So Many Science Fiction Endings, Distilled into One Panel…

This is from the great Ed Brubaker’s Captain America: Man With No Face (Marvel, 2009) – art duties provided by Steve Epting, Butch Guice, and Luke Ross.

Upcoming: “Captain America” #16

This is just a quick artwork post. I got this image a couple days ago from Marvel, and thought it was good enough to share this far in advance. The art is by Steve Epting, and I love how action-packed and dynamic it is:

Sadly, I wasn’t able to find a high-res image file of the cover artwork without the text, but it’s still pretty striking.

I won’t share the synopsis for this episode, though, because it contains quite a few spoilers. Captain America #16 is released this coming week, on August 8th.

I haven’t been reading this series of Captain America, because I want to finish Brubaker’s first run on the series, before starting on the post-Siege event “re-boot”.

“Captain America: Red Menace” (Marvel)

The second Brubaker-penned Captain America ultimate collection

Writer: Ed Brubaker | Artists: Mike Perkins, Javier Pulido, Marcos Martin & Steve Epting | Colours: Frank D’Armata

Six months ago, Crossbones kidnapped the Red Skull’s daughter, Sin, from a government re-education facility and disappeared into the night. Now, he and his spawn of infinite evil have come to the American Midwest to tear a new hole in A.I.M. – but none of them counted on Cap and Agent 13 stumbling into the mix.

The second volume in Brubaker’s run on Captain America picks up the story and expands on Cap’s history and the canon surrounding the character and some of his most infamous nemeses. It’s dark, gritty, action-packed and quite gripping.

“Captain America, Vol.1: Winter Soldier” (Marvel)

A superb entry point for new Captain America fans

Writer: Ed Brubaker | Artists: Steve Epting, Mike Perkins & Michael Lark | Colours: Frank D’Armata

A midnight call to duty brings Captain America aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D Heli-carrier to identify the corpse of his most feared adversary: the Red Skull. The shocking murder of Cap’s oldest enemy may not be the end of the Skull’s plans, however, because whoever shot the Skull has stolen his final project: an unfinished Cosmic Cube with the potential power to alter reality itself.

Adding to the imminent danger, a cadre of the Skull’s followers has already set in motion a plan to ignite bombs in the hearts of Paris, London and Manhattan – causing untold death and destruction. Racing against these bombs’ rapidly ticking clocks, the Star-Spangled Avenger must not only solve the mystery of his nemesis’ murder, but find the Cube before it can be used in the Red Skull’s malevolent plot against the United States!

Then, the questions plaguing Captain America’s dreams and memories have been answered in the most brutal way possible. And in the wake of this brutality, General Lukin makes his first all-out assault – tearing open old wounds and threatening to make new scars that will never heal.

I really enjoyed the new Captain America movie, and have also enjoyed a few issues of Marvel’s new Winter Soldier series (which I took a chance on largely because of Lee Bermejo’s covers, but also because I was looking for something new). I wanted to try out some Captain America graphic novels, but they all seemed a little out of my price range. So, when I saw this book in BMV in Toronto (a big discount bookstore – this was 60% off), I took it as a sign, and decided it would be a great point to start my Captain America reading. Brubaker’s take on the character was also recommended by a couple of friends. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I hope to catch up with the rest of Brubaker’s run on the series.*