Paul Brian McCoy/David Wallace Comic Reviews

Dave Wallace: You raise an interesting point: is it possible that Brubaker's Achilles' Heel is going to be that he's done such a good job in making Bucky an interesting Captain America that readers aren't going to want to see Steve Rogers return to the role? After so many naysayers complained about the fact that Bucky was returning in the first place, that would be the ultimate irony.

I don't get that impression when I read interviews with him, but every single comic I've read by him has this same sloppy quality that I really don't like, even last month's futuristic Iron Fist adventure. It's the exact opposite of Fraction and Brubaker's work on this title and their other books. With Brubaker especially, you get the sense that he gives the highest priority to making sure everything in his stories is there for a reason, and even if we don't know that reason initially, we will find out. Fraction can be a little more loose with his plotting, but again, nothing is wasted and every page is about respect for the medium. I don't get that yet from Swierczynski, but I'm giving him one last chance. If this story doesn't hold together, then I'm cutting it loose.

I've mentioned this before, but this is a good time to mention it again. I think it's time to bench Bendis. Let him be a project manager. Let him generate ideas. Let him have his hand in the MU just like he's got it now. But please, please, please, farm out the exploration and actual writing of his broad stroke pitches to other, better writers. Or, if that's not possible, let him keep these types of stories confined in the titles that he is already working on, like he originally wanted to do with Secret Invasion. This would have been so much better as an Avengers story than it's turning out to be as a company-wide event.

Sub-Mariner: The Depths already looks as though it'll make a fine addition to the ranks of claustrophobic undersea adventure stories that constitute a sub-genre of fantasy fiction, whether it's classic tales like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea or more recent efforts such as The Abyss and Sphere. If the book has one weakness, it's that the end of the issue doesn't really provide the moment of release that you might expect of a serialised story like this one--in all honesty, I was expecting a slightly stronger cliffhanger--but Milligan at least succeeds in bringing his story to a tense and fairly chilling place by the time the issue is over. I just hope that that tension doesn't evaporate in the month-long gap between this chapter and the next.

Dave Wallace: Yep. All things considered, this is a decent package that makes me wish that all anniversary issues had this much content packed into them. The high price tag might be a little off-putting, but with a highly enjoyable double-sized lead story, a couple of fun backups and some classic reprints, this issue is definitely worth your money.