Captain America #36 - Mobile Edition

Marvel Comics
Captain America #36
By Hervé St-Louis
April 19, 2008 - 08:08

Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Ed Brubaker
Penciller(s): Butch Guice, Mike Perkins
Inker(s): Butch Guice, Mike Perkins

This story continues the new Captain America’s fire baptism. Here, he has a run in with the Red Skull’s daughter and her goons from the Serpent Society. But this new Captain America is not your father’s and he is quite willing to use hand guns to stop his opponents, much to their surprise. But weapons alone will not help him as he faces Crossbones, angry at the Captain for hurting his girlfriend, Sin, the Red Skull’s daughter. Can the new Captain America survive this fight?

This issue is one big fight where we can see firsthand, what this new Captain America can and cannot do. It’s interesting that as James Barnes, there were no expectations about results in fights with opponents. I just went for the ride. But now that Barnes is Captain America, there are expectations that he must handle a fight a certain way, be better, tougher and win faster. Brubaker shows the difference between this new Captain and the old very well. He can’t inspire a crowd, even if he uses the right words. Seems, like he’ll have to grow into the role, which is a good thing.

Two artists handle the artwork here but their style mingle well enough that there are no visual conflicts. Guice is better at action scenes and has solid storytelling abilities. He’s a solid comic book artist. Perkins is closer what younger artists do these days with less emphasis on visual dynamic compositions but a great handle on the emotion felt by characters. This was a good mix for this book.