Tizoc
Member
During the mid 2000s Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting were on the helms of Marvel's Captain America comic book series.
When I started reading comics some 10ish years ago (around when Civil War was going on), Brubaker's Captain America was the most praised series talked about in the forum I was posting in (SRK).
After watching Cap 3, I decided to revisit it; when I read it all those years ago I enjoyed it, but now having read many other books and titles, I've found I like this book even more.
Now before I talk about what I like about this series, keep in mind that if you enjoyed Cap 2 and 3, then you really should read Brubaker's Cap run since they are based on this run.
Ed Brubaker's run starts with the discovery of the Cosmic Cube and its possession by the Red Skull, and how it is used to plundge the world into chaos.
It goes on to introduce The Winter Soldier, who at the time was not known to be Bucky. Keep in mind that Bucky was hardly ever used in many Marvel comics prior to that, being shown mainly during WW2 flashbacks with Cap.
Cap teams up with some of his oldest and closest allies as he unveils this conspiracy and cope with the Winter Soldier and Bucky's return.
The run was touted as being a 'super spy' themed comic, and if you were to work it into a James Bond story you can see the parallels.
Onto what I like about this series-
For one thing the pacing is fast, Brubaker has the events in each issue progress in a really good pace, and offers good focus on characters and how the events of what's going on in the story are viewed by them.
In addition the comic didn't have a very large cast, I could count the main protagonists for any given arc on one hand. The villains being one step ahead of Cap and co. was another thing I liked, which is trumped by how Cap and his allies won't be deterred by the villain's actions and plots.
Epting's art is fantastic and he draws fight scenes really well, being dynamic and all.
If there is a fault I have with it, it'd be that some characterizations feel uninspired like the Master Men and the Russian general from WW2 flashback.
All in all though, this run still holds up IMHO thanks to Brubaker's excellent writing. If you want to read the run, def. look up the ultimate collections, or the regular editions are fine as well.