Level 13 - Week of 02/26/11

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, and Welcome to The Next Level. We are your source for comic book opinions and debates. I’m your host Stefan, and I’ll be here with you discussing Comic Books, Video Games, and other items of note. Please note, for a purely gaming blog, I'd recommend Pwning Pat's Game Blog. The Next Level would also like to thank Jackie Fong for designing our logo.

This week's post will feature Avengers #10 and Captain America #615, closing with the announcement of the winner of the Spotlight contest.

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Avengers #10

You know what? Despite, really enjoying this story arc, I HATE THIS ART! It takes me right out of the experience, making it really difficult to review this issue. There was a section in the middle of the book which contained no dialogue, and unfortunately, the art just could not carry it forward. I'm going to try my best here, but I apologize if I really speed through this review.

This issue begins with Namor, Thor, and Red Hulk travelling to the bottom of the ocean to reclaim the Infinity Gem he kept WAY back in New Avengers: Illuminati #2. Many needlessly ugly pages later, they find it. Shortly thereafter, half of the Avengers head to the Danger Room to collect Professor X's gem. During these pages, I discovered I really hate how Romita Jr draws Spider-Woman. She looks TERRIBLE under his pencil. Anyway, the other half of the Avengers head to Area 51 to get Iron Man's gem, but finds that The Hood is already there, in possession of the gem. He then uses the gem to warp to the nearest gem, finding himself standing in front of Thor, Namor, and Red Hulk.

The story is interesting, but I dropped this title once because of the art, and I'm inching closer to doing it one more time.

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Captain America #615

This issue is the conclusion of the Trial of Captain America arc, and I am fully back in the palm of Ed Brubaker here. This issue was absolutely fantastic, and I cannot wait until the next issue of this title hits the shelves.

This issue continues the battle at the Statue of Liberty (described back in Level 8) where Cap battles Sin's thugs and tries to rescue The Falcon and the Black Widow. The fight is going poorly, until Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter show up to help. Cap gets to Sin, who detonates her explosives. However, the explosion is clearly smaller than anyone expected. Sin manages to get away, but not before the heroes realize that Sin got what she wanted. She destroyed part of the Statue, giving Lady Liberty...a black eye.

Cap is returned to the courtroom, and his defence attorney gives a snippet of a closing statement, but the prosecutor's closing statement is so well-thought out (honestly, this speech is worth the price of the issue alone), that Cap is convinced to change his plea to guilty. In recognition of his service to the country, Cap is found guilty, but his sentence is commuted. However, at the last moment, the Russian Ambassador to the United States comes into the courtroom and declares that Captain America (as the Winter Soldier) has been tried in absentia in Russia, and convicted of crimes against the state.

Wow. Just, wow. This issue was fantastic, but the biggest problem with it is that the issue is NOT new reader friendly. I would highly recommend reading Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America (collected into two easily read Omnibuses, with a third on the way) to fully grasp the situation. But all in all, I cannot wait.

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Special thanks to Next Level reader, Sirron, who requested that The Next Level highlight the Bendis run on Daredevil. Congratulations Sirron, your request has been granted, and the Bendis Run on Daredevil will be placed in the Spotlight at the end of the week.

Next Week: Our weekly reviews, and our Spotlight!

Thanks for reading, and as always, feedback (nextlevelstaff@gmail.com) is welcome.