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While much of the focus of the comic world has been on DC due to their "New 52," recently Marvel decided to relaunch a couple of titles also. Now, the piece of comedy in this was in Marvel Previews a while back. They had little splashes on some of their titles with "Still number . . . !" in an effort to make fun of DC restarting everything. Of course, by this time those couple of relaunches had already gotten underway and people also knew of the relaunching of the X-titles. It was a nice distraction technique, but it fell flat due to the hypocrisy. Also, because Marvel was too busy trying to distract readers from the fact that they were relaunching also, they lost the opportunity to spotlight the titles that did relaunch. They're doing better with bringing attention to the X-titles relaunching, but it's those two others titles that I want to focus on.
The titles that I'm talking about are Daredevil and Captain America. I've read stuff about Daredevil off and on over the years, but nothing consistently. In fact, the most consistent I have ever been with following Daredevil was the "Shadowland" storyline (mostly due to the involvement of Iron Fist and Shang Chi) and Daredevil: Reborn. I also read Captain America pretty consistently for a while in the late 80s and early 90s, back when Steve Rogers became The Captain and John Walker had taken on the identity of Captain America. I was definitely in my Marvel phase back then, but even then I couldn't stay with the titles too long as I just wasn't pulled to the characters.
I figured that if I was willing to dive into the experiment of the New 52, then this would also be a good point for me to try and get back into Marvel via some well-established characters as they were starting out in new titles. Getting into Daredevil was pretty easy as I read the events that led up to the relaunch. Of course, there were things I wasn't aware of that had happened. The big one was Matt Murdock's secret identity being not so much of a secret anymore. Him being Daredevil is something people seem to "know" but have yet to confirm. So, for writer Mark Waid that point definitely seems like something he'll have to deal with soon. He has been working around it fairly well though. With Matt and Foggy's Nelson's new role of educating people to be their own lawyers, Waid has circumvented the problems of someone who is believed to be a costumed hero causing a disruption in the court room. It seems to have also given him a little more flexibility to don his costume. The title isn't outstanding, but it's solid. Waid seems to consciously be laying out the groundwork of the new title and the parameters it will work inside of at the start. I'm not anticipating the next issue, but I am happy when it comes out and do enjoy reading it. If it keeps this pace I'll probably be staying with it for the first 12 issues at least.
Captain America is a bit more of a mixed bag. I was pretty disappointed in how Steve Rogers returned. The story of his return is still one of the most horribly written pieces of drek I've ever had the misfortune to purchase and read. Still, I like the concept of Cap and have been trying to find a way to get back into the character without all the chaos of his death, return and temporary replacement. The new title definitely stuck out as such a way. While the title hasn't been as good as Daredevil it is enjoyable. Ed Brubaker and Steve McNiven do seem to be working to put out a quality title. Plus, the first story has been interesting as it's dealing with an "untold" tale of Cap's past that doesn't do anything to disrupt what's been established (so far anyway). Still, I have some hesitation about investing too much in the title because I'm concerned about all that could get wrapped up in as far as all the different Avengers titles go.
While the two titles are just starting out they are both decent. Also, to be honest they are better than some of the New 52 titles. I may be biased, but I'm not going to lie. I've been looking to "balance" my reading between DC and Marvel recently and these two titles might just be a good way for me to start doing that. Of course, they do need to be quality work for me stay with them. While I'm definitely more fond of DC, I wouldn't mind having a bit more of a Marvel investment.
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