The Captain America story created for Marvel by Ed Brubaker is coming to an end. In the seventh volume, superheroes face not only villains, but also the justice system!
Your Honor…
It might seem that the title of the next issue of the comic about one of the most famous heroes of the House of Ideas reveals quite a lot about its plot. This is not entirely true. Yes, in The Trial of Captain America we are dealing with a court hearing, but Steve Rogers is not on the dock, but his deputy, currently wielding a shield, Bucky Barnes. In addition, before the trial takes place, there will be a skirmish with Baron Zemo’s son, Machinesmith or Iron-Hand. Sin and doctor Faustus also return to history. Of course, the Captains won’t be alone in the fight. They will be supported by Black Widow, Falcon, Hawkeye and even Beast. There’s going to be a lot going on, but is there an absorbing adventure waiting for us?
Routine?
Ed Brubaker got his Captain America story off to a good start. The Winter Soldier is one of Marvel’s best comics, as confirmed by fans and critics alike, awarding the story and writer with Eisner Awards. The following volumes were also extremely successful and engaging. The author gave them a completely new form, replacing the “superhero” style with a dark crime story. Over time, however, it began to get a little worse, but still managed to maintain a high level. Unfortunately, The Captain America Trial has lost that something. Still not terrible, but Brubaker seems to have run out of ideas and fallen into a rut. Volume seven is a collection of story arcs, most of which are mediocre, and their plot – well hackneyed. Steve and Bucky face yet another typical supervillains who start out with pretty good plans, get them into trouble, and end up losing. There is still a good pace of action and well written characters, but in the end everything ends in a predictable way. Of the three stories, the first is the best, in which Bucky, together with the Falcon, face the “evil Captain America”. Here we really feel a lot of emotions when “złol” is close to the implementation of its plan.
What Brubaker has accustomed us to, we get during the title process, i.e. after reading about ¾ of the comic! We return here to a mix of drama and crime fiction, in which the characters have to use not only muscles and superhuman abilities, but above all their heads. Bucky goes to trial and Steve tries to save him. More inconvenient facts for the accused come to light, and in the background the Red Skull’s daughter – Sin is playing games. Doctor Faustus also has an interesting role to play here. In the end, everything is missing only Matt Murdock, who could become the defender of the former Winter Soldier, but it’s still intriguing, and the reader can’t be sure what the verdict will be. Added to all this is a good plot twist, encouraging you to reach for the last, eighth volume of Captain America .
Not just words
Graphically, the title looks very good. Three different artists worked on the album. They were Luke Ross, Butch Guice and Mitch Breitweiser. It should also be added that at the end we will also find a short epilogue, to which the staff was prepared by Dale Eaglesham. All the men did a great job. But that’s a bit of the opposite of the script. Where Brubaker set an amazing tone for the story, the cartoonists failed a bit, focusing too much on the faces of the characters, while neglecting the action and background a bit. In the case of The Captain America Trialnothing is missing. Appropriate colors, interesting line and capturing events make the comic dynamic and pleasant to read. Noteworthy is also the great reference to the first adventures of Steve and Bucky from the 1940s and 1950s. Old frames in a modern edition is a solution that fans of the character will certainly appreciate.
As for the edition itself, for which Egmont is responsible, as always, we have a short introduction summarizing previous adventures and a gallery of alternative covers. It is also the thickest (as many as 480 pages!), and at the same time the most expensive of all the volumes of the series so far. As always, the whole thing was released in a hardcover, which will suit the collection.
To take or not to take?
The trial of Captain America is, in my opinion, the weakest part of Ed Brubaker’s run. However, it is still far from tragedy and mediocrity. Although some of the stories told in it are quite trivial, you can still have fun with them. Especially fans of typical superhero stories will not complain. The ending is an adventure in the style to which the screenwriter has accustomed us in previous volumes. In addition, the beautiful graphic design deserves a high rating here. Some will probably be discouraged by the price of the comic book, but on the other hand, having already had six previous parts, we will probably reach into our pockets anyway, wanting to collect the whole story. And the eighth volume promises to be very interesting! If only we weren’t disappointed with the ending.
