Captain America (Vol. 4) #26
Originally Presented at Comixtreme.com
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Quick Rating: Average
Title: The Bucky Issue
Captain America reflects on life with his old partner, Bucky.
Writer: Robert Morales
Pencils: Chris Bachalo
Inks: Tim Townsend & Al Vey
Colors: Brian Reber
Letters: Randy Gentile
Editor: Axel Alonso
Cover Art: Dave Johnson
Publisher: Marvel Knights
Review: When a potential plane crash reminds Captain America of the demise of his old partner, he steps up to save the aircraft, remembering Bucky’s life on the way down. I’ve been a fan of Captain America for about as long as I’ve been reading comic books, so this issue was more than a little repetitive. It’s an okay done-in-one issue, and probably a good character study for someone who isn’t really familiar with Captain America, but for anyone who’s read the series for any length of time, there’s really nothing in here that we haven’t seen a thousand times before. Bucky was brave. Bucky was tough. Bucky was a great kid. But Bucky’s been dead for 60 years. Why are we reflecting on his death again?
Don’t misunderstand, it’s not that there’s anything bad in this issue, there’s just nothing new. It feels very much like a filler, and what’s worse, it’s a filler we’ve seen hundreds of times since Cap got thawed out.
Chris Bachalo’s art did impress me, however. He’s got a very good take on Captain America, detailing the chain mail of his uniform, the bulky stature that makes him stand heads and shoulders above most superheroes, and the plane crash in the issue looks great as well.
Dave Johnson’s cover is fine as well, but it suffers from Marvel cover-itis - in other words, it’s a generic pin up with absolutely no relevance or connection to the issue.
With this title shifting back to the regular Marvel line when the Avengers reboot happens, I hope it manages to find a new identity. The Marvel Knights relaunch started out great, but lost its place the minute John Ney Rieber left the book, and it hasn’t been able to reclaim it since. The title is more or less marking time until the new creative team comes on. Hopefully they’ll find something a bit more original to do with one of Marvel’s greatest heroes.
Rating: 5/10
NOTE: Considering what's currently happening in Captain America's title, how ironic is this review?