Comments on: Marvel Spinner Rack: Wolverine 5.1, X-Factor 215, Spider-Girl 4, Captain America: Man Out of Time #3

By: Good Comics Out May 25: Manga and Trondheim » Comics Worth Reading

Good Comics Out May 25: Manga and Trondheim » Comics Worth Reading — Wed, 25 May 2011 11:49:05 +0000

[...] should check out Captain America: Man Out of Time (Marvel, $19.99) by Mark Waid and Jorge Molina. I liked it for its approachable take on the character. [...]

By: KC Explains the Sliding Timeline » Comics Worth Reading

KC Explains the Sliding Timeline » Comics Worth Reading — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 17:56:38 +0000

[...] why it’s necessary, and the problems of World War II. He also recommends, along the way, Captain America: Man Out of Time, an opinion I share. [...]

By: JaysBlog

JaysBlog — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:51:36 +0000

Hmmm… After reading your review, I may pick up the Cap series. Just to get in the proper mood before the movie comes out.

By: JennyN

JennyN — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 03:03:42 +0000

Eh, perhaps I should say “US political culture”. To me as a furriner, that aspect of American life quite often seems much more conservative and resistant to change than the culture in general – though that’s probably true of many countries.

By: JennyN

JennyN — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 03:01:00 +0000

Kevin: thanks for the nudge about the background faces being the presidents from 1945 till now – I’d just taken them to be well-known Americans. Though the fact that they’re all men….probably does say something about the culture.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 18:02:08 +0000

And I’ve got two DC on tap, if I can get to them. Glad you liked them!

I appreciate everyone filling in the details I wasn’t aware of, especially Paul telling me more about Melita. It’s a shame Point One is going off the rails so quickly, because it’s an idea I can get behind, although the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

By: Grant

Grant — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 17:52:54 +0000

Wow! Four marvel superhero comics reviewed?! Am I on the right site? heh heh.

I’m with you on Captain America. Waid’s last run on Cap was one of the best runs ever, so I was quick to get this. I hope it’s collected in a trade. It would make a nice companion to the Roger Stern/John Byrne era Cap stories that are now in trade that focus a lot on caps personal life, his origin and his run for president.

I liked the first SpiderGirl series because it was seperate from the rest of Marvels continuity. Don’t care for this new one at all.

As far as the others, I could pretty much go the rest of my life and not read another Wolverine story. And I’m not a fan of any of the X-Books lately.

Enjoyed the reviews!

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 14:38:03 +0000

James,

People had been experimenting with amplified guitars since the ’30s, but the solid-bodied electric guitar as we know it was a post-war invention. (The first commercially successful model, Fender’s Telecaster, came out in 1950.)

By: Kevin Lighton

Kevin Lighton — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:00:33 +0000

JennyN: The faces are all the presidents from FDR to Obama, presumably to give a sense of just how long he’s been frozen in this story.

By: JennyN

JennyN — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:06:41 +0000

The Captain American book sounds interesting, but it does indeed seem to be about a MAN out of time – I can’t spot a single female face on that cover. (Thought: given that the faces presumably had to be A. instantly recognisable and B. of Serious People, does that say more about the creators, or about the culture / history of the US at this time?)

By: Paul O'Brien

Paul O'Brien — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 10:15:54 +0000

Melita is a new supporting character that Jason Aaron introduced in his first arc (before the recent relaunch). She’s a journalist, but it’s basically an “ordinary person dates superhero” set-up, so there’s no back story or continuity baggage to know about. What you see is pretty much what you get.

I agree that the decision to run the “Point One” jump-on issue smack in the middle of an unrelated ongoing storyline is utterly baffling. Several other books are doing the same thing – the THOR Point One issue is a fill-in, to boot! – and it looks like they’re losing the plot pretty quickly where this promotion is concerned.

By: James Schee

James Schee — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 07:43:28 +0000

I think teen heroes with parents, are sort of like TV shows with young adults that have kids. Neat at first, but eventually you get tired of explaining where they are at.

I actually picked up the first two issues of the Captain America series the other day, and as with you I love it. (still enjoy the regular series too) The man out of time bit is something that gets downplayed way too quickly.

Odd though that you mention Steve would never have heard an electric guitar… weren’t they invented in the 1930s? WWII didn’t end until the 1940s. Though I guess the types, and ways of use would have been vastly different.

I wonder how its doing commercially? Its another one of those series that doesn’t fit the continuity bubble after all.

By: David Oakes

David Oakes — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 02:18:49 +0000

Is Richard Nixon checking out Cap’s posterior?

By: Caroline

Caroline — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:34:50 +0000

Yeah, it’s too bad. You’d think there would be more value on things that are a little bit different, but the nature of the market seems to be very risk-averse.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:50:29 +0000

Thanks for the feedback! I only like unusual superhero takes these days, which means I need to get used to frequent disappointment, since it seems that the superhero companies only want very similar books in their line. (Once upon a time, it was thought to be a good thing to have variety to attract different customers, but now, everything seems to have to suit the same few traditional buyers.) Any series I enjoy reading is likely to see an early cancellation, sadly.

I can’t quite recommend the Wolverine issue — it’s enjoyable, but it doesn’t seem to go anywhere. I had hoped for more like that, but I don’t know where those issues are.

By: Caroline

Caroline — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:19:47 +0000

I am so with you on Spider-Girl. Unfortunately it seems that ‘liking a superhero character for the ways they are unusual/unique’ is a recipe for disappointment, because whatever factors cause *most* teen heroes to be orphans (for instance) will eventually come to bear on the outliers too. Other than that, I rather like the book but it’s a frustrating choice on somebody’s part (I suspect editorial rather than the series writer, but I may be wrong).

I also thought that Cap mini (and that issue in particular) was excellent and I hope some of the spirit of that gets into the movie franchise. I somehow totally missed this ‘Wolverine’s birthday party’ issue but now I’ve heard of it in several places and want to go back and pick it up.

Great reviews!