> Captain America (1968 series) comic book info and issue index
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Review: An unpromising cover—it’s always odd to feature your hero’s back—leads to a nice entertaining action issue. A city-destroying bomb counting down always gives a certain flavor to a story, especially when the hero has to fight a bunch of baddies. Swordsman and Living Laser, each with a specialized weapon, give Cap some trouble. The final bad guy is Batroc the Leaper, always a favorite enemy for Cap though I’m not entirely sure why as he’s a martial artist who fights with his feet. After two guys with deadly weapons, Batroc seems like the easiest to take down. But the fights are cool, especially Swordsman whose sword has multiple deadly settings.
The most emotional bit is Cap watching the old films of Bucky, who, it must be remembered, is dead and no one had any way of knowing that he wouldn’t be resurrected nearly four decades on, as the Winter Soldier. Back when we thought death was permanent his passing shaped Cap in in powerful ways. Too bad it gets a bit soppy here but it’s the first Bucky flashback in this series so it’s mostly to bring the readers up to speed on the classic character, now gone.
Comments: There is no explanation as to how Batroc was able to figure out the general location of the bomb when SHIELD couldn’t.
