Comic Review Captain America (2018-) Annual #1

Captain America (2018-) Annual #1

Marvel Comics

Writer: Tini Howard

Artists: Chris Sprouse with Ron Lim

Taking a break from Captain America’s current story, we’re back to World War II. The world is at war, and the world’s first super-soldier is on its front lines. Before anything else, I will say this is easily one of the better Captain America stories in recent times.

July 1944, Captain America and Bucky are in a forest deep behind enemy lines. They run into a woman, who leads them back to a house, with two others. The three are escaped prisoners, being hunted by the German forces. Cap and Bucky make it their mission to get them to the safety of the allied forces.

I’ll be honest; I was going into this expecting Cap to punch some Nazis and save the day. He still did, but I wasn’t expecting this issue to be as heavy as it is. The three people they run into are escapees from a concentration camp. For all the different reasons they’re being hunted, Cap only sees people who need help, so he helps them. Both him and Bucky realize what they’ve been through and do everything they can to get them to safety.

Tini Howard really captures what, to me, Captain America is. The reasons why the three people are being hunted doesn’t matter. Instead, he just sees people who need help. The man in the group, Volya, tells Cap that he’s homosexual, expecting a reaction or Cap to take back his offer of help. Instead, he only becomes more determined to get them to safety.

The art is good here. The character designs are good. Cap and Bucky are in their classic costumes, and everyone else looks appropriate for the setting. The colors are good, with Cap and Bucky’s costume standing out compared to everyone else. The few action scenes are great and show the difference between how Cap and Bucky fight. The faces look a little stiff. Cap is fine because of the mask, but everyone else looks a little unnatural. It’s not too noticeable, though. I only caught it flipping through the issue a second time. Other than that, everything is pretty good and enjoyable.

The art is commendable in this issue. The story is solid and is more than “Cap punches some Nazis!” like I thought it’d be. I think it paints a good picture of who Captain America is, and what he fights for. There’s not much more I could say to do this story justice. If you’re a fan of Captain America, I’d really recommend reading it as it speaks for itself.