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Captain America #11: Review

Sep 2013
Rick Remender, Carlos Pacheco

Story Name:

A Fire in the Rain

Review & Comments

Rating:
3.5 stars

Captain America #11 Review by (September 14, 2013)
Review: All the critics seem impressed with this issue and I’m not sure why. Yes, Carlos Pacheco’s pencils are an improvement over Romita Jr’s idiosyncratic style and Klaus Janson’s inks give it a small sense of continuity. But what all the critics are praising is how the issue focuses on Cap’s emotional and physical recovery (though the latter seems already taken care of through the marvels of technology) after his trauma. Frankly, given how absurd Remender’s grim ‘n gritty Kirby pastiche was, I was hoping to get past it a bit more quickly. What we had was “hero is broken down completely and has to find what makes him what he is.” While Captain America hasn’t had one of these lately, it’s what Batman has gone through with every new writer since “Knightfall” twenty years ago (one of the reasons I’ve stopped reading Batman). So Cap throws out all of his memorabilia to start over? Wait, Steve had a Batcave in his apartment? Maybe my analogy wasn’t so farfetched. Oh yeah, and he’ll be dealing with “dead girlfriend” issues as well—and it’s the same dead girlfriend he had before; doesn’t anyone know what to do with Sharon Carter? Anyway, it’s hard to see what they’re going to do with so-far underdeveloped Jet Black—other than set her up as an absurdly unlikely romantic interest for Cap. Besides, she seemed more innocent about the ways of the world in the previous issues; here she seems to be rather sly and knowing about sexual matters. Nuke just comes across as a right-wing Bane (there’s Knightfall again). Hope this gets better. And as an odd aside: it seemed like the paper the comic was printed on was thinner than usual, at least it felt flimsier than the DC comics I picked up at the same time; are we now paying four bucks for a sixth of a story printed on tissue paper?

Comments: Nuke was introduced as a super-soldier gone wrong in DAREDEVIL #232-233 (in the “Born Again” arc by Frank Miller and Dave Mazzucchelli); he appeared to have died in the end, a victim of his own performance-enhancing drugs. This was later revealed to have been faked by the government to keep him under wraps. He was assigned to hunt down Logan in WOLVERINE ORIGINS #1-5 and resurfaced as a hero called Scourge in THUNDERBOLTS #133. First appearance of any fellow Avengers in this series viz. Bruce Banner and Hank Pym. Plus the first appearances of Maria Hill and new Nick Fury here. The Iron Nail, referred to in the solicit, isn’t mentioned in the issue.




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Captain America #11 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Captain America has just returned from spending twelve years in Dimension Z while only a few hours have passed in the real world. As Bruce Banner and Hank Pym perform surgery to remove all vestiges of Arnim Zola’s tampering with his body, Steve recalls his mother’s last days and her advice to never give up. As he is in recovery, SHIELD Director Maria Hill offers her condolences about the loss of Sharon Carter (last issue) but Steve retreats into duty rather than talk about it. Elsewhere in the building, Nick Fury is interrogating Jet Black, and he doesn’t trust the daughter of Arnim Zola. She reveals that her powers include tachyon fu (see issue #5 for details) and infinite omni-senses—and she can tell Fury is aroused by having her under restraint like this. Cap steps in and takes her away, assuring Fury he will be responsible for her. As they fly off in a hovercar, they bond over shared secrets but Cap is otherwise silent….

In one of the former Soviet Republics, a brute with an American flag tattooed on his face rants about how Americans died to stop a war in this country and were not appreciated there or at home. Now Nuke is there to resume the conflict—and win. He produces a machine gun and opens fire on the crowd….

Cap takes Jet back to his apartment in Brooklyn, which is revealed to be a museum dedicated to Cap’s career, especially his World War 2 exploits. As they talk, Cap suggests she let go of the past as his mother advised; she points out the hypocrisy of his words as they are standing in a shrine to his past. So Cap bundles all his memorabilia together and makes a bonfire of it on the rainy rooftop….



Carlos Pacheco
Klaus Janson
Dean White
Carlos Pacheco (Cover Penciler)
Klaus Janson (Cover Inker)
Dean White (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Bruce Banner
Bruce Banner

(Robert Bruce Banner)
Captain America
Captain America

(Steve Rogers)
Hulk
Hulk

(Bruce Banner)
Nick Fury Jr.
Nick Fury Jr.

(Marcus Johnson)

Plus: Arnim Zola, Jet Black, Nuke.

> Captain America: Book info and issue index

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