Book of the Month

Captain America: Operation Rebirth

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Avg Rating: 4.7
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Size: pages
Price: 29.99

First, a brief history lesson for those who have only recently joined the party.

The early-to-mid 1990s was a bleak time for most comics, and not just because the speculator market was slowly crippling the industry. No, one of the biggest problems in comics at that time was that many of the major characters and the comics they appeared in where creatively bankrupt. I don’t think DC and Marvel really knew how to appeal to the new youth market. The popularity of characters like Wolverine, The Punisher, and Lobo flew in the face of more “traditional” characters like Superman, Batman… and Captain America. Editorial seemed bewildered.

What would they do? Kill off Superman and replace him with a floppy-haired, earring wearing clone. Batman got his back broken and has his mantle taken by a razor-sharp claw wielding psychotic. And Captain America? Well good ol’ Cap was no longer appealing to the kids, I guess. The only logical solution as far as Marvel could – apparently – see was to have the Super Soldier Serum start to disappear from Steve Rogers’ body. As he started to return to frailty there was really only one solution – have Steve don some “badass” Captain America armor and fight on.

It was a dark, dark time, folks.

Captain America has always been my favorite Marvel character. I’m not entirely sure why but it’s always been that way, as far back as I can remember. Liking Captain America led me to set-up shop in the Avengers “corner” of the Marvel Universe where I happily remained throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The horribleness of the early 1990s caused me to start dropping Marvel books like hot potatoes, sticking – with a considerable amount of pain and angst – with most DC books. But the most painful drop of all was Captain America. I made it through USAgent-as-Captain America, and Werewolf Cap. But the 1990s-ification of Captain America was just too much for me. The book had to go.

But then something funny happened.

It began with low rumblings in the comic book store. Could Captain America be good again? Nah. Impossible. And then it was confirmed in – of all places – Wizard Magazine (in the days before the popular internet those were just about the only two places to hear anything about comics). Captain America was not only good again, but very quietly it had become one of the most fun books on the market. And that was all thanks to Mark Waid and Ron Garney.

Mark Waid knew what a great character Captain America was and he set out to remind everyone else that Cap could work in modern comics without any cheap gimmicks – just with good storytelling. His original stated goal was to write Tom Clancy-ish stories, but it quickly became a big-time superhero romp. How did he do it? It’s a cliché, but he took things back to basics.

The run starts off with a one-shot featuring The Avengers, made up of a not exactly all-star line-up of Quicksilver, Crystal, Black Widow, Hercules, Giant Man, and Deathcry (it was not the best time for comics, people). In this issue we get the entire backstory of Captain America and his losing the Super Soldier Serum, the armor, and his eventual death (yes, that’s right he died, and it wasn’t even on TV back then!). A hostage situation in Washington, DC serves as en excuse for The Avengers to explain to a junior government agent just why Captain America is so important.  It’s a little bit hokey and a little bit stirring, and features a fantastic scene in which Hercules says to the skeptical agent:

The tales of his deeds hush even the lords of fabled Olympus!  Even they pause to admire his spirit… to whisper stories of an earthbound legend who has saved entire worlds from the darkest of tyrants.  On Olympus, we measure wisdom against Athena… speed against Hermes… power against Zeus.  But we measure courage… against Captain America.

The issue did not end, as hoped, with Cap returning to save the day. He was dead, after all. So how was he brought back? By following a time-honored comic book tradition, Mark Waid pretty much just ignored everything – a bunch of machines and tubes and there was Cap again and we pushed on forward into the story. How did it happen? The Red Skull revived Steve Rogers in order to use his help in stopping Hitler from taking over the world.

Wait, what?

It appears that Hitler’s mind was trapped in the Cosmic Cube and the Red Skull put it there. Fearing retribution from The Führer should he ascend to power, the Red Skull brought his greatest enemy back to life in order to help stop one of the worst tyrants the world has ever known. If that’s not enough, Sharon Carter was suddenly back after “dying” her self many years ago and she was pissed at everybody… but mostly at Steve. In one swift motion, Waid brought back Steve Rogers to his former glory and brought back his greatest love, Sharon Carter and we were asked not to ask many questions and just go with it. At that time, considering what had gone before, we did just that.

One of the things that Mark Waid stated that he wanted to do with his run on Captain America was to right one of the biggest wrongs in Marvel Comics. Despite the famous cover, in the official continuity, Captain America never got to do the job he was created to do: he never got to fight Hitler. Baron Zemo and his rocket prevented that from happening.

And this is all just the first arc. The second arc in this trade features Captain America having to deal with the fallout from the first. Because he was working with the Red Skull, and because he had to take out some American soldiers and attack a secret American army base in order to stop Hitler, and because while he was being revived by his greatest enemies all of his secrets were stolen from his brain, in the second arc Steve Rogers is stripped of his mantle as Captain America and exiled to Europe where he is forced to team-up with a still very angry Sharon Carter to clear his name and reclaim his costume and shield (he does).

This book features stellar art from Ron Garney who will still tell you that this book was his favorite to draw. There are actually four inkers listed in the credits and the quality of the work varies depending on the inker, but when the inking is right and it clicks with Garney’s pencils, the result is fantastic. I love Steve Epting’s work so much but if I really think about it Ron Garney might be my definitive Captain America artist.

This is not Brubaker’s Captain America. It’s doesn’t feature the same depth and intricacy of plot that the current book does. But that’s fine because they are not the same kinds of stories. Brubaker has crafted a long, 50 issues-ish tale of spies, intrigue and double crosses. Mark Waid brought Cap back to his roots and reminded everyone, not just in the Marvel Universe, but here in the real world too, why Captain America is the heart of the Marvel Universe and the best damn hero they’ve got. And in the mid-1990s, when most of the icons were flailing around blindly trying to connect with the new audience, this was no small feat at all.

It was damn near heroic.

Conor Kilpatrick
conor@ifanboy.com

Comments

  1. Sold, I really did forget how much I loved  this book back in the 90’s. I haven’t seen an issue of it in almost ten years and reading this review I have to ask why? Waid was on the best form of his life with this and Flash (on a side note I notice a lot of people saying that Starman 0 was the only good 0 issue, I have to say that for my money Flash 0 was the finest issue Waid did on the flash). As for Garneys art just look at the panel with  Cap eating the burger with flags init after getting booted out of America, hart breaking stuff.

  2. Oh c’mon, Conor, you didn’t like totally gnarly early ’90s Cap issues like this? http://www.comicbookdb.com/graphics/comic_graphics/1/126/18209_20060924133538_large.jpg

    Seriously, though, good pick. It was comics like this that made me keep reading (for a while) during those years.

    A similar series from that time, which I hold even higher in estimation, was Busiek’s Untold Tales of Spider-Man. Did any of the iFanboys read that? Will you ever do a feature on it?

  3. Congratulations! You just sold me on a 90’s book. Hard for me to believe, but those brief looks at Garney’s beautiful artwork leaves me wanting more. And Waid on Cap? Sold!

    Kind of intersting that almost all of the POMs so far have been 90’s collections. (JLI is late 80s, but it’s a soft distinction).

  4. Great choice!

  5. The sad thing is, you could feel Mark Gruenwald’s frustration with the 90s aesthetic in those issues directly before this.  Maybe Marvel did tell him what to do (taking away the serum, giving him the godawful armor), but half of those issues are blatant meta swipes at the "hardcore" characters and Cap moping about how he’s old and irrelevant and has no place in that universe.  People even tell Cap the armor looks stupid, within the story.  I wouldn’t exactly call those issues good, but as an examination of what was going on in comics at the time, they’re really fascinating.  Gruenwald seemed as depressed as Cap was, and much more bitter.

    That said, this is a great pick.  I just reread these issues not too long ago, and it’s really impressive how Waid managed to do what Gruenwald couldn’t – make Cap work in that market, instead of bemoaning the ways he couldn’t.  It’s also interesting that, though Waid’s run, as you note, is obviously very different from Brubaker’s work, Brubaker still followed almost the same formula  when he started his series and revitalized Cap: bringing back Sharon Carter (but not immediately in a romantic capacity), bringing back the Red Skull, making Cap a little angrier but still definitely himself.  It’s obviously a formula that works.

    Of course, then Marvel had to ruin this by letting Liefeld run amok for a year…

  6. I remember this run fondly.  Great stuff.

    I still remember the horror of the heroes reborn nonsense interrupting this classic run.  Waid and Garney off of Cap for…Leifeld?  Those were darker days indeed.

    It’s good to see this run getting some love again, as Waid and Brubaker are the only two writers who’ve been able to add to the Cap mythos in the last 20 years (although Busiek writing him in his Avengers run was no slouch either).

  7. The last thing left unread in my Stack (remember Stack Week?) is the Complete Cap Collection DVD. The great thing about this is seeing this Book of the Month and realizing I already have it sitting in my house. Thanks for directing me to the good issues in that "90s" folder.

  8. I’ve also got this in my stack, but in issues, which also includes the post-Reborn re-launch. It’s kind of historic how Waid ushered out the original Cap run with this collection, then ushered in the return of the book following the Reborn debacle (my opinion – Cap with tits doesn’t do it for me). Also don’t forget the Sentinel of Liberty mini, also by Waid, and the Kubert art on the relaunch.

  9. The USAgent-as-Cap arc was actually really great, as were the issues immediately after that. Even I couldn’t stick around for "CapWolf," though.

    I will very likely pick this up.

     

  10. You know, this was the first TPB I ever bought. I never really followed the book in single issues, so I was fortunate enough to skip over most of the bad stuff (though I did buy an issue at one point and was forced to ask myself "Who the hell is Jack Flag and why should I care?").

    Great pick. I need to read this again after I finish my stack from the Con.

  11. Never actually read this, but heard it was good. Great review though, definitely makes me want to pick it up.

    Although that whole ‘Hitler in a cosmic cube’ stuff seems kinda too silly for me. But hey, if we want Cap to finally take out the worst man in the history of the world…who am I to judge?

  12. The cosmic cube on its own isn’t silly enough?

  13. Captain America and The Falcon was always a favorite. I really enjoyed John Byrne‘s Cap for President story. But when I started reading Waid and Garney’s Cap, I was hooked. Until they went and gave it to Leifeld. Idiots. It was never the same after that.  

     

  14. @josh: Point taken

    Although, if anyone remembers…Brubaker’s beginning of Cap had the cosmic cube central in the story for some issues. So I guess the cube is a Captain America object now? Which is weird, cause I dont think of that cosmic stuff when it comes to him…

    But Hitler in a cub? So silly, only the 90’s could do that.

  15. Sadly, I have the old printing of this trade, which just contains the first arc.

    Anyway, there are a lot of new Cap fans now, and rightly so because Brubaker’s run has been fantastic. Despite this, sometimes I feel like people are missing out on the previous great runs. Waid and Garney did a fantastic job with the character. I was so bummed out when Heroes Reborn interrupted this, but then I was so excited when Waid and Garney were back on the book after Heroes Return. The Brubaker/Epting run is fantastic, but Waid and Garney still hold up for me.

  16. YES. i have the old printing also, but im deffinately getting this!! i cant wait now. im a HUGE cap fan and have always been. just got a sick statue that was made for when he fist debuted in the Avengers.

  17. The cube’s been Cap territory since the Tales of Suspense days when the Red Skull first tried to get his stinking Ratzi hands on it.  I personally feel since it’s somewhat connected to Nazis like Hitler/the Hatemonger and the Red Skull, it makes it somewhat believable to have it in the Cap mythos.  I think I feel that Nazis are generally used in fiction to introduce wildly fantastic plot elements in fiction (Hellboy, Indiana Jones, etc.) so it makes it okay.  There’s just something about Nazis in a story that makes the ridiculous okay.

  18. Amazing pick, Conor. After first reading Cap in Busiek’s Avengers, this run showed me why everyone looks up to this guy.

    Easily, the crowning moment for me is the smile Cap gives Clinton when asked by the president to try out his shield. Hard to explain why, but Garney is able to draw a young man with an old smile, old expressions in general, and that just hits the character home for me. A fantastic run.

  19. @ Diabhol: Right on about John Walker Cap stories. Gru was at or near his peak on Cap back in the 1980s, and his run was seminal: Left/Right Wingers; Serpent Society; Diamondback; Crossbones; Demolltion Man; etc. The list goes on. And lest we forget — Kieron Dwyer art.

     

    This Waid/Garney trade was part of that short-lived Marvel renaissance, which also lead to young Tony Stark, buggy Wasp, and Nu-Thor, but don’t hold that against it. Waid had absolute mastery of Cap, and Garney was debuting in a big way as an artist, after an inauspicious start on "Nightstalkers."

  20. Hahaha I just read this yesterday and came here today to find it as the book of the month. Awesome! Talk about perfect timing. I really loved this too. Did Waid and/or Garney do any more Cap work after this? If so I hope they put it back into print like they did with this. Good choice!

  21. They did another short run AFTER the "Heroes Reborn" crap.

  22. Was it any good? Worth looking for?

  23. The "open fire" page is just an amazing layout.  That guy needs to be commended.

  24. @Tiocore – Yep, it was good.  I’m hoping that one gets a trade too.

  25. Thank you!  I’ve been recommending this everytime someone on the boards asks about good Cap stories and I don’t think anyone believed me.

  26. This is a great pick. I loved their run on Captain America, and when Waid left it lost the momentum and the fun they gave the title.

    @Conor. They did release the Waid/Garney post Heroes Reborn run, but I think it’s out of print. 

  27. @ScottB – Right, I mean a new printing like this one.

  28. that art is very tim-sale like, very good

  29. I was a big fan of most of the USAgent replacing stories and the old cry of "Justice is Served" by Scourge.  But I do remember reading the when it came out during the very hard times in Marvel.  I rmember all I bought back then was Iron Man (My only dedicated book.)  and the leftovers of X-Men.  But this did bring it back for me, and it gave some magic to the series.  Cap’s adventures always sprung to life because he was super and mortal at the same time, and this series took both of those and made them shine.

  30. I am sooo glad Connor picked this.  I loved this run on the book as well as the second run Cap had with Waid and Garney/Andy Kubert after the whole Heroes reborn craptacular.  The whole Cap losing and regaining his shield arc is one of the all time best (And I’m a freaking Canadian!).  Dan Jurgens had a solid run on this series as well.  Sadly, Marvel decided to put Cap into a horrible Marvel Knights series that was truly awful and just missed the boat on Cap entirely. I stopped buying the book fairly quickly after that switch.

    I have yet to read lots of the Brubaker stuff but I want to, and what I have read is great.  I will say I’m a bit put off by Steve Rogers dying but he’ll be back hopefully, and in the meantime I think I have some good reading ahead of me with all the Brubaker issues.

    -Gregg

  31. You know what Cap needs to be traded? The Streets of Poison of arc. We got a great Cap story featuring Red Skull, Cross Bones, Diamondback, Daredevil, Bullseye, Kingpin, Black Widow…etc. Written by Mark Gruenwald. Penciled by Ron Lim. The arc was one of Cap’s strongest storylines. Granted, they tried to hit us over the head with the anti-drug message at the end, but overall it was a good story.

  32. @Phillies: That’s just about the time Gru lost me, when Marvel made him and Lim go biweekly back in the day. But before that — cream of the 1980s.

  33. I loved the old Scourge storyline in Cap.  I’m probably in the minority, but I really like Diamondback as a romantic interest for him.  Still, though, Sharon Carter tops all.

  34. @horatio: Diamondback was the most playful partner for Cap EVAR. She had such a caring, effective run under Gru’s pen.

  35. Garney’s art was responsible for pulling me back into comics.  His style and panel layout reminded me of the Steranko stuff that got me hooked as a kid.

    I had considered binding my old issues of this run, but I think I’ll pick this up instead.

     …and thanks for reminding me of the pain of my head exploding when this run was rudely interrupted by ‘Heroes Regurgitated’.  gah.

  36. I loved Waid’s run Cap. I think Gruenwald’s best period on the book started with the Bloodstone Hunt and ended just before Cap-Wolf. *shudder* Truly horrible stuff. You have to realize though that he wrote over 100 CONSECUTIVE issues of Cap (I believe 110). He was probably getting burnt out by the end. I think I remember reading somewhere that because he knew the 12-part Fighting Chance story was his swan song on the title, he wanted to leave with a bang by killing Cap. The whole armor thing came from the powers that be.

  37. Cool choice. I actually started reading Cap with the Heroes Reborn reboot (I know, I know, I fell for it), and so first experienced the Waid/Garney collaboration with the Heroes Return. It was so much better than the Liefeld stuff it blew me away. I may have to pick this up, since I never got to read this run.

    "So I guess the cube is a Captain America object now? Which is weird, cause I dont think of that cosmic stuff when it comes to him…"

    It is kinda weird, but hasn’t the cube always been a Cap thing? It made it’s first appearance with Cap and the Skull anyway.

  38. I was reading Waid’s Flash and then Impulse at the time, so when this came out, I jumped on this like a crazy jumping person. Then jumped right out when Rob came on board. Then jumped back in again when Waid came back, and I was pretty tired from all that jumping at that point.

  39. Never been a reader of Captain America. Based on your recommendation, I grabbed this book and I read it cover to cover and loved it. The artwork and story were both very good. I just couldn’t understand, however, why Sharon was so mad at and mean to Cap throughout the whole story. It perplexed and frustrated me.

    Oh, and @flakbait, I feel that the cosmic cube is very wierd to have in something other than a cosmic story.

  40. Just finished the book.

    It’s so apparent it was written in another period. The machinesmith makes a big deal out of stealing codes for and then crashing the helicarrier. Now that happens in every other issue of the Avengers–no special code required. Comics were so innocent back then. 🙂

  41. Gah my bookstore cant this! What’s the point of an employee discount if your store cant even order a simple Cap book? Guess I’m gonna need to find this at my LCS next week…

  42. This is still my favorite run on Cap. I love what’s going on now with Brubaker but I think I’ll enjoy it more when Steve Rogers is back and I can put the Bucky storyline into a different context. Cap is Steve Rogers to me, always has been always will be. )That being said, I’d like to reiterate that I’m really enjoying the current run.)