Captain America

Throughout his career, Captain America has always jumped straight into the action without giving a second thought. With the possibility of losing his powers, he might want to start thinking things over.

The Good

With the recent FEAR ITSELF event, it's great to have a Captain America story contained in a single series. The combination of Ed Brubaker and Alan Davis almost take us away to a separate part of the Marvel Universe. There are other characters such as Falcon, Sharon Carter and SHIELD present but it's great being able to enjoy a true Captain America story.

Captain America has recently found himself powerless. To make it worse, it happened in the middle of a mission. After some of the big brains in the Avengers examined and tested him with every possible means, a cause couldn't be determined. Unfortunately for Cap, the problem hasn't gone away.

Another great thing about this series is Sharon Carter. We don't have many tough female characters given the spotlight in the Marvel Universe so fingers crossed she will continue to shine in these pages. Not only does she shine here, she kicking some major butt along the way.

Brubaker is moving the story along nicely. We have a bit of a mystery on our hands. While Captain America has had to deal with the loss of his powers before, it wasn't quite at this unpredictable nature. One moment he's fine and then he'll find himself bending over in pain in the middle of a fight. He needs to focus and find a solution immediately but of course he's too stubborn to simply wait until an answer is found.

The Bad

Cap may be a bit cocky due to his powers (he does give that a mention) but you would think he show Sharon a little more respect out on the field. He may be her superior but when it came time for 'clean up,' he was practically barking orders at her, telling her what to do rather than ask her to do things.

Baron Zemo role in his mission felt a little out of place. He might want to ensure that mistakes aren't made but it felt a little beneath him to do what could be considered grunt work. Perhaps it's his overconfidence that allows him to feel he could take part in it.

I'm intrigued by this powerless story but it's now time to get some more answers. It's time to find out what's really going on.

The Verdict

As a long time Captain America fan, the combination of Brubaker and Davis is a welcome treat. With so many events and crossovers, it's great to have a series that feels self-contained. We do see other Marvel characters and members of the Avengers show up but this is a series you can read without having to worry about a dozen other titles. The idea of Captain America losing his powers isn't a new one but we're seeing it with a slightly different twist. If you're looking for some butt-kicking Sharon Carter action, this is where you'll find it. Captain America may be the star of this title but Sharon has become an essential part. Alan Davis may only be on this title for the duration of this arc but I can never get enough of it.

Editor's Note

We at Comic Vine strongly believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion. We each have our own voice. We can't always see completely eye to eye and it would probably be boring if we did. Below is the original review for this issue by Matt Demers. As Editior-in-Chief of Comic Vine, I didn't feel it completely fit with our previous approach toward reviewing this title and general perspective. So in the interest of sharing an alternate take, we're including both reviews, which we hope you'll read as further insight into the quality of this issue.

The Good

I like the concept of Cap's powers fading is interesting, and I can definitely get behind a storyline that exploits the fact that he's been relatively unchanged since the whole "armor suit" thing in the 90's. I liked the fight scenes in this book besides the problems I had with the art (see below), but writing-wise, this is another solid offering from Brubaker.

The Bad

A part of me really didn't like the art in this issue. If felt that it reeked of 90's over-exaggeration, weird body anatomy and things that just seemed to deny the laws of physics. I always kind of saw this book as the "real" Captain America book after we got "Cap and Bucky", but for some reason this issue really didn't feel up to snuff.

It kind of affected how I took Brubaker's writing, as well; I felt like I couldn't take it as seriously as I usually do, and that's a problem. The usual "inspiring speech" thing that Cap does just seemed so much more hokey when there wasn't solid art to back it up.

The Verdict

This book was really hard to review, as I usually love Brubaker's work. However, the art was just not up to par, and it really made the narrative suffer. I couldn't help but think over and over at how 90's this title looked, from Cap to Falcon to Sharon to everyone; that isn't a good thing, ladies and gentlemen.

To be completely honest, I would recommend against picking this book up unless you've been following the storyline, or have been content with the book as a whole. As someone who's only been able to pick up a couple issues here and there, I wouldn't want to make the investment in case the art isn't going to be changing in the near future.

2 out of 5.