Captain America 14
Remender (w) and Pacheco and Taibo (a) and White (c)
Captain America and Nuke have been fighting for quite some time before Cap starts to get through to him, explaining how his orders are wrong and how they have to go back to America and set things right. Nuke relents and helps Cap up as the American journalist who has seen the whole thing unfold takes another picture and reveals herself, setting Nuke off again. It takes all the remaining might of Cap and Falcon to slow him enough to give the journalist a head start and Falcon, after getting slashed across the stomach by Nuke and berated for being a civilian, still has to fly off a cliff to rescue her. When they land, he asks to have the camera to follow his orders and to make sure the pictures can't be skewed to look like America as a whole has anything to do with it but the journalist makes an impassioned plea to Falcon about freedom of the press and the orders he's following, which leads to him allowing her to keep the camera. Meanwhile, Cap has attacked Nuke again and finally hits his breaking point, something he knew he was reaching during the whole fight. He wails on Nuke and puts him down brutally before preparing to land a killshot, fearing that allowing Nuke to live only means allowing more wars to start and more innocents to die. Falcon shows up and takes the shield from Cap's hand just before he can bring it down on Nuke and Nuke falls unconscious, but not before he reveals that he did it all to make Cap and the other soldiers proud. Fury shows up to take Nuke away and to bring the heroes home and reveals that the journalist released the picture of Cap and Nuke shaking hands and framed it in such a way that it seemed like American operatives attacked the country, not just the broken Nuke. In China, the Iron Nail swears that America will be better for these attacks and that he needs to topple SHIELD to really start things rolling.
This is another emotionally charged issue that sits really well in this series. When Ed Brubaker started his already-legendary run on CAPTAIN AMERICA back in 2005, he started with a Captain America who was particularly aggressive and angry with the ways things had been falling and put more pressure on him by launching him into the epic Winter Soldier storyline. Steve was a little unhinged, though always in his "still morally better than you" way. He was strong in his convictions and he, of course, ended up being right but he didn't necessarily go about things the right way, rushing in half-cocked to certain delicate situations. We're seeing a bit of that Steve here, though maybe even more amplified, which makes sense. Brubaker's Steve had been worn down over time where this Steve has seen real personal tragedy and ten years of his life erased in the course of a week and, guess what, he's still in that week. Cap openly admits in his narration that he's tapping into a rage he hasn't felt before, something that's been hidden in him and brought out by the recent goings-on. He also is able to see that it makes him a worse fighter and a worse soldier so he continues to try to tamp it down, but it comes out in full as he pounds Nuke at the end. On top of the amazing character work that we're seeing and the decidedly different while also true-to-history Cap, there's a really interesting plot happening here with a world that is turning on SHIELD, if it was ever on SHIELD's side. Foreign powers working against America or working to smear America isn't new but the idea that a foreign power would want to, in whatever way, improve America by breaking it down first and allowing it to rebuild (he compares it to the re-birth of Germany after the fall of the evil reich) free from its corrupt government and SHIELD is a somewhat new twist on it and it comes at a time when the American people have less faith in their government and more suspicions than ever before. Really compelling story that's highlighted by phenomenal character work and really great art. Can't complain as Cap continues to grow.
Captain America Living Legend 4
Diggle and Granov (s) and Diggle and Robson (w) and Alessio (a and c)
Cap is being taken in by the dark energy entity before Volkov, deep within the base, manages to grasp control of it and pull Steve out. The energy keeps attacking and, with Cap's shield off in the distance, they have no weapons to defeat it. Cap rushes to his shield while the others buy a second's time, throwing it back in just as it prepares to overtake them. He leaves the shield with Dr. Fox and tasks Colonel Gridenko and his men with getting her to the Deus device so she can shut it down and stop the dark energy once and for all while he makes his way to Volkov. Gridenko knows that usually means death but lets him go all the same. Cap manages to reach Volkov, who tells him that he should have died that day Cap saved him and that his survival set in place a course of action that led to all of this. Even now, he cannot manage to die and the dark energy that's lived in him since his time in space consumes him, both of them hoping to die but unable to do so. He tells Cap that it's taken him 40 years to control the energy enough to allow a moment's respite and asks Cap to kill him in that time. Cap declines, wishing to get him to medical and scientific help but Volkov is adamant that it cannot save him, it will only kill any who'd get close enough. Finally Cap relents and prepares to shoot the soldier. He does and, for a second, it seems not to work. At that moment, though, Fox manages to activate the Deus device and pulls all of the dark energy in, destroying it there and leaving Volkov to peacefully die. Cap, Fox, and Gridenko leave the station with Cap still mourning Volkov and Gridenko essentially telling him not to waste his breath. Gridenko regrets what's become of Russia and its army as, to underline his point, a Russian bureaucrat shows up to question Gridenko on what's happened and why the Americans aren't being detained and so forth. Gridenko ignores him as Cap blows up the station. The Colonel then throws the bureaucrat to the ground and asks Cap for political asylum in America, which Cap happily informs him they can offer.
A pretty nice ending to the book, really powered by some great art, a compelling story, and nicely developed characters despite the length of the book. This is a shining example of a solid writer telling a good story but doing just enough to make sure the characters are all fully-fleshed out even without the benefit of a long series. So it is possible, you guys, and you don't have to sacrifice much to get it. Granted, I think Alessio's art really cemented this book; I think the writing was tight and the story was good but I may as well have just been distracted the whole time by the visuals. Still this is one of those stories that I think would be a good complete set to show someone who wasn't sold on Captain America or who didn't know a lot of comics, a really good beginner arc. There is an amount of soft science and the kind of stuff that will gain you some blank stares when you explain it out loud to non-comic readers but good luck finding any comic story worth its salt that won't. I don't actually know what the phrase "worth its salt" means because, I mean, it's salt, right? This day and age, that's not worth all that much. Anyway, I'm fairly certain it is a saying (please don't correct me if it's not, I don't need that you guys, just all assume I'm right). So another good issue to round out a good mini!
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