVIL WAR and CAP #25 came out, and I just...lost interest. It wasn't that Bucky was unliked. I did enjoy Winter Soldier and if Marvel was indeed going to bring Bucky back, this was at least somewhat believable in the fantasy world we call comics.
I read a few issues of the series up to around 40-42, and honestly, it just fizzled out for me. The shadow of Steve Rogers just seemed to LOOM over the entire title. Bucky filled the shoes nicely, but to me, everyone (including Marvel and perhaps Ed Brubaker himself) just knew Steve Rogers would one day return.
Enter
REBORN: a book with high expectations. Steve Rogers is back!!
...well, sort of...his essence is kinda stuck in a temporal loop.
In a story that could probably have been told in a one-shot, Marvel botched this one by not only
ADDING a
6th issue to the series, but also releasing this sad, sad tale
PRIOR to the
ENDING of the
REBORN series! WOW. The feel of this cautionary tale of woe feels very much like watching ABC FAMILY's reruns of Marvel Cartoons such as "Spider-Man" or "X-Men." They aren't aired in order...they're just
aired.
-pfft- SO...the answer to the question "Who Will Wield the Shield?" is
NOT Steve Rogers.
-sighs- THEN WHY DID WE EVEN HAVE THIS WHOLE SERIES?!?!?
If I want a story of mentors and mantles, I'd read pretty much any DC title on the market. Does Bucky Barnes make a good Captain America?
Absolutely.But Steve Rogers makes a
better one.
In summary, with an unnecessary and weak ending, Steve Rogers decides
NOT to become Cap "yet", and leaves it up to Bucky. HOW that happens? Well, we'll have to read Captain America: Reborn #6 when it comes out. But honestly, after reading this title, I sense Brubaker has squeezed about all his Captain America ideas out and is getting nothing but pulp at this point.
I hope you didn't pay alot for those
REBORN variants, folks...