Captain America #608

          I know I missed the last issue, but it was Amazing Spiderman and Captain America, I just couldn't think of anything to say about those issues. These past couple arcs have been big ones in the world of Captain America, with killing someone who looked exactly like Steve Rogers, almost watching Falcone die, and then attacking police officers. (see last issue)  I've been so happy with Brubaker , I've been beyond thrilled with Guice. I love this series.
         In this issue some new Beetle attacks Captain America and Black Widow, which of the Beetle loses. When she's being interrogated she reveals that she knows that Cap is Bucky. Then the media gets hold of it, and the fact that he was the Winter Soldier. Later of corse, Black Widow figures out that Zemo is behind it.
           I'm very, very exited about this arc, and the next couple arcs after this. I really want a "Bucky on the run" kind of thing. Like Batman and Spiderman when they are hated by their cities. I really hope that Brubaker doesn't make this a dream or something, or have this solved by just fighting Zemo, or just accepting it. I want a little, not knowing what to do. Otherwise this would just be a waste. I'm usually one of the people always to complain about people revealing secret identities, and this is one of the only times that I've been really happy about it, and seen potential for success not disaster, so I really need this to be good. I really have to complement the art again. It is amazing, it works perfectly with the somewhat dark nature of the series, and, well... Guice can just draw.



Grade: 9/10
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Secret Avengers #2

          As soon as I saw the cover of issue #1, I knew this series would be peerless.  Not because the cover was drawn well, or even because it was written by Brubaker, but because of the people this team included. Moon Knight, Valkyrie, Black Widow, Ant Man, War Machine, Beast, Nova, and Steve Rogers. I like what is being done with Steve Rogers, he is no longer Captain America (I kind of don't like that, but not nearly as strongly as Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson) but him being this secret black-op kind of guy is pretty cool. Plus in this issue only for one panel he gets a laser shield. So that's pretty cool.
In this issue the Secret Avengers lose contact with Nova and go to Mars to find him, and to investigate Roxxon. Then the whole of the Secret Avengers is put under attack by (who I think I'm right in assuming) is the Shadow Council, and by ______. This is a spoil free blog.
         This is a great second issue. I would have liked  a couple pages about Moon Knight, he was practically the star of last issue, with the whole "I'm changing my ways" bit, so a couple pages on that would have been nice, but thats not a huge deal. Last issue I didn't really like Valkyrie being on the Secret Avengers, but this time, War Machine was the weakest character. He told Ant Man that he had to earn the name, so he kept calling him Kid, and was very condescending to him, and eventually that just got boring. Also last issue Sharon Carter was attacked by Nick Furry and the Shadow Council, this issue she is just siting at her computer and complaining that they hacked in, which they probably could have done with out busting into the ship. The art in this book was fantastic, a couple scenes with Nova showed his awesome power just in the picture. There was also a different scene where Beast looked into one of the Shadow Council's units eyes and that picture could have been taken out of a horror movie, and I wouldn't know the difference. So this was a good fallow up issue, and I'm very excited for this series, and also is the Moon Knight series any good? Is it worth reading? Or any of the Deadpool series?

Grade: 9/10
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Secret Avengers #1

             All right, I didn't expect much out of this comic, I just bought it because my comic store didn't have Flash #2, Birds of Prey #2, nor did it have Brightest Day #4.  So I grabbed this on my way out. The comic was  amazing. I didn't see the author until after I read it, and I was very happy to see Ed Brubaker's name at the bottom. First of all the role call was amazing. Moon Knight, Nova, The Black Widow, Steve Rogers, War Machine, Beast, Valkyrie and Ant Man. I'm very glad that Steve Rogers is in this series. I will admit that I wish he was still Captain America, but  Bucky is doing fine. I know some of you might find this shocking because I went on rants about how much I didn't want Dick Grayson as Batman, but I don't mind Bucky. Also Steve is doing a pretty good job here.
       This story fit the name of Secret Avengers. They ran in beat up some guys, took what they needed and ran out. That is what I expected, but Brubaker  made it work. In this case the secret Avengers took what they thought was the Serpent Crown. Instead it was a cousin to it. Looks into where Roxxon (the people they stole it from) found this crown. They found out that Roxxon had mineral rights to Mars and was digging there. When they shut down all of the diggers, pretty much disappear. (Read the comic to understand it better) So Steve sends his one guy that he can to Mars: Nova. When he got there he was put under fire by these weird space tanks, he went into a cave and found ______. I'm not going to spoil the story for you. Meanwhile during all this the Shadow council has been fallowing the Secret Avengers. They keep saying they can't lose it again, so I'm guessing the Cousin Crown is worth more than Beast knows.
         This is the best I've read in a long, long time. My only complaint is that Ant Man isn't on the cover. I'm loving Brubaker's work with the Marvel Universe. He is outstanding. The art in this book is just a notch above average, but it didn't really bother me. I'm really happy to see every one on this team (except I don't care to much for Valkyrie) especially... well... especially every one. I don't know if Brubaker made this team, but if he did he is more brilliant than I thought. There was one other little thing I didn't like and that was how Moon Knight has a big emotional scene where he was trying to change his ways . Not because the scene was bad, it's because just like how DC is trying to make Hawk into the Punisher. Marvel is trying to make Moon Knight into Batman. If Moon Knight is a over the edge killing character let him kill, don't make him into Batman, you will crash and burn.


Grade: 9.5/10 (I know, but I just couldn't bring myself to give it a 10/10)
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New Ultimates #1

              I have admired Loeb for a while now (see 1, 2, 3, 4?) I thought he was the Geoff Johns of the Marvel universe, until now. Mind you I have never read the Ultimates before, and I don't mind that, my main issue with this comic is one panel long, and that is, a hellish type woman forcing herself on Thor. I can tell that the reason Jeph Loeb made that happen is just to be edgy, and I hate that kind of thing. All this comic is, is just Hawk Eye and Iron Man fighting, Tony Stark talking about drinking and that scene I discribed with Thor, plus a little with Loki at the end.
            Actually I have another bone to pick with this comic, when DC came out with there hero the Shield, I was disappointed with them for completely copying Captain America, now I see Hell Cat and Night Hawk, who were both characters before, but now they have been edited to look exactly like Cheetah, and Batman, I understand that isn't as bad as the Shield, Captain America thing but it is pretty bad.
                   Normally a comic could make up for these mistakes in quality of writing, especially when you have Jeph Loeb, but the writing simply wasn't good enough. This is a horrendous start to the New Ultimates series.


Grade: C
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