Captain America #605 – Review

by Ed Brubaker (writer), Luke Ross (pencils), Butch Guice (inks), Dean White (colors), VC’s Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Captain America—Bucky’s Cap, that is—must find a way to escape from Evil Cap’s clutches before a heinous act of terrorism is committed. Not far away, the Falcon is working to stop a runaway train while also trying to get to the site of the Cap vs. Cap showdown in time to provide Bucky with some much-needed backup.

What’s Good: I’ll be very upfront here: while I love Bucky and had no problem with him guarding the colors while Cap was gone, he will never be the Captain America for me; Steve Rogers carries that title in my heart now and forever, whether he officially wields the shield or not. That said, Bucky does a great job in this issue—watching him struggle against a villain like Evil Cap, as well as his own self-doubt and demons from the past, is very engaging. Brubaker gives the interaction between our hero and villain all the weight it requires to be effective. The quiet moment at the end between Bucky and Sam is a nice counterpoint to all of the tense, frantic action of the last couple issues (especially this last one) and ends the story on a very nice note. In fact, this is easily the best-plotted and best-written script of this arc, and brings to a very exciting and quite satisfying conclusion.

Ross’ art complements the story nicely, endowing the characters—especially Bucky and Evil Cap—with plenty of gravitas and emotion. This gives the story a solid human center point to work from, and lets us know that the struggle we’re witnessing is as much a war of ideology and philosophy taking place in the hearts and minds of the combatants as it is a physical battle between superhero and terrorist.