STORY: Ed Brubaker
ART: Luke Ross
COVER: Steve Epting
PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE DATE: Wed., May 20, 2009

I went ahead and read a few reviews of this book on ye olde interweb...something I don't often do, especially from those sites which tend to be sponsored by the majors.  Very rarely do you see a scathing review of a Cap book sitting right next to a banner for the "Wolverine: Origins" videogame.  But I wanted to see if there was something I seemed to be missing.  Why didn't I like this issue?  It had a lot of elements I do like: I found a lot of the pages fun to look at, with nice action sequences and some excellent coloring; Bucky Cap and The New Avengers chillin' in their hideout; and some WWII sequence with Bucky Barnes interacting with the man himself, Steve Rogers.

So why did it read as so dry and uneventful?

As I suspected, the reviews were no help.  One even went to say that it was a trite concept but Ross and Brubaker pulled it off.  What does that mean?  That they pulled off a trite concept?  Well, I'm inclined to agree.  They also pulled off a great hoax charging me $3.99 for this trite concept.  It's as though someone upstairs went: "Hey, let's do a BIRTHDAY issue....no, wait, a SURPRISE birthday issue! Ooooh!" "Oh, and by the way, let's run a month long teaser campaign suggesting something momentous is going to happen."

What this issue lacks is substance.  Yeah, we get that Barnes (I really should get used to calling him "Cap") is having a crummy birthday, one in a long line of crummy birthdays.  How do we know?  Brubaker keeps telling us.  Over and over.  And just when he thinks this year will end no differently it turns out that The Black Widow, an ex-KGB operative, has arranged a goofy surprise party for him.  'Course, if anyone could, it'd ber her.

Also, am I wrong, or was it just two issues ago in "New Avengers" when the other teammates were questioning not only his abilities, but his right to wear the Stars?  Now Logan has shown up with his sideburns neatly trimmed to watch Bucky open his Nintendo Wii.  The only thing missing was Matt Murdock pinning a tail on a donkey.  Mr. Brubaker, you are too good a writer to use these easy conventions.  You're dialogue is top drawer and you can weave a decade of story into a single block of narration.  Why have I just read a very special episode of "Happy Days?"

Not Interested.

See you in the Future,

AS