Art: Steve Epting
What the heck is going on over at Marvel comics these days? It seems like everyone is raising the stakes week after week, between the DC mega-series, and Brian Michael Bendis running amok all over Marvel when are we going to have a chance to catch our collective breaths? Hopefully no time soon as the Hulk has already made sure that 2007 will be another big year for comics. But what about Cap, there are still some unresolved issues surrounding his demise and it looks like Ed Brubaker, Jeph Loeb, and Bendis have all pooled their resources to tell the story. Hopefully you’ve been reading the ‘Fallen Son' books, as well as the ‘New Avengers’ to get all of the story, with the Cap title proper dealing with everything else.
In issue 26 we see more of the direct fall out that we expected from Cap’s death. Brubaker skips the actual funeral and instead takes us to the wake, where we hear that Sam (The Falcon) delivered an excellent speech. I’m not sure how I feel about that, I think I would have rather heard Sam’s words first hand, but I can kinda see why Brubaker skipped that part. The best part of the sequence has to be Sharon Carter falling apart in the bathroom, how is this going to work out? It’s moments like these that make comics worthwhile as I have to come back next month to get the rest of the story.
When you look at it, and think for a second, Steve Rogers’ rogues gallery isn’t too bad, and to have a few of them seemingly involved in this plot is interesting. The most note worthy aspect to this whole deal is that killing Steve wasn’t the end all be all to the Red Skulls plans, that’s pretty intriguing and leads me to believe that whatever happens in this book will most likely have repercussions for the rest of the Marvel U, and there’s still that small matter of the cosmic cube.
Let’s not forget the cool appearance by (I still can’t believe this) Bucky Barnes! Ever since he hit the scene as The Winter Soldier, he’s been one of my personal favorite characters. In this issue we see him dealing with his friend’s death in his own way. His personal declaration at the end of the book makes the whole thing worth it, you must check it out. Steve Epting draws another quality book in a classic style that I really enjoy; he seems to be a perfect fit for Captain America, hopefully he’ll stick around for awhile.
No amount of brain washing will make Dante any cooler.
