A Few Thoughts on Brubaker and Hitch and "Reborn"

1) It seems too early to bring Steve Rogers back -- somewhere, sometime, I predicted that he wouldn't be back until summer 2010 at the earliest -- but that thinking is based on how good Brubaker has been at selling Bucky-Cap. But now that "Captain America" #50 has come out, Brubaker has written as many Bucky-Cap issues as he has Steve Rogers issues.

2) Brubaker's leaving "Daredevil," and he won't stay on "Captain America" forever, so I'd rather see him bring back Steve Rogers and complete his epic Steve Rogers/Bucky storyline than have someone else come in and finish it their own way.

3) "Reborn" may not bring Steve Rogers back from the dead anyway. It might be a fake-out like that Captain Marvel/Brainwashed Skrull thing. Oh, that turned out to be a terrible waste of time, didn't it?

4) I've become less and less interested in Bryan Hitch over the years. I think he peaked during his short tenure on "JLA," but this series has Butch Guice on inks, so I wonder how that will change the look of the comic. Still, Hitch has shifted from Widescreen artist, to Wide-Angle-Lens with photorealistic Closeup artist, and I prefer the former.

5) If Steve Rogers does come back, perhaps he and the Bucky-Cap, and the crazed 1950s Cap can all team up when Bendis takes over the series and changes it to "The Captain American Super-Squad."

6) Or maybe Geoff Johns, post-Blackest Night, will take over the series and explore the metaphysical meaning of the "Cap Force."

7) How exactly would Steve Rogers come back, do you think? Cosmic Cube?

8) I'm more annoyed at the change in numbering on the "Captain America" series than I am about anything this "Reborn" series could possibly be about.

9) I trust Brubaker to do this right, whatever it is.

10) I trust the internet to overreact, whatever it is.

Fantastic Four #563 Review

Recently reviewed by me at CBR: Fantastic Four #563, about which I write the following sentences: "We know that can't possibly last. Ben Grimm has a track record with heartbreak and misery. And his fiancée seems so lovely and innocent that we can only imagine the horrors Mark Millar has in store for her. She doesn't even seem to understand how much her life will change -- has changed -- alongside the Thing. She doesn't realize how soon she'll be playing the role of the typical comic book love interest: eternal victim."

Read the entire review HERE.

Fantastic Four #561 Review

Recently reviewed by me at CBR: Fantastic Four #561 about which I write the following sentences: "Between 'Kick-Ass,' 'Marvel 1985,' 'Wolverine: Old Man Logan,' and this 'Fantastic Four' series, Mark Millar is producing some of the best work of his career. Critics have complained that his recent stuff is too-high concept, too pandering, or too much flash and not enough substance. But I think that's when Millar is at his best. He's not going to be the one to write the subtle, touching story full of thematic ambiguity. He's going to give you the summer blockbuster in the pages of a comic book, but with his own slightly-skewed twist. And though his 'Fantastic Four' run started off with some rocky, tonally uneven moments, this 'New Defenders' (Or 'Nu Defenders') arc has been quite good, and this issue is probably the best yet."

Read the entire review HERE.