Saturday, May 26, 2012

Captain America 012

Writer - Ed Brubaker
Artist - Patch Zircher
Colorist - Paul Mounts
Letterer - Joe Caramagna

This is my first read for the Captain America volume. It is the second issue in the "Shock to the System" story arc. I was worried that I would be kind of lost without having read Captain America 11, which started this arc but I had no such problems. Everything I needed to know was on the first page. There is a new Scourge villain but this one believes what he is doing is saving America. Gyrich is his handler and used to be a high ranking politician/patriot that Captain America got fired last year. Gyrich has a hate for supers and is being brainwashed by Hydra to make political war on supers which resulted in Scourge critically injuring Diamondback, a reformed villain.  Very easy to settle into. Actually, everything about this issue was easy to digest.

I was very pleased with the art. I am new to Zircher's work but I like it a lot. It reminds me of Jae Lee's work in a way. I think it is the heavy shadows. It has a very grounded style. It feels real and organic. The action was also handled very well. Captain America dominated. As a matter of a fact, it seemed like Captain America was unusually invested in the mission, which was gathering intel on Gyrich, his boss and Scourge. He seemed to have no problem with Dum Dum Dugan gunning down Hydra agents. But it could be reasoned that Cap was highly upset because his history with Diamondback (they dated for a short time).


So Cap and Dugan plow into a Hydra facility and wipe everyone out. They get some intel they were looking for but it turns out that the intel was a gift from Gyrich's boss, Bravo. Cap notes that finding anything beyond that point will be extremely difficult and we jump to Scourge taking on a D-list villian called the Rattler. During the course of the fight, Scourse's mask is broken and we get to see who the dastardly vigilante is. It turns out that Scourge is... Oh like I am going to tell you. If you want to know, and you really should because this story is really good, then you should go out and get it for yourself.


Overall this issue really made me want to go back and read the previous 11 issues. Not because I felt I needed to catch up, but because I honestly feel like the writing was spectacular and I really wanted to see more Captain America stories by Brubaker. And if you need one more push, this story arc has absolutely nothing to do with the dreadful AvX Marvel event. That alone should make you throw your money at the comic book store you frequent. I give this issue a 4.6/5. A great issue to get you into the series.

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