Captain America #696: Review

Dec 2017

Mark Waid, Chris Samnee

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Story Name:

(No title given)

Review & Comments

Rating:

Captain America #696 Review by Peter Silvestro (December 9, 2017)

Comments: Bannered “Marvel Legacy” and “Home of the Brave” of which this is part 2. First appearance of the second Swordsman; the original Swordsman was killed by Kang the Conqueror in GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS #2 in 1974, though his corpse has been reanimated a couple of times since then. Sharon Carter's appearance is solely on the other end of a phone call on the first page. Cap's Corner, an end of the issue feature, has Marvel writer/letterer Joe Caramagna saying what Captain America means to him.

Review: Nice little one-shot tale with some action and some humor. Mark Waid's simple story and Chris Samnee's cartoonish art result in what looks like a kids' comic. There are some good sequences, especially Cap's change into costume on the way to face the villain.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Captain America #696 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Steve Rogers continues his incognito motorcycle journey around America to meet as many people as he can, staying in touch with Sharon Carter by phone. In Sauga River, Georgia, he stops in a diner, offering to wash dishes for a free meal. Then he is recognized as Captain America and everyone fawns all over him and the local news station reports on his visit. Steve has to hide out to avoid all of the attention.

He then learns that a villain calling himself the New Swordsman has posted a viral video challenging Cap to face him as he threatens to open the main floodgate of the Sauga City Dam.

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Changing into his Captain America togs, he dashes to the dam to face the baddie, who assumes Cap came to town looking for him and he hopes to achieve fame by decapitating an Avenger.

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They duel, with Swordsman employing a special Vibranium blade, leaping and running all over the facility. As they stand atop the dam, the floodgate opens, pre-programmed by Swordsman.

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Cap knocks him flat and rushes to shut the gate. He has to turn the wheel manually to override the machinery but it's difficult... What he needs is a lever, and he finds one in the villain's sword. It's difficult but Cap manages to shut the gate and save the town with only minimal damage....

Epilogue: Cap takes his leave of the town, with a gift of chili for the road. But he's being watched from a distance by a shadowy figure.... [Sort of spoiler: It's Kraven the Hunter, whose appearance is announced in the “Next Issue” note on the following page.]

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