Freak Comics

The man who has taken CAPTAIN AMERICA and made the classic super-soldier title into one of the must-read books of recent times has recently accepted an exclusive contract with industry leader Marvel Comics. Though excited over the deal, Ed Brubaker is even more excited about the future.

“I’m incredibly proud of the work that Steve Epting and I have done so far on CAPTAIN AMERICA,” says Brubaker. “And glad to see retailers and readers responding to our controversial Winter Soldier storyline with strong and steady sales that continue to tick up month after month. Cap was my first favorite comic as a kid, and to just be handed it so freely by Joe and Dan, and encouraged to really shake things up at the same time, is one of the highlights of my entire mainstream career.”

“And there’s only more excitement to come because the great stuff that Mark Millar and Brian Bendis (in New Avengers) are doing with Cap during Civil War is just opening doors of possibility for Cap’s future, and I’m really looking forward to that.”

Tom Brevoort, Marvel editor and guiding hand on Brubaker’s CAPTAIN AMERICA, gets right down to it when reflecting on the writer’s work and his new contract with the House of Ideas. “Ed brought back Bucky, and made the story not suck. That’s a guy worth keeping around.”

Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada is even more succinct in his praise. “I just love the guy. Love. Him. Not enough to marry him or anything but there’s still a healthy deal of love there.”

The love is shared it seems, according to Brubaker while reflecting on Marvel’s belief in him. “I couldn’t be happier. As much as I enjoyed my time at DC, and as much as I miss the guys at Wildstorm, I was always more of a Marvel fan growing up, and arriving at Marvel, getting to write Cap, DD, and now the Uncanny X-Men, it just feels like a perfect fit. And with this new contract, it’s like Marvel is showing its confidence in me, and making me an important part of their future plans for a long time to come.”

“Plus, there’s an unprecedented opportunity for new projects that I’m sure will be announced very soon.”
What Marvel concepts and characters would the writer most like to work with? “Really, the ones I’m already working on are my favorites,” says Brubaker. “It doesn’t get much better than that, but there are a few others out there I hope to get to work on, but I’ll leave them unnamed, because I don’t want to jinx anything.”

But Marvel readers can rest assured there are dynamic stories on the immediate Brubaker horizon. “Just getting the first batches of pages from Billy Tan’s first issue of UNCANNY X-MEN really blew me away. I think anyone who read X-MEN: DEADLY GENESIS and thought they’d seen what my X-Men would be is in for a real surprise, and anyone who thinks they’ve seen the best work from Billy Tan is in for an even bigger one. I truly believe this guy is the next big thing.”