Captain America #17: After Armageddon

Warning: Explicit spoilers for Captain America issue #17, including the ending.

Captain America #17 has an interesting flow to its story. The issue jumps between past and present a few times and shifts its scenes very quickly, but nothing gets lost really. The issue is exposition-heavy, something that normally drags, and #17 is a slow burn of a read, but not a bad one.

This issue does a lot. It explains Steve’s immediate reality after the coma, moves on to Marvel’s new status quo, and then tells its own story in two halves. It’s a masterful use of comic book storytelling, to the point that not a page is wasted.

There is a burgeoning intrigue. Steve is trying to get his footing after all that’s happened in the past few months. His explanation comes in the form of Nick Fury, who immediately pushes a weight and a warning on Cap’s shoulders. Superpowers and superheroes are being monitored à la Marvel’s Civil War event back in 2006. An event Cap was on the anti-regulation side of.

Keeping in line with the obvious reference, Cap goes into hiding. Suddenly the story takes a bit of a turn. Steve and Vic, Doom’s child clone, travel together through the countryside. As they do, they constantly talk about morality and the ethics of both Doctor Doom and America, oddly enough.

There are subtle points in the dialogue that reveal what’s really going on, ones that mention religion and politics in very heavy-handed ways. By a certain point it was all feeling very “rah, rah, America!” and not in a good way. It didn’t feel like Zdarsky’s cap, at least not in the recent issues, and for good reason.

Well, we see Cap dodge S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and dash between safe houses; we also see him interact with Vic, who is absent from those same scenes. It takes till the end of the issue for the other show to drop. These two aren’t the same cap. While Steve is going full Jason Bourne, Vic is traveling with the violent Grant Rogers, aka Hydra’s Captain America.

The issue’s ending sets up the “Manifest Destiny” story arc with a bang. Chip Zdarsky’s run on Cap has been split into these multi-issue story arcs that tend to do as much as they can with their pages.

Ton Lima brings a few genuinely interesting page layouts to issue #17. It’s rare for a comic to have panels arranged in a way that feels almost original. Most of the issue’s first half forgoes normal panel borders for thin insets on a larger scene, which works well for an issue with so much exposition.

Later, in the second half of the story, normal panel gutters return and the vignette effect fades. The transition between the past and present is effortless on the eyes and doesn’t slow the read any. It’s quite a showing of Lima’s skill, as the panel arrangement shifts to stretch later scenes out more and let the art put subtle hints into the story about what’s going on with Steve.

Rod Fernandes does some serious work on the issue’s colors. The skyline blends into a few close hues, rather than relying on just one shade, and the foliage does the same as well. The characters are colored about as expected, with a few tones added onto their facial expressions, which gives them a lively look and compliments Lima’s line art well.