Captain America #23: Return of the Cap

Often, when solicits don’t line up with the content of a book, the effect is a bad taste in the mouth of reader. Hype for the return of a Lukin Red Skull (made notorious during the acclaimed Brubaker-era of Captain America) has been high and hints over the past near two-dozen issues have ranged from subtle and clever to out loud and obvious. Rather than turning the reader off, however, Coates and Quinn instead turn the reader in, shifting the focus of the reader’s gaze from the central figure of Stever Rogers (and even somewhat away the Daughters of Liberty team) and instead refocuses it on the series’ understated protagonist (and arguably titular) character– Sharon Carter, Captain America.

Quinn and Coates combine for a number of inventive narrative refocusing in order to position Sharon central, from character positioning in panels in ways that decentralize Steve to Sharon’s declaration that “we can’t all be super soldiers.” The end result is a de-aged Sharon primed to take up the shield for Steve in a meaningful moment in the character’s history (this is simply my own educated guess and a theory I’ve been touting for a while now).

Whatever occurs in the next two issues, the intense quality of this current arc of Captain America has been incredible and the highly understated Bob Quinn (not to mention Milla’s colors and Caramagna’s letters) has put Captain America into elite status among previous arcs and runs.