Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #2
Reviewed by David O' Leary
STEVE ROGERS: SUPER SOLDIER #2
Cover Date: October 2010
Story by: Ed Brubaker
Art by: Dale Eaglesham
Colours by: Andy Troy
Letters by: Joe Caramagna
Cover by: Carlos Pacheco
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Reviewed By: David O' Leary
Book Summery: Steve Rogers's past and present collide as he digs deeper into the mysteries at the center of a global conspiracy and comes face-to-face with the first woman he ever loved. All this, and the secret manipulator behind the scenes twists his knife in Steve's back with an ending that will leave readers stunned! From the pen and pencil of Ed Brubaker and Dale Eaglesham.
I really feel that this book is going under the radars of a lot of people. I am just not hearing enough good things about it from too many quarters. Brubaker has continued writing a Steve Rogers story that if you were reading the main title prior to the death of Steve and while he was crafting his epic run you can easily draw comparisons between the two.
It is a pity that this is only a four issue mini series as there looks to be changes on Steve's horizons that I would like to have had seen explored in the pages of his own book. For starters there is a teaser image within this issue of Steve donning the Nova helmet from a story that is going to be taking place in Secret Avengers. Couple that with the compelling story taking place in the pages of the main Captain America title with Bucky playing novice and for the trinity the final page of this issue has Steve Rogers reduced to the role of skinny weakling as the super soldier serum has been nullified in his system.
One thing I found about this issue that I loved is that it read like a vintage James Bond story. I know Brubaker is a fan of the time and big on detective stories in general and it shows here. The whole scenario of Steve on reconnaissance was really well presented both visually and in the narrative. Even the reveal of the villain as vintage homosexual villain Machinesmith threw me back to a time when he was bothering Daredevil in the late sixties. The reprints of those stories are among favourites of mine. There are so many throwbacks to bygone times with this title that my enjoyment is only more layered than if this was something more straightforward.
Dale Eaglesham is doing the art of his career since his return to Marvel. His work on Fantastic Four was widely praised and rightly so. His melding of modern stylistic pencils with a great look of the golden age won him a lot of new fans no doubt on FF. He manages to do something similar once again here. You are of course totally immersed in the story when you take a look at a panel and you would swear on all that's holy that you were looking at a new issue of Captain America from Jack Kirby. Eaglesham's ability to complement the Great Master without compromising his own take on the story is in all honestly something that should be more recognised by our community in general. It makes reading this book even more of an enjoyable experience.
Next issue is the penultimate issue of the series and it is going to be very interesting as to Brubaker manages to get Steve out of this more than a little jam. I mentioned earlier that not enough people are reading this but it looks like it is going to make a great trade when it is released and I hope it finds its audience there. Great stuff once again.
Rating the Issue
| Story Story: Overall 9.33 Concept - 9 out of 10 Plot - 9 out of 10 Dialogue - 10 out of 10 |
Art |
Importance |
Reviewer Bio
David has been with CR since June 2008 and started out as a reviewer and has expanded to do a couple of columns for the site also; starting with 28 Words Later with artist Declan Shalvey and later 5 Minutes With... where he talks with the industries best and brightest from Kubert to Moore.
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