Sunday, January 6, 2019

Comics Lust 1/5/2019

Welcome back, Donist World Denizens! For those of you new to our site, I’m Donist, and I am joined by Donist World CFO the Reverse Obie* (my friends’ Boston terrier whose fur recently swapped colors) and by our marketing director/administrative assistant/New Year notable Tulip. I’m going to keep this one short as I'm still physically exhausted from Thursday’s food poisoning and I definitely need a beer. Tulip, Reverse Obie, and I all want to wish you a happy New Year and one that will be much much much better than 2018. Anyhow, be kind to each other, mind your health and sanity, treat your friends to some tacos, keep your pets safe, cherish the ones you love, hydrate, and read some great comics. Thank you for reading!


*Obie, through his dabbling in arcane magiks mixed with ancient corrupt business practices, has had not just the colors of his fur switched, but a complete overhaul of his work ethic as well…I think I’m kinda okay with the mishap.


Not sure what “Comics Lust” is about? Take a look at the Introduction to “Comics Lust” post or take a look at the static “Comics Lust Table of Contents” page to jump to a topic.

Comics Lust

Running the Maze: Ed Brubaker’s Captain America


A few entries ago, I mentioned Ed Brubaker’s fantastic Captain America run. It’s an enthralling, roller coaster of a ride spy thriller that would see the return of Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, a character thought dead for many decades. After much praise back in the day, I decided to give good ol’ Cap a try; I had not read a Captain America comic since I was a kid. It rocked my world. I was more than happy to talk about Brubaker’s run, in fact, I was quite eager to dig in and tell you all about which books to read and in what order, but I hit a few snags: namely, renumberings, one-shots, miniseries, renumberings again, new series, and stuff I had never even known about. You absolutely do not want to miss out on the intrigues and thrills of the story or any of the fantastic artists who brought Brubaker’s words to life, not to mention Cap’s ”death,” his crucial stand-in, Steve Rogers’s rebirth, the villains, the introduction of the Winter Soldier, and most importantly all-around great, must-read comics. So, today, we are going to run the maze of Brubaker’s run from issues to trades to omnibus editions and try to make some sense of this convoluted, overly-corporate mess so you know where to start and where to end. Let’s hope I can make it through this with my sanity intact.

Issues

It all started off simple enough unless you take into account that this is the “2005, Fifth Series”—meaning this is the fifth reboot/renumbering of Captain America—but with this new number one comes the official start of Brubaker’s run.
  • Captain America #1–50 (Fifth Series) (Primarily illustrated by Steve Epting, published from Jan 2005–July 2009) pretty straightforward. All good. No sweat following along. This is the start of the “Fifth Series.”
  • Captain America 65th Anniversary Special #1 (Illustrated by Eric Wight, published May 2006) And thus came unto us the first special/one-shot issue. Hey, at least it was an extra-long 48 pages.
  • Winter Soldier: Winter Kills #1 (Illustrated by Lee Weeks, published Feb 2007) Yes, another one-shot, but dang if this is not getting freakin’ good!
  • Captain America #600–615, 615.1, 616–619 (Some co-writing by Sean McKeever, primarily illustrated by Butch Guice, published Aug 2009–Aug 2011) Okay, here we go: renumbering to classic “First Series” numbering, with a 615.1 issue released as a jumping on point. Okay, fine. This is still part of the “Fifth Series.”
  • Captain America: Reborn #1–6 (Illustrated by Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice, published Sep 2009–Mar 2010) Let’s add some extra difficulty into the mix by offering this miniseries one month after the renumbering to issue #600 and having it run concurrent to the main series. Kind of like tie-in issues during big “Event” comic runs.
  • Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield? #1 (Illustrated by Butch Guice and Luke Ross, published Mar 2010) Let me get this straight: it’s March 2010, you’re already buying the renumbered Cap book with #602 dropping this month, you’re about to finish off the Reborn mini with issue #6, and now you’re also getting WWWtS. A triple-ship month. I’m not even certain which came out when during the month, but best be certain you read them all in order!
  • Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier #1–4 (illustrated by Dave Eaglesham, published Sep 2010–Dec 2010) Somehow I missed this one, which is easy to do as it came out during Captain America #608–611.
  • Captain America & Bucky #620–628 (Illustrated by Chris Samnee, Francesco Francavilla, and others, published Sep 2011–May 2012) Okay, I didn’t even know this had happened and I need to get a hold of it…preferably in a nice, nifty collection, but if your grandpappy saw this on the shelf, he might be wonderin’ about the other 619 Captain America & Bucky issues that are floating around out there, which actually do not exist.
  • Captain America #1–19 (Sixth Series) (Some issues co-written by Cullen Bunn; illustrated by Steve McNiven, Patrick Zircher, Alan Davis, Scott Eaton, and others; published Sep 2011–Dec 2012) Let me try to understand this: Brubaker writes 50 issues of Cap, then the numbers switch to being in the 600s, then the title changes to Captain America & Bucky while retaining the numbering scheme in the 600s, then this new series comes along that is also titled Captain America that starts over with issue number one and also has an artist named Steve. Toss in a bunch of specials and mini-series, and any Brubaker fan should be able to follow. No sweat? No way. Best loosen up by listening to some Pink Floyd “Dark Side of the Moon” before going down this road to madness.
  • Winter Soldier #1–14 (primarily illustrated by Butch Guice, published Apr 2012–Mar 2013) I am ashamed to say I have not read these issues...something I fully intend to remedy. That said, this one released alongside Captain America & Bucky for a few months of kinda-sorta double shipping.


Not only do you have all of this, but you have some “events” getting involved with Fear Itself #7.1: Captain America, then “House of M” touched down in 2005’s Captain America #10, followed by Civil War with Captain America #22–24,


Trades


Yeah, traversing the quagmire above seems an insurmountable task, but thankfully, there are some trades out there…provided you can find them. To start, I’m going to cut out the first eight trades and start with the “Ultimate Collections”:

Okay, now. THAT’S a bit easier to digest. But if you want to make things even easier, then pick up the…


Omnibus Editions


Denizens, if you got the coin and the means to track them down, then this is by far the easiest route to go to get the whole kit and kaboodle.


After following the breadcrumbs and retracing my steps in the snow, I was finally able to make it through this grand labyrinth of Overlook Hotel proportions. It makes me wonder…wouldn’t it all be much easier for both current (at the time), new, and future readers if Marvel had put out two series and two limited series and cut out the single issues, renumberings, and miniseries? Like, put out Captain America #1–100 (or whatever), Winter Soldier #1–19, Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier #1–4, and Captain America and Bucky #1–9. Then you can roll Captain America: Reborn and all of the other stuff into the main series—double ship on some months, if you must—and clearly number all of the trades, labeling that they are all by Ed Brubaker. Sheesh. Anyways, I hope I don’t have to type the word “Captain America” again for a good long while, and I could sure use a drink. All work and no play makes Donist a dull boy. Until next time.



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Posted by Don McMillan at 9:14 AM
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