ICYMI! Captain America: Cold War Omega #1: The Iron Curtain Falls

There’s always a greater endgame.

Bucky Barnes has been used to working from the shadows since he was a child, but it’s always been at someone else’s behest, whether that’s the US Government, Hydra or even Steve Rogers himself, Bucky has always been at the beck and call of forces more powerful than he. That’s why it’s such a breath of fresh air to have him become the New Revolution in the Century Game, have him hatch a larger plot of his own and have it succeed through his own deceptive merits. While this mini event mainly focused on the exploits of Sam and Steve, it was as much about Bucky and everything he was doing in the background as well and how everything he did contributed to the larger narrative in both current Captains worlds. 

Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Tochi Onyebuchi have done an excellent job with this event, tying both Captain America books together with one cohesive story that uplifts their respective missions, brings them close together and paints a clear idea for the future of both characters and their respective partners as well. While Steve’s focus in this narrative has been figuring out how to reconcile both sides of his life, it’s through his son Ian that he learns that he doesn’t have to keep them separate, but embrace both aspects – being the warrior and the consummate friend, artist and father that he was always meant to be. Sam Wilson, as well, learns that the shield doesn’t make the man as he finally has his own knock-down, drag-out fight with a former Captain America in Bucky after having beat Steve two issues prior, cementing himself as having earned the title at least for the third time over.

While Steve and Same have their continued character arcs, the same can also be said for Bucky, Sharon and Peggy Carter as well. Bucky hasn’t needed the mantle of Captain America for years and has always worked best as a background player and his role as The New Revolution shows just what he can accomplish when he’s allowed to take the reigns on his destiny for once. With everything that’s happened to Sharon and Peggy over the course of this series, it’s no wonder that they’ve drifted apart and found new missions of their own. With Sharon increasingly being driven by her anger and grief, Kelly, Lanzing and Onyebuchi have taken her in an entirely new and active direction by making her the New Destroyer, honoring her friend Roger Aubrey, while Peggy slinks ever further into the dark by following Bucky.

Taking over the art duties for this issue is the excellent Carlos Magno whose art strikes the perfect balance of being both action packed and extremely dramatic at the same time. Magno is able to set the stage and tone of the book from the very first few pages with an opening that shows a bit of character drama with Ian and then a double page spread of the Dimension Z invasion across the Earth. His linework is so incredibly detailed from characters’ clothing to monster designs and everything in between. With White Wolf having transformed into an actual wolf, Magno does his best to almost show every single strand of fur, every jagged tooth with saliva dripping from his jowls at the thought of killing the Captains. His backgrounds are amazing with vast cityscapes showing the absolute destruction of White Wolf’s forces, debris and smoke everywhere, as well as particle effects and waves of energy when certain weapons are used and ripple off the page. 

His fight scenes, which take up most of the latter half of the book are also pretty darn stellar to look at. Aside from some awkward posing, almost every hit and strike feels like they have the appropriate impact and weight to them and there are some nasty ones. Steve and White Wolf’s fight feels like opposite day with the normally graceful Wolf fighting with a rabid fury and Steve dancing around with shield focused, flourishing combat. Sam and Bucky’s fight is a straight up brawl with believably uncoordinated punches and ground fighting with blood and spit flying everywhere. Misty’s fight with the monsters of Dimension Z is just plain brutality as her metal arm and kicks are given primary focus as she runs through each of the beasts with dynamic posing. And Sharon’s fight with Peggy is even more amazing as Sharon dons the skull mask and wallops her aunt with punches and baseball bat strikes. 

Guru-eFX’s colors uplift Magno’s art through their amazing vibrancy and consistency. With the book having something of a dark tone, the colors obviously need to reflect that, or at the very least, blend well with the inks and luckily Guru-eFX manages to accomplish both handedly. In the initial few pages, he gives off a striking sense of imagery with each of the countries the Dimension Z monsters being given distinct colors from purples, golds, blues and greens that pop against the dark blacks of Magno’s inks, the same can be said for the bright oranges of Zolandia in Dimension Z as fire and smoke surround the grand city amidst White Wolf’s destruction. 

When the book is taken to an interior setting in White Wolf’s castle, the browns of the inside make an excellent contrast to the bright colors of the Captain’s blues, Sharon’s white outfit and Misty’s reds and grey. Each of these color choices are very effective as they make the reading and viewing experience easy for the reader, allowing for them to be able to focus on and draw their eyes to the characters and actions in a fun and beautiful way. They allow the characters to take center stage after setting up how dire their situation is through the use of these background colors, indicating a sense of tension and unease and when the dust is settled, the colors take on their own sense of calmness as the bright yellows of a rising sun begin to wash over everyone. 

Joe Carmagna’s letters pull the whole book together through their cohesiveness and amazing use of sound effects. For a comic to be great, readers have to be able to follow the story and for that to happen, the letterer has to be on point for every single panel and Joe Caramagna does exactly that – every character’s bubbles line up with their dialogue and don’t overtake the art despite how much is spoken between the characters. And the few lines of banter that there are are placed in such a way that they’ll easily be able to elicit a laugh or two. And the sound effects, the best parts of any comic, are used to great effect as well. With SWOOSHs as Sam flies high into the sky and RUMBLEs as the Dimension Z army attempt to overrun Steve and co, they help to give each of these scenes a sense of sound, therefore immersing the reader into the events. 

However, while I can heap praise on to this book, there are a few slight things that keep it from being absolutely perfect. While Kelly and Lanzing have written a great story, there’s a slight sense of rush when it comes to how quickly Steve and Bucky seem to be jumping towards a victory over the Outer Circle if Issue #750 is the epic conclusion to this story without a fight against The Love, The Machine or The Money. There’s also the exposition dump at the end of the book that explains every step of Bucky’s plan where they could have been slightly laid out through the event. They’re glaring issues that keep this from being an amazing event over a great one.