Any fans of these Cap runs?

[John Dunbar]

Wondering if any of you are fans of the Captain America runs by the following writers:

- J.M. DeMatteis
- Mark Waid
- Dan Jurgens
- Robert Kirkman

Your thoughts?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Short Answer: All above average.

Long Answer: It depends on what you're looking for. DeMatteis (with Zeck, specifically) is a classic run. Jurgens' run can get a little squirrely at times, but that may be just my opinion. Mark Waid's run is all good, but it was (rudely) interrupted by Heroes Reborn. Robert Kirkman focuses more on espionage than super-heroics, but it's been my favorite Marvel title for several years running.

[Figserello]

"squirrely?"

[Alan M.]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

Robert Kirkman focuses more on espionage than super-heroics, but it's been my favorite Marvel title for several years running.

Um, are you thinking of Ed Brubaker's run?

Kirkman's run was only four issues (IIRC) towards the end of '04, and was pretty much exclusively an "Avengers: Disassembled" crossover the entire time.

It was also (again, IIRC) not very good.

[John Dunbar]

Kirkman's run was only 4 issues? Wow, I seem to recall he came aboard with a lot of fanfare. Then again (and maybe I am remembering wrong) creators seemed to come and go quickly with that MK Cap series - maybe that was the intention, to make it a Legends of the Dark Knight type book. I think that series started out as a Cap versus terrorists vehicle, as it was launched only months after the 9-11 attacks took place. I picked up the excellent "Cap Lives" trade (alternate reality where the Germans won WWII and the MU heroes we know and love formed the nucleus of the American Resistance) but otherwise ignored this series.

[Figserello]

"Cap Lives" trade (alternate reality where the Germans won WWII and the MU heroes we know and love formed the nucleus of the American Resistance)

I'd never heard of this. Who did it? Great idea for a series. They'd need to do it right though.

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

Mark Waid's two runs are the standard by which I judge all other Captain America stories...and even Brubaker doesn't measure up. There are a lot of other good Captain America writers but Waid was the great Captain America writer. His Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty series had great writing but sometimes was hurt by the art.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Cavalier said:

Mark Waid's two runs are the standard by which I judge all other Captain America stories...and even Brubaker doesn't measure up. There are a lot of other good Captain America writers but Waid was the great Captain America writer. His Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty series had great writing but sometimes was hurt by the art.

What he said. Mark Waid, in his first Captain America run, did the magic that he did in his later run on Fantastic Four -- looked at a thousand years' worth of stories, good, bad and mediocre, and found not only a fresh take on the character(s), but found the one story that nobody ever thought of before while too many other writers were rehashing the same old stuff. Like how Gail Simone, on Wonder Woman, explored what it meant when Queen Hyppolyta had a baby. And how Waid told us Reed Richards' true motivation for why the FF doesn't wear costumes and lives a very public life. Unfortunately, his run was cut short by "Heroes Reborn" (which I think of as "The Year I Didn't Read Marvel Comics"), and a bit of the magic was lost when he and Ron Garney were allowed back on the title.

But I also had lots of love for the J.M. DeMatties/Mike Zeck run, which did much to flesh out Steve Rogers as a person, what with his neighbors in the boarding house and the job as a commercial artist. Too many writers entirely much too often write "Captain America, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." That's why I can't sing Ed Brubaker's praises, because that's all he's done with the book. It's good stuff, but I don't want "Captain America, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D."

[John Dunbar]

Figserello said:

"Cap Lives" trade (alternate reality where the Germans won WWII and the MU heroes we know and love formed the nucleus of the American Resistance)

I'd never heard of this. Who did it? Great idea for a series. They'd need to do it right though.

It was Captain America #17-20, in the Marvel Knights series that was published between 2002 and 2004, running 32 issues. This series precedes the current volume. he creative team was Dave Gibbons (writer), Lee Weeks (penciller), and Tom Palmer (inker). Courtesy of mycomicshop.com, here's a description of the story:

WATCHMEN's Dave Gibbons writes this special 4-issue story arc in classic Cap fashion featuring adventure, action and Nazis! Captain America finds himself in a nightmare New York City renamed "New Berlin," following the Nazis victory in WWII. Joining brave resistance fighters like Ben Grimm, Peter Parker, Professor Reed Richards, Cap must find out how history has been changed, and what does the Nazis' terrifying ultimate weapon have to do with it?

I thought it was awesome. As I said, there are many familiar faces, and I don't think I'm spoiling it by saying that while none of them have super powers, the heroism shines through. I highly recommend it.

[Figserello]

Egad! I just might own this! I have a few arcs of this volume of Cap, but I'm missing the last few issues of the first beautifully drawn arc by John Cassaday. So I've been slow to pull the rest out of their own 'state of suspended animation'.

I didn't realise that the arcs were all so free-standing, like the Legends of the Dark Knight, and this one sounds like it is completely out of continuity.

I'll have a little look for it later...

Brubaker's talent and great artistic partners aside, one of the great things about his run is that he's been allowed to tell a really long-form story with very little intereference. He seems to have deftly danced around the big events that would derail or p--- off other writers.

It reflects well on Joe Quesada and whoever is editing the book too. How many great runs have we been denied by inept handling of the talent?

Is Brubaker's perhaps the longest run by a single writer on Cap?

[John Dunbar]

Oh, he has a fair way to go to pass Mark Gruenwald, who did well over 100 issues, between 1985 and 1995.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Alan M. said:

Um, are you thinking of Ed Brubaker's run?

Damn! I always do that! Disregard. In fact disregard my entire post, including the "squirrely" one.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Figserello said:

Brubaker's talent and great artistic partners aside, one of the great things about his run is that he's been allowed to tell a really long-form story with very little intereference. He seems to have deftly danced around the big events that would derail or p--- off other writers.

It reflects well on Joe Quesada and whoever is editing the book too. How many great runs have we been denied by inept handling of the talent?

I have to agree with you there. I was irritated when "House of M" appeared in Captain America #10 -- especially because I started the title with issue #9 -- but by issue #11 we never heard about it again. And Brubaker mostly kept "Civil War" out of the Captain America title, for which he has my gratitude.