Reborn Issue 3 Recap

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

Seeing as Reborn issue 4 is due out tomorrow (gods help us all), here's your Issue 3 recap!

I apologize in advance for whatever pain is about to be inflicted upon you all.

Comments

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

Oh, seated next to Pym Particles and the Fantastic Four, the plot device is totally fair--I think those tend to get a pass because they're such old stories. My major argument with the Tachyon thing is that it feels retconned--a large chunk of the first issue explaining "what really happened" didn't help that. From a marketing standpoint (like you said, a jumping off point for the new Cap fans), the flashbacks are needed. But from a storytelling standpoint, it feels like wasted space. I can't shake the feeling that they could have used it better. If it is that Steve needs to remember who he is, then that point completely passed me by, which is a shame because that could have made me like the flashback scenes a lot more.

I sort of feel a little cheated on the Tony thing. Tony is such a huge part of Steve. Cutting him out feels like they're missing something important. Even having just a brief, no-dialog shot of him in issue three was a giant relief on that angle. I would take more of that in a heartbeat. With what's going on in Iron Man, it's completely possible that we won't have Tony when Cap does finish coming back, or at maybe not a Tony capable of having a reunion. I think that makes the fandom a little nervous about Cap's story. It definitely makes me nervous!

[harmonyangel.livejournal.com]

I understand that an exposition dump about what really happened may not have been the way to go, but I don't think retconned is the right word. Retconned implies that Brubaker deviated from his original plan, and that isn't the case. As I told the commenter below, he always planned to bring Steve back, and much more quickly than actually happened; it was only when Marvel turned the death into an event that he stretched the story out longer. That means that he always had an idea of how he'd bring him back (almost immediately, at the time) from the death, and had planted clues (like the weirdness with Steve's body's decomposition) that things weren't quite what they seemed. So from the moment Brubaker killed Steve, he knew how he'd bring him back, and this is the Vonnegut-inspired device he'd chosen for that purpose. It's fair to say it was awkwardly explained, but to say it's a retcon is like saying the reveal in Pride and Prejudice that Wickham is a bad dude was a retcon. It was always the author's plan, even if the audience and characters didn't yet know about it.

As for Tony -- yes, he's important. But so are all of the other people in Steve's life. He's not the be all and end all, and, as you said, considering what's going on in Tony's own book, it isn't really possible for him to have a present-day part in this story. (When it comes to the flashbacks, he's simply one more layer in the past Steve remembers.) But Steve WILL come back, and so will Tony (he's not going to stay lobotomized!), and they're going to reunite. Have you seen the previews for Marvel's Siege? That's going to be ALL about Steve, Tony, and Thor reuniting to take down Norman Osborn, and it'll be written by Bendis -- who, as you know, gave us The Confession. I'm not worried about Steve and Tony not getting a reunion. It's going to happen.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

I can definitely see how it slots together in some ways—like you said, there's little clues, and I do remember seeing confirmation that this had been long in the works—but it reads like a retcon to me. The presentation is what threw me, I think, and it makes it hard to shake that "thrown together" feeling. It might have been better for the story if they had done it right away, since that might have saved us from needing pages of "and this is what happened". :\

Oh, I never expected any real presence from present-time Tony, not with the way his story is going. Even though Reborn seems to step out of continuity, that would have been too much by far. But all we've gotten is three mentions/appearances, when as far as we know Cap's last memories would be of the tag end of his and Tony's Epic Break-Up. Granted, mostly the flashbacks seem to have covered Cap's distant past so far, so there's still time for a couple more mentions. Maybe it's just part of the over-all pointlessness of Cap's drift through time. (Though I do have hope for something there after what happened in issue 3.)

I had not heard about Siege, and it's a huge relief! \o/ I was twitching in fear that they might end up setting Tony aside to deal with Iron Man Without Tony Stark or something similar. Thank you for giving me the heads-up! ♥

[valtyr]

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[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

\o/ Thank you! (is seriously lazy about following News)