Captain America #21 - Mobile Edition

Marvel Comics
Captain America #21
By Geoff Hoppe
September 24, 2006 - 20:05

Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Ed Brubaker
Artist(s): Steve Epting
Colourist(s): Frank D’Armata

Action junkies: stop what you’re doing, go to a comic book store, and buy Captain America 21. If you like well designed fight scenes that highlight a character’s strengths, this issue will have you as excited as a fourteen year old boy with a new Victoria’s Secret catalogue.

The “Twenty-First Century Blitz” story arc comes to a conclusion as Cap and Bucky face off against one of Red Skull’s (updated) Deathbots in the streets of London. Sharon Carter comes face to face with death at Crossbones’ hands, and Aleksandr Lukin issues a public statement that ties issue 21 into the Civil War storyline. The leader of the anti-registration forces is ready to make his Civil War debut in his own book…

I’m not a huge fan of Steve Epting. His art’s too photorealistic for my taste. I’m not a usual Frank D’Armata’s subdued colors, either. For this issue, however, I’m granting both an artistic indulgence. Epting does an amazing job of capturing Cap in action. The composition and shape of each panel is exactly what it should be for a fight scene. In this issue, the subdued colors D’Armata gives his characters contrast perfectly against the various pyro-technics caused by Red Skull’s giant robot. Cap and Bucky are in action together after seventy years, and this fight does them justice. This is an artistically flawless issue, the kind you buy an entire trade paperback for. Do yourself a favor, skip the trades, and get issue 21. Now.