Review: Captain America "Man Out Of Time"

Captain America : Man Out of Time

Written by Mark Waid

Art by Jorge Molina

144 pages

Published by Marvel Comics 

With Captain America: The First Avenger hitting the big screens this July, its just normal for Marvel to capitalize on their blockbuster film and gain some good comic book sales by releasing a plethora of stand-alone Cap stories, but only one stands out as probably one of the best superhero novels of 2011.

That my friends is Captain America: Man Out of Time written by Mark Waid with art done by Jorge Molina.

I know what you might be thinking: "Another origin story". And I can't blame you, because a lot of out-of-continuity stories are usually re-telling a particular superhero tale that we already heard a million times before.

But this one is different. Different in a very good way.

This book not only recounts the story of Captain America being thawed by The Avengers in the present time after finding him encased in a block of ice in suspended animation, but it also tells us a story entirely seen from Captain America- or better yet - Steve Rogers' perspective, something that very few books have done before.

Here you will see a man, suddenly waking up modern times after being asleep for 50-plus years, seeing a completely different world and completely different America. Here is a story of an extra-ordinary man, struggling to keep his own humanity, finding it hard to accept that he cannot go back in time to save his friend Bucky, before ultimately realizing that the world still needs him more than ever, and that he can do that together with his newfound friends and teammates - The Avengers.

Mark Waid makes an entirely vulnerable Captain America, one that I haven't seen in recent books. Waid's impeccable writing enabled this story to have a lot of substance, a cinematic feel that I really loved, and a very-well mixed balance of action and drama that is packed with a lot of realism. And just like his other great superhero novel Superman: Birthright, Waid's superb storytelling skills has made this an emotionally-gripping and inspiring tale that could go up there as one of the best Captain America stories of all time.

Art-wise, Molina's pencils and Frank D'Armata's colors are not that enough to make this 100% visually-compelling, and Bryan Hitch's below-average covers doesn't make do any good in this department but despite the flaws, all of that didn't make this book any thing less but GREAT.

But I have to say, Jorge Molina's dynamic style using the flashback technique is awesome especially in that 1945 jump-explosion scene which then switches over to the present day with the Avengers finding him in a block of ice. Those two panels are flat-out good, and he incorporates many more flashbacks in the entire book which were very well done in my opinion. 

     

Now collected in a gorgeous hardcover edition, Captain America: Man Out of Time is a definite must-read for anyone -  one of the best comic books out there in the shelves that is worth every your every penny that also works as a very nice hype-vehicle/backgrounder for the upcoming Cap film.

Rating:

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Comic Book Review: Kingdom Come

Familiar right? You've heard the phrase in the Bible a million times and you even  say it in your everyday prayers (assuming you pray). But we're not gonna talk about religion here, because  I don't want to discuss anything about that convoluted subject, and plus were not here to argue with each other. LOL . Ok, back to the show - this is a review (obviously) of another DC comic book named Kingdom Come, 4 issue comic book published in 1996 by DC Comics and is written by Mark Waid with the art done by Alex Ross. And here folks is the absolutely stunning cover art by the superstar painter:

 (image courtesy of DC Comics)

As you can see from the cover, this is not your ordinary superhero comic book. The artist does an exceptional job of painting these superheroes in great detail, from the eyes, built, wrinkles, to the emotions that they express in the story. Nobody illustrates superheroes like Alex Ross, and i mean, no one. He draws and paints them in a realistic kind of way, and it is as real & good as you can possibly get. Obviously I like his take on Supes right here he is quite older than what we see in the comics continuity, with strands of white hair on the sides.

You're maybe asking why is that. It is because the story is set some 20 years in the future of the DC Universe at the time. Mark Waid plays with the idea of a growing animosity and conflict between the old-timers or traditional superheroes (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, etc) and a group of new superheroes or what they call "metahumans" who are dangerously irresponsible and rampant, led by a new "hero" named Magog. I'll stop right there because it would be ugly if I tell the whole story here. And continue reading, you might be in for a real treat at the end of this review.

I forgot to mention, that the story too shouts of the Bible, especially the Apocalypse, Armageddon (or whatever you wanna call it), similar to the Book of Revelation and believe it or not, the main character of the story is not Superman or Batman.. or any superhero. It is an elderly human... a pastor named Norman McCay who also narrates the story and the events as they unfold before your very eyes, so you, the reader is kinda watching with him as well as the battle of the Titans builds up.

Another important thing I would like to comment on is that I believe that the whole novel is some sort of potshot at the gritty and dark comic book stories of the 80s - such as the Dark Knight Returns, Sin City, and Watchmen to name a few - and serves a vessel of Ross' and Waid's commentary on it. Its like they're saying: "hey, we're tried of all the chaos and darkness running around here for a while, so let's bring back the light-hearted and hopeful tone of comic books and these classic heroes". 

In totality, Kingdom Come is an awesome read with the big blowout being the artwork You just can't miss this. 5/5. 

Luckily, for those who are not able to download comics over the internet, or buy a trade paperback of this book, a guy on Youtube under the username of mglittlerobin decided to make a visual audiobook of this classic story for a person who has an obsessive compulsive disorder. Now that's very nice. The voice acting is perfect, and the narration is smooth, and it perfectly reflects the comic book so its a definite watch on Youtube. Check out part 1 and follow the rest on YT, or you can buy it directly from Amazon and support them: Amazon.com - Kingdom Come Audiobook