Captain America #2

Cover by Steve McNiven, Justin Ponsor

Captain America #2 (August 17, 2011)

Writer: Ed Brubaker

Penciller: Steve McNiven

Colorist: Justin Ponsor

Letterer: Joe Caramagna, Clayton Cowles

Inker: Jay Leisten, Dexter Vines

Captain America has become a character that I really want to become more invested in, which is a statement that I would have found preposterous a year ago.

I used to find the concept of Captain America as corny as Superman (it must’ve been all the red, white and blue) and had initially had no interest in his comics. Now, after becoming more versed in the Marvel universe, I have to say that he is one of the most intriguing characters out there and one with a lot of potential for awesome storylines.

While Captain America #2 was very a intriguing and strong book, it unfortunately suffered from over-indulgence and a bombardment of confusing information. I willingly admit that half of that is my own fault as I was picking up a second book in a series without reading the first. Of course, I had my trusty first-page Marvel backstory and an increased confidence in jumping right into a series arc so I thought nothing of it initially.

What threw me was not so much a lack of understanding the beginning of this story but the actual explanations and backstory given, typically by Nick Fury; these moments, which were supposed to enlighten the reader, were unnecessarily convoluted and all over the place. Brubaker seemed to borrow a lot of concepts and motifs from Inception because dreamworlds and infiltrating other people’s dreams played a big part in this book. Maybe it was residual confusion from Inception but I had trouble following Nick Fury’s train of reasoning and just who was controlling dreams and to what purpose. 

In conjunction with this convolutedness, there was a lot of action in this issue. The fight scenes were actually a lot of fun and distracted me from my confusion. I enjoyed the pacing and choreography of the action sequences and really found McNiven’s artwork very strong and enthralling. I enjoyed looking at this comic more than reading it.

I can’t say I disliked this comic because I had fun while going through it. It’s just that after I finished it, I couldn’t tell myself just what I had read. Instead, I was just remembering the fight scenes and how ridiculously and traditionally handsome Steve Rogers is when draw by McNiven. I suppose that was another plus. I am pretty excited about Captain America #3 because for all the confusion, Brubaker and McNiven whetted my appetite which I suppose is half the battle for comic book creators.