Will This Movie Tie-in Comic Be Worth Reading?
Now you can find out who Steve Rogers was before he became Captain America.
The Good
Let's be honest, comics that are tied to movies usually turn out to be turkeys. Let's think about this, a comic that tells us about Captain America before he becomes Captain America. We all know the story and realistically, how much of a story could there be? What makes this work is Fred Van Lente's writing. With a mix of Steve in action as Captain America during the war and flashbacks to his childhood, we do get more on the backstory of what makes this scrawny kid want to serve his country so badly. Some may have caught on in the trailers that Bucky Barnes has a different story than he does in the comics and that is fleshed out here.
When I first heard about this, I imagined we'd would get mediocre art but it's the right combination in capturing the look from the movie as well as making it also feel like an actual comic book. Seeing young Steve develop and prepare for the moment he enlists was done very well.
The Bad
We are getting more on Steve before he became Cap, something we never really see but is it something we actually need to see? Movie prequel comics are usually geared more towards viewers who aren't completely aware of the characters' full stories but it almost feels this wouldn't be completely necessary. Van Lente does a great job in adding depth to Cap and shows us why he was so willing to serve his country but so far, it feels you wouldn't miss anything going into the movie, except for one little plot line that could be fleshed out in later issues.
The Verdict
Movie prequel comics are something I usually steer clear of. I only picked this comic up because it was Captain America and because it's written by Fred Van Lente. We do get more depth added to Steve Rogers' character and find out what motivated him to want to serve his country. The art captures the feel of the movie and the action scenes work as a Captain America comic instead of looking like an average movie adaptation comic. Based on the first issue it's hard to judge whether or not the series will add a huge amount of insight and is worth reading before seeing the movie. It may not be fair to judge a series by the first issue but that first issue needs to convince the reader to come back for the second issue. Seeing Steve growing up and how his relationship with Bucky develops is portrayed nicely but they'll have to do some heavy convincing in the second issue to make me buy all four issues.
