The birth of evil? – review of the comic “Captain America: Steve Rogers”, vol. 1

Captain America has for decades been considered a walking display of nobility among characters from the Marvel universe. But what if this almost crystal hero turned to the dark side of the force? A new item in the Egmont publishing house offer comes with the answer.

The very appearance of an independent series on our market devoted to the iconic hero can be considered a small event. Until now, Captain’s fans had to be content above all with the team stories available in regular distribution. Fortunately, this state of affairs changed at the end of last year with the release of Ed Brubaker’s fantastic series as part of the Marvel Classic line . Now, however, it’s time for a slightly fresher series, published under the banner of rapidly expanding the offer with new Marvel Now 2.0 titles. Thanks to this, a rather controversial story found its way to the bookstore. Finally, in its first chapter, we find a frame with Steve Rogers pronouncing the famous words “Hail Hydra!”. This photo circulated the Internet a few years ago, surprising (or even shocking) readers who do not follow comic book universes on the fly. Sitting down to reading, I was a bit afraid that the saying “a little rain from a big cloud” would not come true and this betrayal would not turn out to be just a marketing gimmick, intended to focus the attention of fans. However, that did not happen and we got a really intriguing story!

How did it come about? I do not know

At the beginning, it is worth noting that the plot of the first volume of Captain America: Steve Rogers is a direct consequence of the events presented in the Avengers crossover . Deadlock. Attack on Pleasant Hill . So let’s get acquainted with it earlier to clarify the situation. In a nutshell: Kobik – a self-aware cosmic cube – rejuvenates aging Steve. However, the hero’s past was thus changed. This is because the icon of American patriotism has for years, in fact, been the secret agent of the fascist Hydra! The motive of turning noble characters into “evil” in itself is not a fresh trick in pop culture and is often only a cheap attraction for the reader, artificially flipping the character 180 degrees.

Fortunately, screenwriter Nick Spencer definitely had more ambitions and Captain America fighting on Hydra’s side was presented really plausibly. Yes, he is following Red Skull’s orders, helping him with his grand plan to harness Kobik’s powers. On the other hand, it’s still a bit of the scouting, honest Steve Rogers we know. He has not suddenly turned into a merciless killer, and he still shows a willingness to fight for a just cause, just different than before.

New world order

In fact, the greatest advantage of the comic book is the fantastically presented background, because although the album has collected as many as eleven notebooks, it is rather a kind of introduction that builds the foundations for a larger story. At the moment, it is captivating that, despite the enormous scale of events, we are dealing with a basically down-to-earth story about loyalty to ideologies and the limits of obedience. The reformed image of Hydra is significantly related to this. Instead of a painful caricature of a bunch of fascists, we have a well-thought-out organization adapted to modern times and gaining new supporters thanks to a skilfully conducted populist narrative. The reader is able to understand why totalitarian slogans and methods of action may seem attractive to a part of society. The retrospections that give a new meaning to the Captain’s youth are also successful, explaining credibly how his attitude towards the terrorist group was built. Of course, we are still dealing with a relatively simple sensational story, so we should not expect any particular depth and subtlety of the topics discussed. Nevertheless, we managed to create a relatively fresh, thoughtful and – most importantly – engaging scenario.

Colors of patriotism

Two popular Spanish cartoonists – Javier Pina and Jesus Saiz are responsible for the graphics in the album. The result of the work are standard drawings for superhero comics, but the most pleasing to the eye. So you can expect static, neat conversation scenes and effective shots of the action. However, the aforementioned flashbacks depart from the scheme. Here, shades of gray and strong red dominate, which gives an interesting effect. One could only fault the fact that with more complex dialogues some frames lose their readability, but this does not happen often. However, all the larger illustrations focusing on the presentation of the characters make a very positive impression, especially the one that reveals the secret identity of Steve Rogers.

The same applies to the beautiful covers, symbolically referring to the plot, which in the Egmont edition we can admire between subsequent chapters of the story. It took a form traditional for Marvel Now 2.0, with a soft cover with wings. This solution may be debatable in view of the rather thick album we are dealing with, but in my opinion it does not lose the comfort of reading (we are still dealing with a volume lighter than the mighty Avengers. Impasse. Attack on Pleasant Hill ). It is also worth mentioning that as a bonus there are as many as twelve alternative covers at the end.

Read because Hydra is calling!

Captain America: Steve Rogers is a must-see for fans of the title character. Nick Spancer, Javier Pina and Jesus Saiz created a great story, credibly placing the legendary hero among the forces of evil, touching at the same time the subject of the roots and development of extreme ideologies. Although the new story has not had a chance to kick off for good at the stage of the first volume, the comic is read with excitement from beginning to end.