What You're Missing: Shields Up!

I started a post about this topic a week or two ago, but somehow Blogger ate it.  Fingers crossed for a better result this time!

The guys at my comic shop are pretty awesome.  Since I live 2 hours away, I am unable to pick up my comics as frequently as I used to (which is why I do not attempt to do reviews of the latest comics!).  Often when I do pick up my books I now have a baby waiting in the car (with his mother, not by himself!) and have to move pretty quickly, so I don't have time to browse very much.  Fortunately, when a book comes out the guys think I'll like, they put it in my box for me to take a look at.

When I discovered Captain America corps in my slot, I almost put it back on the shelf.  I try to avoid starting a lot of new titles and mini-series because of the cost of comics these days, and this looked like something out of continuity anyway, which is sometimes a bonus and sometimes not.  As I gave it a quick flip though, I decided to give it a try.

The book had some good things going for it.  The art looked pretty good.  Roger Stern was the writer, a huge check mark in the plus column.  But in the end, the reason I got the book was because it just looked like fun.


The basic concept is similar to that of the Thor Corps, written by Tom DeFalco years ago; take the characters that have either been the title character, or continue their legacy, and throw them together for an adventure.  In this case, we have Steve Rogers (as a rookie Captain America), Bucky Barnes (as Captain America), John Walker (USAgent), Shannon Carter (American Dream from the MC2 universe), and a new character from the far future, Commander A.  I would've bought this book if it was just Steve, Bucky, and Walker running around, having American Dream was a real bonus.

The book is just plain fun, something comics seem to be afraid to be these days.  In my mind, one single line summed up how much fun this book is; while retreating from an attack from an alternate-reality police force, some of which were pursuing our heroes from the air, the USAgent shouts to his teammates "Shields up!".  Now how fun a line is that when you've got 5 different Captain America's wielding four different types of shields?  Eat your heart out Star Trek.

I'm 3 issues into this 5 part mini and cannot wait to pick up the last two parts.  It's been a really fun read and I highly recommend you check it out.