Captain America #11 Review

 

A new Scourge sets his sights on the Captain’s witness protection program.

Captain America #11

As I sat at work this afternoon wondering what I was going to say about this issue, I began to reminisce about past Captain America runs and what they brought to readers.  I remember some of the pre-Heroes Reborn stuff, and I remember some after that.  I remember the Marvel Knights volumes, and some of the more recent stuff.  Twenty years from now, when someone asks me what were my favorite Captain America writers, I’m confident that Ed Brubaker’s name will come up.  That being said, I don’t want my interloper to say “I hear a ‘but’ coming.”  I say that because, as much as I’ve enjoyed Brubaker’s long run, it may be time to pass the torch to someone else.

I’m enjoying this volume because it has an old-school Captain America feel to it.  He is facing a new adversary with each arc, and although he lets his supporting cast shine, the brightest light is always on him.  This time he’s up against a new Scourge, who has decided to carry on his old modus operandi; that is, taking out former baddies, but this time it’s a little more personal, it seems, as the targets are members of Captain America’s witness protection program.  The Captain discovers that he has a mole inside the program, and he personally undergoes the search for him.  The mole is discovered, but commits suicide and eludes capture.  Meanwhile, Scourge has encountered Diamondback and Dum Dum Dugan, two of Cap’s allies, the former of which is incapacitated, and the issue ends.

Overall, not a very impressive opening issue to this “Shock to the System” arc.  I was underwhelmed by Patch Zircher’s art, and underwelmed at this issue as a whole.  The last arc, “Powerless,” had a slightly harder kick to it, but let’s see what happens.

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Tags: Captain America Ed Brubaker patch zircher