CAPTAIN AMERICA #1

By Tony Whitt     April 28, 2002

In an unpublished review written not long after September 11, I lambasted the recent issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA because the patriotic homilies Cap was often fond of spouting in that incarnation rang so hollow in the wake of the horror we'd all witnessed. Captain America had become such a one-note character: his words were predictable, his actions even more so, and his life had become a never-ending cycle of fighting former enemies he thought he'd put to rest ages ago and ruminating over past defeats and the death of Bucky. For Captain America to become a true symbol for our country, he needed as much revision as our attitudes of invulnerability did. Thanks to Reiber and Cassaday, he just got that revision.

In the wreckage of the World Trade Center, a disheartened and angry Steve Rogers helps rescue workers search for survivors-a search which proves to be fruitless. When Nick Fury comes to send Steve off to Kandahar, Rogers angrily retorts that he's needed here. After saving the life of a Middle Eastern teenager who's nearly killed in retribution, he realizes just how true that is. When the next terrorist attack comes on Easter Sunday seven months later, Steve fears that he might have been too late once again, but this time he's ready to fight the war.

By taking Cap out of regular Marvel continuity and placing him in a world much closer to our own, Reiber and Cassaday have imbued the character with a resonance he simply didn't have seven months ago, when we truly needed a hero like this. Steve Rogers, whom we first see out of costume and covered in dust at Ground Zero, is much more the type of hero we're used to. Moreover, he's far more human than any of his former scriptwriters ever allowed him to be: capable of anger, sadness, loss. This Captain America isn't the sort to break into some rousing yet ultimately empty speech on truth, justice, and the American way-he's far more likely to do what he needs to do and to keep those speeches to himself. Reiber also shows incredible restraint in this script. While the story still focuses on the indomitable spirit of the American dream and the idea that we can never allow hope to die, we're not clubbed over the head with it the way previous incarnations of this series have done with far less reason.

As my local comic shop owner put it, "The art alone could sell this book." That's certainly true. John Cassaday's work on this first issue is incredible. For one thing, he follows Reiber's lead by giving Steve Rogers a much more human face than he's ever had before. Rather than going for the pretty boy look, Cassaday's version of Steve has the sort of hard cast to his face you'd expect from a career soldier who's seen far too much death for far too long. For another, the scenes at Ground Zero, rendered in a dusty monochrome provided by colorist Dave Stewart, bring us right back to the horror of seven months ago far more effectively even than watching the video footage over and over again. And finally, no other artist (except, perhaps, Alex Ross) has ever rendered Captain America so realistically, or indeed so beautifully. This book is by far one of the best tributes to September 11 and to the American spirit we've seen so far. The world has changed around Cap, and finally he has changed with it.