Captain America Omnibus, Vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America is historic for many reasons.The chief of these being the return of Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier. This change has been felt on television and of course in the recent film.

Brubaker's storytelling is bold, daring, and in-your face. The 1st Issue features the mad-schemeing of the Red Skull and ends with the Skull getting a bullet through his brain. From there, we're on a dark journey for Cap, his friends, and allies, as Cap hopes to find a little bit of Bucky buried within the assassin brain of the Winter Soldier and even after finding Bucky the two can't reunite, can't pick up and the search continues.

Brubaker's tales are tales of espionage, intrigue, and psychological suffering. At the same time, there's tips of the hats to the Invaders and a story in a more traditional style in honor of Caps 65th Anniversary. At the same time, There are many words that can be used to describe Brubaker's run: Evocative, intelligent, frightening, riveting, intriguing.

Yet, there's one word I wouldn't use to describe this book: Fun.

This is a serious book, a very well-written, well-drawn tale but as serious as a stroke followed by a heart attack. It's unremittingly, unrepently grim, gritty, and dark. If that's what you want, you'll love this book. You have Sin being tortured by Crossbones to undo her programming and turn her back into a psycho killer. You have an entire issue dedicated to Jack Monroe sharing his final dreary days. You have Sharon Cartyer's decline into crazyland and the emotional and psychological pain that's coming up on her like a ton of bricks at the end of this volume. And to double darkness, you have four stories set against the backdrop of the ultimate Hero v. Hero event, Civil War. Again, if you like dark comics, you'll really enjoy this book, probably more than I did.





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