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cold northern wind Having reached the Dan Jurgens era, I understand why Marvel Comics decided to end the third volume of Captain America. In my opinion, he just didn't make the book as interesting as his predecessors did and from looking at the statement of ownership circulation numbers that was reflected in sales. Gruenwald had a great supporting cast for Steve. I may not have liked each and every one of them, but it gave him a private life away from The Avengers. Then when Mark Waid took over he boiled everything that represented Captain America down to its essence. All that remained were Steve, Sharon and the Red Skull, but that was more than enough to make the book solid in terms of story telling. Plus Andy Kubert was at his dynamic best with his pencils. Even though these were two very different if not opposite approaches to the book, they were both strong runs that I enjoyed reading. Eventually Waid left the title and Jurgens took over first with just the writing and then the pencil chores on the book. When he was fully in control of both of those elements, everything seemed flat to me. Both the writing and the art lacked depth. There wasn't anything challenging about either of them. I'm not saying that there was anything horrible about them, but they weren't as interesting as what Gruenwald and Waid did when they were crafting the book. Maybe this will change when we learn more about the first person to be injected with the Super Soldier Serum, but that remains to be seen. ... I had the misfortune of visiting municipal court tonight for the second traffic citation that I have gotten in my entire driving career. This time I understood the procedure better and was mildly shocked when I was given a chance to speak in my defense. No instant deals were handed out, but I think that had more to do with the county than the judge. I suspect that the volume of citations is lower and that allows the judge more time to hear pleas. So as I sat there half listening to the others state their case, I was formulating what I wanted to say. I wanted to show how what I did wasn't that great of an offense, but at the same time not have to argue with the judge. Well, I managed to get a slight reduction in the fine, but not as much as I had hoped. I guess that it was still worth my being there for forty five minutes. I have no desire to ever be there again though. Being in court is not something that I enjoy. |