Disclosure: Not that it matters, but Ed Brubaker is a friend of mine. Also, you may want to keep this post handy for reference while you read this post.
Ed Brubaker did something that I didn’t think would ever happen in my lifetime: he made me care about Captain America. He made me want to read Captain America the way I read Batman. Unless you’re inside my head right now (AND GET THE HELL OUT IF YOU ARE I NEED THE SPACE) you don’t really know how massive that is for me, but it’s a pretty big deal. See, other than a brief X-Men obsession around 1990, I’ve never been a Marvel guy. I tried to like Spiderman; couldn’t stand it. I tried to get into Wolverine. Boring. I tried to get into Avengers, but I already was really into Justice League, and . . . ’nuff said.
(See what I did there?)
But Ed made Captain America as haunted and tragic as any comic hero I’ve ever read, and made me forget that I was reading a story about a dude in a spandex suit, and made me feel like I was reading something that had more in common with Watchmen, which was the first time I read a book about dudes in spandex suits that made me forget that I was reading a book about dudes in spandex suits.
I mean, I liked it so much, I’m considering possibly reconsidering the "meh" on Marvel stance that’s served me so well for the last 18 years. I’ve already picked up some of Matt Fraction’s Invincible Iron Man, and . . . well, Ed and Matt do Uncanny X-Men now, and The Avengers looks kind of cool to me too, so . . .
Dear god, I have such a problem. But it’s okay, because I can stop reading comics any time I want to. SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP YES I CAN!
Um. Anyway, back to the point of this post:
Ed does this book with Sean Phillips called Criminal , which is absolutely magnificent. It’s these stand-alone crime noir stories that are just . . . well, they’re everything I like about the noir genre and the graphic storytelling genre in one nifty package. It’s like they took the best aspects of 70s noir movies like Mean Streets, The French Connection, and Taxi Driver, put them in a blender with everything Chandler and Elroy ever wrote, grabbed a heavy brush and painted the whole thing on a giant canvas.
In other words, I really, really like Criminal, and Ed has joined the likes of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman on my very short list of writers who I will buy anything from. He’s one of those writers who can do a superhero story in the morning, and turn right around and do something totally unrelated but just as fantastic in the afternoon.
So, yesterday, Warren Ellis posted two teaser commercial pages that Ed gave him from Ed and Sean’s new book, INCOGNITO.
I haven’t put them inline here because they need to be viewed at a larger resolution than WWdN:iX can handle. But please trust me when I say that it’s worth having a look. If you don’t like it, I’ll give you your clicks back, no questions asked. All you have to do is pay for handling.
Now, without further ramblings from me . . . BEHOLD!
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Ok – that looks good. Perhaps good enough to get me to buy a comic again for the first time in 10 years.
I find it interesting how comics reflect societies needs. Sometimes we want clear-cut good and bad guys. Other times we want our heros to be more complex or have a darker side.
When the people who are suppose to be our heroes look like criminals, we turn to super-villains to be our heroes.
Captain America’s suit isn’t spandex — his tunic is CHAIN MAIL. Unless they changed that.
D’OH! You’re right. Foreach “spandex” do “costumed.hero.”
Or something like that. Um. LOOK OVER THERE!
Behold indeed! I like it a lot, strange how in some of my past jobs I’d imagine a devastated work environment that I made happen, but not because I was a villain … oh no, not because of that … Well okay, maybe just a little. It’s cheap therapy, what can I say!?
DARRGH! How am I supposed to save any money when these awesome comics keep coming out?
I’m jealous that you’re friends with ‘Bru’. But I’m happy about it, too. I met Ed at San Diego. He signed a Daredevil (my favorite character) comic to me. “J-Lo! Love that bubble butt!”
(My friend Adam got him to sign it. My friend Adam knows I hate to be called J-Lo.)
…but it was worth it.
Oh, and Wil: Read ‘Fallen Son’ if you haven’t yet. It’s about Cap’s funeral and the effect it has on the other heroes. One of my favorite stories ever.
Best,
JBLove
Twitter.com/JBLove
Looks pretty good. Incognito, that is.
I’m kind of surprised that your reasoning for finally getting into a Marvel title is that it “made me forget that I was reading a story about a dude in a spandex suit.” That’s how I primarily viewed DC books outside of, say, Ronin, Dark Knight Returns, etc. — silly costumed character stories with no weight.
I was a pretty heavy Marvel leaner, but I formed an appreciation for late-80s DC fare such as Batman, Superman, The Question, even the early-90s Green Lantern revival (you know, where Hal Jordan was doing his “search for himself” across America — good times).
Now, I view DC having regressed to the simplistic, spandex stories (seriously, I cannot even keep track of the nonsense going on over there with the 8 million universes re-spawned), while Marvel’s been knocking ’em out of the ballpark with stuff by Ellis, Brubaker, etc.
But that’s just me. Glad you found Brubaker’s Cap. One of the few solid Marvel titles on my pull list that isn’t endangered (I’m looking at you, X-Men).
Looks very good. I really enjoyed “Soon I will be invincible.” A graphic novel told mostly from the perspective of a villain should be refreshing.
Damn you, Wheaton! Just when I thought I was free of that monkey…
“Dear god, I have such a problem. But it’s okay, because I can stop reading comics any time I want to. SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP YES I CAN!”
That was me 10 years ago. I eventually got that $300+/month habit off of my mind and now I get teased with THIS?!
Hmmm… maybe I can convince my local library to purchase a copy just so I can read it…
Surely sir, you have at the very least read, and been captivated by “Marvels”? The sheer artistic masterpiece could not have escaped the notice of a geek of your level!
Shit. Damn you to a non-existent hell for showing me this. Now I’ve got to pray to a non-existent god that my brother is planning on picking this up.
I totally get what you’re syaing about the whole DC/Marvel thing – I’ve never been a Marvel guy either. Unless you mean Captain Marvel. Much love for the Big Red Cheese.
Debating whether to show this to the husband…he hates his boring office work IT job and probably dreams of this sort of thing about ten times a day. Also, addicted to comics. I’m sure he’d love it….Hmm….
I’ve been reading Daredevil for a few years now – Bru has had a good run on that so far, with some excellent shake-ups and twists to boot – you should read that!
I understand your comic choices. I’ve always been on the DCU side of things myself. I didn’t really understand it until I got into a conversation with a customer when I was running a comic shop. They likened DC to a long term relationship and Marvel to a quickie fling. DC requires a serious emotional investment, knowing the rich history of the world and the connections between the past and the various characters. Marvel on the other hand, can be read on a whim for the most part and still be understood.
As for the collecting woes, I feel your pain. Comic collecting can be just as bad as a drug addiction, it can wreck a lot of havoc in your life if you can’t control it. The trick for me wasn’t curbing the habit, but finding a healty balance of comics and my real life.