Captain America #24: Playing with Fire

There is a weird momentum to this series. People don’t speak too loudly about it yet the buzz never seems to be completely gone, either. More of an odd sort of hidden buzz. Maybe it’s because the book goes out of its way to be just a bit uncomfortable. There is no escapism when you’re talking about the rhetoric of racism and chauvanism in America– not in 2020. The trips to the border, the trips to the heartland, the trips to DC. Sometimes Cap and Sharon feel a little too real in a truly wonderful way. And so does the Red Skull for that matter. The character trajectory of Aleksander Lukin and his slow discovery of the return of the Red Skull inside of his own mind has been perhaps the most understated narrative element of the series. Here, we see Lukin’s fear for the monster hiding inside him at the same time we see that Alexa will happily mobilize that monster for the power monsters carry. The story is chilling and feels just a bit too close to home and therein lies the monster of this story and its own power.

Daniel Acuna joins Coates with this issue, replacing Bob Quinn. The sudden change is somewhat jarring and I was quite enjoying Quinn’s work but Acuna is a fan-favorite artist for a reason and once the initial shock wears off, the rich colors and masterful manipulations of negative space take you away in a different looking book but still appropriate for the story being told.

Next month is the 25th issue of the run and there are surely sparks to come when Steve and Sharon encounter Red Skull face to face. This issue feels low-key like a major turning point for the character of Captain America, but who will be holding the shield when all is said and done? Tune in next month…