This 2011 miniseries, which re-imagines Captain Americas origin in a contemporary setting, came out right before the first Captain America movie was released in theaters. But dont think of it as some kind of cynical movie tie-in cash grab.. Instead, its one of the best Captain America stories to ever be published. Scripted by Mark Waid, who called it unquestionably the best thing Ive written in years, the storyline brings some fresh perspectives on what it actually means for a super soldier that was first created 70 years earlier to adjust to a world filled with the things those of us living in the present take for granted. The earnestness of Waids script allows current readers to develop a true understanding of why Captain America is such an important figure in the world of comics. For one of the 20th centurys very first costumed superheroes, Caps bibliography lacks the depth of true classic stories when compared to Marvel heroes who came decades later such as Spider-Man or the X-Men. But Man Out of Time demonstrates how Captain America has been an inspiration to all of the heroes that followed him, and how, despite not fitting in to the modern world, his purity and optimism is as necessary now as it was during World War II.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
