I like Ed Brubaker
I think the first Ed Brubaker comic I read was Captain America #1. I might be wrong.
I think I bought Captain America #1 because I thought “Ooh, series relaunch. I will see if it’s any good.”
I think I was just as intrigued by the art as I was the story, but I kept buying it. Captain America became my self-surprise series of the year.
So then that X-Men mini series came along. Deadly Genesis or something like that? I bought it because I was picking up all the post-House of M series, hoping some would stick. Some did. Deadly Genesis was one of them. I was, at the very least, intrigued.
I was a Marvel loyalist, but a burnt-out one, so these days, for a Marvel series to get me to continue buying it, it has to demonstrate some intangible “I will be worth your continued investment of both money and attention” quality.
Then the day came that Brian Michael Bendis left Daredevil. Several titles got me back into reading comics again, but Daredevil was the first book that came highly recommended by multiple people I trusted and also got me looking forward to New Comic Book Day(s).
Now that Ed Brubaker has taken over the book, I don’t feel like there’s been the slightest bit of drop-off. In fact, I am every bit as excited, if not more excited, to pick up the new Daredevil. Because now there will be snappy dialogue and plot advancement.
So Deadly Genesis wrapped up this week. I think I was most pleased that it managed to be revisionist history without re-writing what was already known; it managed to fit into the gaps of what was never told. I always admire that.
I don’t know where this Brubaker guy is going, but he sure will take me with him. It’s been over a year now, but I am now a subscriber to the Brubaker brand, and this guy could write Speedball Monthly and I’d probably buy it.
I’m not sold on Brubaker. I’m not sure if I’ve stated it on LOD before, but the guy didn’t know about the existing 3rd Summers brother mystery before he wrote one in Deadly Genesis. That’s not the guy I want writing my beloved X-Men. Daredevil is good, but I might feel differently if I wasn’t reading Colonel Doom’s copies for free. And the last issue of Deadly Genesis was a waste of money, because nothing happened that any idiot couldn’t have figured out from reading the first 5 issues.
Wow, I guess you’re just way smarter than those of us who didn’t know how Summers 3 survived, who didn’t see Darwin’s survival coming, and didn’t foresee Cyclops pulling a bigoted turn on Professor X.
You should work in Vegas.
I really should pick up my new stuff before reading posts like this. Dang spoileritis.
I’ll say that I really enjoy Brubaker’s stuff. Maybe my favorite thing is that there’s nothing that would really clue you in that he’s the author, except it’s all good. He doesn’t write every character like Ultimate Peter Parker, a la Bendis. And he doesn’t force in political overtones like Millar.
If his name wasn’t on the books, I wouldn’t be able to pick which books he writes. Daredevil reads just like before, except with stuff actually happening. Captain America isn’t too different, except for better dialogue and stuff actually happens.
Anyway, I can’t say I liked (the first 5 issues of) Deadly Genesis as much as Jim, or disliked it as much as Fang. It was pretty good, but not great.
Which leads me to what I’ve considered posting: is Marvel about to ruin Brubaker the way they ruined Bendis? I enjoyed Bendis until he was writing 12 books a month, and every big Marvel event. He started missing deadlines, and everything was just not as good.
Now that Brubaker’s on so many books, can they all be as good as before? I hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.
I don’t think overworking is what undid Bendis in the fanboys’ eyes; I think it was the fact that overexposure highlighted his weaknesses.
If Brubaker has some major weaknesses, then yeah, maybe it’s going to happen. But I think you make a really good point about how invisible he is as a talent. I think that’s going to make it harder to get burnt out on him, since he doesn’t bring a real Brubaker brand image beyond consistent stories.
I would agree that Brubaker’s lack of an identifiable style works in his favor. Every story is better when you can’t tell who’s writing it.
I actually liked the first 5 issues of Deadly Genesis, but the final one seemed unnecessary to me. The characters in a story finding out what we already know as readers is not dramatic. No, I had no clue Darwin was coming back, but it was clear that Professor X had erased everyone’s memory of the first All-New X-Men team, who had died trying to save Cyclops’ team from Krakoa. That was supposed to be the big moment of the series. And finding out the practicalities behind why Vulcan was able to survive isn’t really as exciting as, say, his dramatic return from the first issue.
Yeah, it was obvious that Professor X erased people’s memories, which is why I didn’t really think that was the big moment. Cyclops kicking him out of the X mansion because he’s not a mutant was a major character and plot turn. Your own post from a few days ago suggests you didn’t see this coming, and that you in fact predicted a very different turn.
So I would disagree that we were supposed to be shocked by that. We knew that was coming – the fallout from that is what was ready to be discovered. I expected anger and resentment and whatnot, but I didn’t expect Scott to cast Charles out completely.
I also liked that Summers 3’s discovery of his origins focused his anger and energy away from the earth folks and toward the Shi’ar. It created a natural segue into Brubaker’s Uncanny run, and brings those characters back without feeling like “Oh, we haven’t dipped into that well in a while – let’s bring those triangle-headed space people back!”
a minor note, but Marvel’s Bendisification may or may not have burned him out for fanboys. I was just saying that I thought his writing became worse the more books he took on.
Yes, he always wrote very “airy.” But if you compare early USM or Powers to the later runs, there’s no comparison.