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TITLE: Captain America (Vol. 3) #19

PUBLISHER: Marvel

COVER DATE: July 1999

COVER PRICE: $1.99

22 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

Mark Waid and Captain America were like chocolate and peanut butter back in the latter half of the 90's. I still remember picking up issue #444 and being blown away. In fact, the only memory I have of Waid's Captain America run that is more vivid than that was hearing that he was off the book a year later to make way for the Heroes Reborn stunt. That's a discussion for another day, however, for Waid's run ended up affecting my collecting habits in three ways.

To start with, it was the first time that I actively became a Captain America solo title reader. The best Avengers books always had Cap in them, but for some reason that never prompted me to pick up his solo book. That all changed with this issue, and lasted up until the post 9-11 relaunch.

Secondly, it made me a Ron Garney fan for life. Yeah, I had enjoyed his work on the Midnight Sons side of the Marvel Universe previously, but this work was on a whole different level. It's just too bad that he's pencilling books I really don't care about these days, as I miss his stuff. Seriously, I'd kill to get him and Jason Aaron on anything other than another Wolverine book.

Thirdly, it cemented Mark Waid firmly into the category of trying anything new that he does. That's held true for the last ten years until just recently with him joining the post-Brand New Day Spider-Man universe. I hear good things, but I'm just not that big of a Spidey fan to invest in a whole new continuity.

Back to this issue then, four years later, and Mark Waid is back on the title after it's relaunched (again) after the Heroes Reborn story ran it's course. This issue has Andy Kubert on pencils, who stepped on board after Ron Garney left. I'd totally forgot that Andy Kubert had a nice run on this title, so I'm looking forward to seeing some of his pencils again.

The Kubert's work on DC recently has been so spotty that it seems like it's been ages since I've enjoyed their pencils. Hell, there was a time when you could pick up a Marvel book, and nine times out of ten it would be drawn by a Kubert!

Wow, that's a long pre-amble. I hope I didn't bore you too much with my stroll down Memory Lane. Let's stop pumping up Mark Waid's ego and check out the actual book itself, of which I remember surprisingly little of the plot.

Triumph Of The Will

• Writer: Mark Waid
• Penciler: Andy Kubert
• Inker:Jesse Delperdang
• Colorist: Greg Wright
• Letterer: Todd Klein
• Editors: Matt Idelson and Bobbie Chase
• Editor in Chief: Bob Harras

Sharon Carter awakens to the reality that the Red Skull is now in possession of the Cosmic Cube. The Earth is doomed, as soon he will become unbeatable.

Thankfully, she also sees Captain America rise to stop him. He rushes forward, morphing his electroshield into a sword, raising it to strike the Red Skull.

Did I mention that this book is from the 90's? No? Then I guess the electroshield gave that away. Seriously though, Mark Waid made it work. In the hands of any other creator, it probably wouldn't have. It's just another case in point that there are indeed good books from this decade.

Sharon's not the only one watching these events unfold, as the Watcher stands in the shadows. He has urged Captain America to take down the Red Skull once and for all, and now that he's about to strike he lets out a smile.

The smile is short lived, as at the last moment Cap morphs the sword into a bo-staff. His strike glances off of the Red Skull's armor, allowing the Skull to fight back and sending Cap flying backwards.

He lands at the feet of the Watcher and Cap manages to surprise him for a second time by seeing through his disguise. That's right, it's not really the Watcher, but Korvac!

Korvac has been playing Captain America, tricking him into killing the Red Skull and siphoning off his cosmic cube infused power for himself. In a series of flashbacks into an alternate future we find out that Cap continues to hound Korvac, only to have Korvac continually reset the timeline whenever Cap gets close to defeating him.


During these constant battles, Cap tricks Korvac into going back in time to before the Skull attained the power cosmic in an attempt to get the power for himself. That's where we pick up the story in the present, with Korvac revealed and the Red Skull nigh omnipotent.

The Red Skull presses the advantage, forcing Korvac to flee to his ship in earth orbit with Cap and Sharon in tow. Korvac is ready to flee the solar system, but Cap calls his bluff and convinces him that he is Korvac's only hope against the Red Skull.

With the power of the cosmic cube now fully assimilated, the Red Skull takes the earth as his own. From the mountains to the oceans, it is all his...but there is still one thing that distracts him, and that is Captain America.

Now that he has become like a god, he can sense the deception that Captain America is planning on board Korvac's ship in orbit. One quick teleport later and he is on board the ship, spreading Korvac thin across six dimensions with the power of the cube.

He has come to finish off Captain America personally, for even though the Skull has won...Captain America has not lost completely and totally...yet.

Before he assimilates the knowledge contained in Korvac's ship, the Skull will take one more stab at ruining Captain America. He possesses the soul of Sharon Carter and forces her to fight Cap. For him to get to the Skull, he will have to kill the woman he loves.

Cap tries to go easy on Sharon, fighting mostly on the defensive, trying to break the hold that the Skull has on her. He finally does it by admitting that he loves her. She breaks the Skull's hold momentarily, and Cap takes the advantage with a haymaker punch that knocks her out cold.

It's all too late, however, as the Skull is now moments away from entering the data stream of Korvac's ship and assimilating all the knowledge contained therein. As he steps in, he's rudely awakened as Cap's true plan comes into light. It wasn't the data stream they were standing in front of after all, it was the anti-matter engine core.

Realizing the gig is up, the Red Skull decides to that if he is to die, he will take Captain America with him. Using the last of his power before he is disintegrated, he starts a chain reaction that begins to destroy the ship. In a desperate gambit, Cap jumps headfirst into the anti-matter core and grabs the cosmic cube that is left floating where the Red Skull was just moments ago.

Using the power of the cube, Cap wills himself and Sharon to safety on the earth. They arrive just in time to see Korvac's ship exploding in the sky. As he ponders if the Red Skull had the same idea and saved himself, Cap turns to Sharon only to see her disappear before his eyes.

The Red Skull has been defeated, but at what cost?

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

I really miss reading a good Mark Waid book. When he clicks with a character and a fellow creator, he makes some damn good comics. Captain America was one of those books. He really took Cap out of the craziness of the 90's and brought him into the world of modern storytelling. It's just a shame that his run got cut off early to make way for Leifeld and company. They tried to recapture the magic, but never quite got the old magic back.

Even though, this was still a pretty entertaining issue. Of course, it's hard to go wrong when you have Cap, the Red Skull, and the cosmic cube all in the mix together. The fact that Andy Kubert is on board to handle the pencils makes the loss of Ron Garney easier to take. They have complimentary styles that makes the transition seamless, but he has has a dynamism that is all his own.

In fact, I had such a good time reading this issue that I'm tempted to go back and reread Waid's entire run. That is something that definitely needs to be collected in a nice omnibus trade. I doubt it will ever happen as long as Brubaker keeps kicking ass on his version of Captain America, but until then I still have my single issues.

All characters should have such dilemmas...should I read the awesome, current version by Ed Brubaker or the seminal work done by Mark Waid. Decisions, decisions...

TITLE: Valor #11

PUBLISHER: DC

COVER DATE: September 1993

COVER PRICE: $1.25

23 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

Looking at the credits reveals that this issue is written by Mark Waid. I guess I never realized that he had written the latter half of this series. This has to be one of the earliest Mark Waid books I have, as I would imagine that this was before he had made a huge name for himself.

I checked my database and this issue was about three years before Kingdom Come, which is arguably the title that cemented his name into the annals of comic book history.

Further snooping in the database shows that I have some Waid books that are even earlier than this one. How could I have forgotten about The Flash...another book that could also arguably be considered the book the cemented his name into the annals of comic book history.

For me, I can see how that would've slipped my mind. I was a latecomer to The Flash, only jumping on board well into Geoff Johns' run. The only Flash book I had before those was Flash #62 from 1992, Mark Waid's first issue.

So anyway, to make a long story short, I didn't realize until I yanked this book back out that Mark Waid had written this title.

I enjoy some good Mark Waid books, so let's take a look at some of his earlier work

Fight The Power

• Story: Mark Waid
• Pencils: Jeffrey Moore
• Inks: Mike Sellers
• Letterer: Pat Brosseau
• Colorist: Dave Grafe
• Assistant Editor: Eddie Berganza
• Editor: K.C. Carlson

We open up in Legion headquarters in the 30th century. Triad is daydreaming about Valor, conveniently bringing the reader up to speed on exactly who Lar Gand is, and why we should care. That's textbook comic book writing right there.

Through her dialogue with Catspaw, a fellow Legionnaire, we learn that one of Valor's earliest exploits was freeing a group of mutagenically altered hostages from slavery. He was able to help them build colonies across the galaxy, thus seeding the universe for the races that would populate the future and fill out the ranks of the Legion of Superheroes.

Wasn't there a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode similar to this? Obviously without the dreamy teenagers.

It's kinda nifty how they not only made him the inspiration for the Legion of Super-Heroes, but also directly responsible for their existence. But an argument could also be made about explaining too much, after all does everything need that much explanation? Can't the force just be the force? Do we really need midichlorians?

After our brief history lesson from the future, we are returned to the past which is our present.

And it's in the present where Lar Gand is currently having some serious issues with his powers. They seem to be out of control and are going off on their own.

It worked to his advantage yesterday, as his uncontrolled laser vision was essential in stopping The Unimaginable! Along the way they rescued a wayward, beautiful Green Lantern from it's clutches, who now lies comatose on his damaged ship. It's decided that they should head to Oa, in hopes of getting her some help.

As Valor checks in on her, his laser vision starts to go off, threatening her life once again.

I've heard of biological functions going off prematurely in the presence of a beautiful woman, but I think this is just a tad more serious than that.

That's not all that's going wild, however, as his super hearing kicks in with the slightest whispers being transformed into a cacophony of wild noises. It's too much for Valor, who starts to tear the ship apart trying to silence all of the pops, clicks, whirrs, humms, and blips that the ship is making.

Lucky for him, the Green Lantern has awakened from her coma and has managed to calm the rampaging teenager. His moment of peace is short lived, as they are informed from the ship that they are now heading directly toward an asteroid field. Normally, that wouldn't really be an issue, but Valor has damaged the ships controls during his rampage.

This is another one of those science fiction tropes that always makes me laugh...the surprise asteroid field! Seriously, can an asteroid field really surprise someone? It's not like they don't cover a wide swath of space...they can't be that hard to spot in advance. And do you really expect me to believe that after hiding out on Hoth for as long as the rebels did, that Han Solo had no idea that there was an asteroid field that they were heading straight into? I don't think so.

Back to the book, and Lar Gand is in trouble as his super strength is still out of control and every time he tries to touch the ships controls, he just breaks them further. The Green Lantern, who we now find out is named Alia, will pilot the ship for Valor as he flies outside to run interference with the asteroids, leading the ship to safety.

He decides to stay outside the ship for the remainder of the trip to Oa, so that he doesn't accidentally hurt his passenger again.

As they near Oa, Kilowog is training a new batch of recruits who have mistaken Valor off in the distance for a shooting star. Kilowog challenges the recruits to catch the star with their power rings. They soon realize that it's not a shooting star, but Valor is still in a spot of trouble as he's now mistaken for an intruder trying to attack Oa.

Held fast in a green prison, Valor desperately tries to warn the Lanterns that he's not the problem. The real danger is his out of control ship that is now bearing down on them.

Wouldn't you know it, but his ship just happens to be yellow! The whole might of the Green Lantern Corps is centered on this very planet, and a runaway yellow space ship is going to be the death of them.

Ahh, so this is what a Green Lantern story looks like from back in the day with the yellow impurity in full effect. Geoff Johns is seriously a genius for making this whole concept make sense.

I guess it's up to Valor to save everyones butt again, after all, it's his book...what did he expect? With a nifty homage to when Superman would stop a runaway train mere moments before the broken section of track, Valor grabs the nose of the space ship and manages to bring it to a stop inches from the surface of Oa. I'd reprint a panel of the action, but the cover by Jason Pearson pretty much sums it up better than any of the interior panels.

So all is well that ends well, as Alia is nursed back to health and Valor's ship is fixed by none other than Kilowog.

Although seriously, I've heard of artistic license before, but are we really to believe that Kilowog used that monkey wrench to rebuild Valor's ship? Let's just hope that Kilowog wasn't also in charge of nursing Alia back to health, as I'd hate to see the size of his stethoscope!

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

Mark Waid knows how to tell an entertaining story. This story is by no means Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow, but it does do a nice job of bringing the reader up to speed and setting the stage for big six-parter that follows hot on the heels of this issue.

As pure space opera, I can see what I enjoyed in this title. I've always liked my comic book with a slight sci-fi bent, and that's what we get here.

The only thing that really holds this book back is the artwork. I'm unfamiliar with Jeffrey Moore, which doesn't seem too much of a surprise after reading this issue. It wasn't horrible, just awfully uneven.

Take a look back at the pics that I scanned. All the drawings of the aliens are pretty good. It's the drawings of the plain old humans where the work falters. Combine that with some clumsy storytelling, and you have a story that never really gets a chance to build a decent head of steam.

That cover by Jason Pearson sure is nice though.