CAPTAIN AMERICA #36Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Butch Guice & Steve Epting
With the introduction of the new Captain America, I figured we'd see the action and plot progression ramp up on this Red Skull storyline, but, so far, it seems to have slowed to a snail's pace.
It's not that the book isn't good anymore. Far from it. It's still probably the best comic coming out regularly from the Big Two. I'm just a little disappointed, if you could call it that, with how little has happened in the last three or four months.
Every issue since Bucky has taken over as the new Cap has consisted of some minor rioting or random strife in America caused by the still unknown Red Skull plot. On top of that, these only served to give Bucky a reason to show boat in his new costume and make cool poses while showing he's not the same as the old Cap. These aren't poorly written and are still entertaining, as is, but they lack and real impact in a monthly series and are clearly written with a trade in mind. This sounds quite negative, at least to some, but this is not like other books that consist of 22 pages of pure filler or "decompression", but it's clearly not the meat and potatoes of this storyline.
With that said, we get some more progression for Bucky's claim as the new Cap. We've seen him strike poses, fight riots and take on nameless henchmen, but now he gets to go up against honest to goodness super-villains in the form of Sin lead Serpent Society. Showcasing how he's not like the old Cap, Bucky doesn't take these scrubs down in seconds, but pulls out a victory. Before he can enjoy it, Crossbones takes him to task, nearly killing Bucky, and forces him to resort to drastic measures as he unloads an entire clip into Crossbones, nearly killing him.
There was nothing wrong with the action scene, but, as a monthly, this slow and methodical pacing makes it blatantly obvious Brubaker is just going from point A to B to C, etc in easing Bucky in as the new Cap and showing the different tactics a non-Super Soldier serum Cap must use as well as the influences of Bucky's time as the Winter Soldier. I sound like a broken record, but it is good despite the plodding pace and 'wait for trade' writing.
Other than the fight scene, there was very little else going on in this issue with the one execption being Sharon Carter. The Skull knows about her baby and her desire to protect it is overriding the Faustus programming and she tries to escape. While looking for an emergency escape, she stumbles acrosss a conveniently placed "Steve Rogers in a vat of unknown liquid". I highly doubt it's the real Rogers, but the whole Skull / Cap clone body has been done before, so I'm not sure if Bru will go down that route. This will most likely be that Cap on the cover to the upcoming issues facing Bucky-Cap. Is this the unknown item Dr Doom gave the Skull way back when in the early issues or something Zola cooked up on his own for the Skull or is it the real deal?
Verdict - Must Read. Hard to fault a book for telling an entertaining story that may go down as one of the best runs on any single title, even if the story has slowed to a crawl. I was thinking of giving it a Check It for how slow paced the plot has been, but this issue's super-villain throw down was much more satisying than the previous Hydra henchmen and rioter "fights" on Captain Bucky's part.
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