I know, I know. How can I have just now been to a comic book store? Let me just say that, given I live in a small town in Wyoming, I had to drive three and a half hours to Denver, CO to get to one. That's my excuse. That said, it would be completely appropriate to take anything you read from here on out with a grain of salt.
Before I talk about the read, I feel compelled to mention my first comic book store experience. As a person that knows diddly about comic books, which I'm assuming has a demographic of mostly die-hard readers, I'll admit that I was a little intimidated to walk into this store. I thought to myself, "What if all the people in there stare at me like I'm a friggin idiot?" I didn't really even know what I was looking for. Well, I eventually worked up the courage to walk in. I think it goes without saying, no one stared at me like I was an idiot. In fact, other than the dude working there, I was the only one in the store. As I walked in, the employee said hi and I said hi back as I continued to walk around like a lost puppy. It didn't take long for him to walk over and ask if he could help me find anything. As I had no idea what the heck I wanted, I just told him, "Um... I'm not sure." I continued by explaining that I'm new to comic books and that I liked Captain America.
That's all it took.
Can I just say how refreshing it is to talk with someone that is so knowledgable about the product in his store?! He knew exactly what questions to ask me, gave me exactly the information I needed, and got me completely pumped to read what he was selling. It's hard to find that nowadays (Yes, I used the word "nowadays." I'm from Wyoming). He gave me a little intro into some of the volumes that I might be interested in. He suggested I read some of the earlier Marvel works, but I told him I didn't want to go too far back. I find the old stuff to be kind of boring (Hopefully the people that would kill me for saying that stopped reading a long time ago). Then he mentioned the Secret Empire. He talked about how an event occurs that makes Cap question whether he wants to continue being Captain America or not. Sold.
Ok, now, after that long-winded intro, I'll talk about the issues. What I actually ended up buying was "Captain America and the Falcon: Secret Empire." This collects "Captain America and the Falcon" #169-176-written by Steve Englehart and Mike Friedrich, and illustrated by Sal Buscema. I'm not going to attempt an actual review, because that would be ridiculous. I'm just going to mention the things that stuck out to me.
This collection starts out with the Falcon. This is my first time getting to know the Falcon, and so far, I think he's pretty awesome. I love the idea of this dude that is kind of living in Cap's shadow. Even though Cap is one of the most selfless dudes and would never deliberately overshadow one of his best friends, it's obvious that a guy like the Falcon would always trump in comparison to a super soldier. In this collection, he tries to find a way to make himself more of a superhero instead of just some guy in a costume that happens to be able to fight exceptionally well. He ends up going to a technologically advanced kingdon named Wakanda that's hidden somewhere in Africa where Black Panther helps him develop his new outfit (which, by the way, I thought was pretty badass). It has jets at the end of its super strong wing tips that are powered by the sun and it's somehow directly connected to his brain.
While the Falcon is off in Africa. Cap is dealing with this whole conspiracy that is trying to cast him as a murderer. Eventually, the Falcon comes back, a few of the X-men get involved, and they are all able to stop the bad guys, but the big kahuna in this collection is the reveal of who is actually the head honcho behind the whole conspiracy.
Somewhere in the midst of all this I learned that Cap is a little bit of a player. What the heck is he doing messing around with Peggy's sister?! I guess that's the noob in me. Also, I was introduced to the Banshee. At first, I thought that it was pretty lame that he just makes annoying sounds, but I think MY head started to hurt when I was reading it.
Overall, I loved this collection! I don't really have anything negative to say about it. I imagine it will take a little more time for me to become familiar enough with comic books before I feel compelled to make any critical comments.
I loved the way that Cap and Falcon went undercover, there were exciting twists, and the conspiracy revealed itself to be more and more complex as I read on. I really appreciated the flashback that was thrown in to expand on the history that the Cap and the Falcon have together and I truly felt the despair in Cap's heart at the end when his world pretty much falls apart. I thought Moonstone was a pretty cool villain. I enjoyed the way the story Moonstone told the public versus the ACTUAL story of Moonstone was played out in the issue. There were also great moments where Cap's incredible character was emphasized. For example, there is a moment where a "civilian" group fascilitates Cap's jail break and Cap takes the time to decide what would be the right thing to do. Those are the moments when I really appreciate that the writer takes the time to go into Cap's thoughts, because his genuine desire to be a good man is what I love most about Captain America.
It goes without saying that I fully recommend this collection and I can't wait to read the next issues! There will definitely be another three and a half hour drive in my near future (or a few clicks online).