Captain America Rocks!!
I gotta admit... sometimes I'm pretty clueless as to what is going on around me. I never buy the newest technology, and I never catch the cool TV show as it premieres. Sometimes it takes a big news flash to open my eyes to some cool stuff right in front of me... and this is definitely the case with the Captain America comic series! It took killing Cap to get to pick up an issue. And boy am I ever glad I did!
I've never read anything with Captain America before. It wasn't until reading Civil War that Cap even came on my radar. I guess it's just the Canadian in me that just assumed that the character wouldn't be relatable if I wasn't American, or if I wasn't a war story nut. Civil War changed my perspective of the character. Sure, he's all American. But he's all that is great about the US. His morals, his values, his respect for others. His love of liberty and equality for all. His role in Marvel's Civil War was great and really gave me an appreciation for the guy.
Captain America was killed off earlier this year. Being a comic collector I had to pick up that issue. I thought it was a pretty decent story... nothing great. So I added to my collection and forgot about it. But then thanks to the rise of the Canadian dollar, my comic shop had a huge sale: 20% off the US price on all new issues and trade paper backs volumes! Since it was on sale I grabbed the next few issues after Cap's death... and just loved it! I was amazed that the story could continue to be of such interest even without the main character. This got me to start buying the issues before his death... and those were great as well.
Now I've picked up the first 3 trade paper backs which begin this new Captain America series (they reprint issue 1 to 15). AWESOME STUFF! Now I definitely need to get the rest of them.
Captain America has gone from a character that I knew nothing about to being the comic that if I could only read one comic a month it would be this one!
Comments
I'm following Ed Brubaker's run on Cap as well. Bru's a great writer and his Cap is very true to form. Have you seen the Omnibus Hardcover collecting issues #1-25?
BTW, just posted a link on my blogs-page to yours.
Edmund
I did read about Omnibus... but decided to just get the smaller trade paper backs instead. Mainly so I didn't have to slap down $75 in one shot :)
I know about the hefty cost for the Omnibus (it's actually RM235.00 here in Malaysia, most people earn only about RM2000.00 a month so that's like more than a tenth of the average wage-earner's salary). I did get the first two Premiere Hardcovers (Winter Soldier 1 & 2) and liked what I read so far. Also read the "Death" issue (#25) and found that it was well-written too.
Finally, are there other comic geeks in your church? I can't seem to find anyone here who shares my hobby... :(
I'll have to start using more comic stories as part of my sermon illustrations :)
Btw, are you familiar with this book called "Who Needs A Superhero?" by Pastor H. Michael Brewer. That's a book written by a more elderly pastor who's really a bigger comic geek than even you and I put together. Haha! And it's a really good book too. You may find quite some helpful references that you can use as sermon illustrations from that book.