The Good
How many times have I gone on about how much I dig Ed Brubaker's take on Captain America? He has been writing the character for some time now and he keeps giving us great and fresh new stories. I'll admit I was a little unsure of the early issues in this volume but damn if this current direction isn't blowing me away.
Brubaker and Patrick Zircher are taking Cap in a grittier direction. Bringing in past characters such as Diamondback, D-Man, Henry Gyrich and even Dum Dum Dugan is a refreshing blast from the past. The idea of the return of the Scourge concept is fantastic.
Normally I prefer tight continuity with characters involved in teams and other titles. This is a clear exception. The tone here is completely different from what we see in the Avengers titles and I am perfectly content with that.
The Bad
It might be unfair to judge a single issue in the middle of an arc but that's the nature of the individual issue reviews. I'm torn between some of the events. We have some unanswered questions still. Part of the mystery is waiting to see how it all unfolds. Seeing familiar characters make a complete change can be exciting but without the full explanation, it can almost feel like a disservice.
There is a big cliffhanger but is there any way we could actually believe what seems like will happen actually will?
The Verdict
If you haven't been reading recent issues of CAPTAIN AMERICA, you owe it to yourself to catch up on the current arc. Brubaker and Zircher are delivering a grittier story full of action, mystery and suspense. At this point of the arc, we could use some more answers but perhaps I'm just getting a little impatient because I want more. The idea of bringing in past friends and enemies of Cap's is great as it reminds me of when I first started reading CAPTAIN AMERICA. Brubaker has been on a roll and I can't wait to see what will happen next issue.