ICYMI! Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #11 – Your Symbol, My Shield

One of the best lines that Steve has in this book is “If you’re a decent person, there’s power in not changing.”

This line hits so hard when it comes to the theming of this book and how Steve Rogers’ courage, optimism, and defiance in the face of corruption have allowed him to become one of the greatest and most respected heroes in the Marvel Universe. Jackson Lanzing and Colin Kelly’s writing in this book serves as shining example of what fans love about Captain America stories and why his older fashioned values aren’t outdated or hackneyed. This is in stark contrast to the main antagonist of this arc in the story, The Power, who sought to seize control of New York City and paralyze it through fear with MODOK and AIM at his side. The Power acts as a dark reflection of what Steve could become if he sought to use his abilities to force people into compliance and bring them into his twisted sense of what the world should be, a place ruled by an iron fist where the weak should fear the strong.

In many ways, Steve’s message is intended for Bucky Barnes as it is for The Power himself as Bucky has donned the title of The New Revolution and become part of the same Outer Circle that Steve is fighting against. This acts as another great chapter in their never ending story of clashing beliefs where Steve is constantly trying to look towards a brighter future and Bucky is trapped in the mire of his past. It makes perfect sense as Steve has always been plucky and positive, serving as the poster boy for the American ideal and being put on ice before his patriotism could be muddied by the bombs and interventionism; all the while Bucky was carrying out the brutal violence that Steve couldn’t and was later turned into an assassin where his actions still haunt him to this day. Steve was allowed to look forward where Bucky has to make up for the past.

This book is full of strong emotional beats, especially coming off of the tragic ending of the last issue where Roger Aubrey, The Destroyer, gave his life to save the rest of the Invaders. Lanzing and Kelly play off of this to give the conclusion of the book a heartfelt but pyrrhic victory for Steve and his friends. Their pacing was very strong as the book feels like a proper ending of the three act structure started in issue nine, but also leads in perfectly to the Cold War event kicking off later this month.

Carmen Carnero’s art in this book is absolutely spectacular and does an amazing job of keeping the reader’s attention through intense action and emotional resonance. For half of the book, Carnero doesn’t let her foot off of the gas with hectic double page spreads, exciting panel work and astoundingly good shot composition. Towards the end of the fight, there’s an amazing set of pages where Steve and the Power fight; Carnero’s ability to convey the flow of movement in the spread is very cinematic as she pans through the environment with buildings crumbling in the background and has Rogers jumping and dodging blasts from the villain as the action gets closer and closer to the reader. 

There are amazing instances before that as well, with the rest of the Invaders fighting off MODOK with tons of detailed explosions, debris and blaster fire made apparent by her smooth and heavily inked linework. Everything has a flow to it despite looking slightly chaotic, but that’s to be expected in a large-scale battle with multiple characters. These pages are where she shows off with her panel to panel storytelling, allowing character reactions to be the focus with tight close ups right before the bombastic action.

Nolan Woodard’s colors further uplift the art with their sheer intensity. In the first half of the book, Woodard utilizes a ton of warm colors to set the tone for the very heated battle. The yellows and oranges of the sky set the mood with a hint of fear and frivolity from MODOK and The Power respectively. The redness of The Power’s energy blasts and the sky during his fight with Steve give off a sense of the anger between the two men as they fight each other. And with the colors that don’t have a meaning or emotion attached to them, there’s still a rich vibrancy that makes them absolutely awesome to look at – from the neon green’s of MODOK’s energy weapons to the slightly pastel yellows of the epilogue of the book, there’s a wide swath of tones that make this art amazing.

Joe Caramagna’s letters complete the package with a variety of balloons and sound effects. All of his word balloons take up just the right amount of space on the pages and panels that they occupy, never obscuring the action, nor minimizing the emotion behind each character’s words. They’re also especially varied between MODOK and REDACTED’s different and unique modes of speaking with MODOK’s letters appearing brown with a yellow-ish background and REDACTED’s appearing black with white lettering. This easily lets readers identify who’s talking and makes them stand out as characters. The same can be said for the sense of volume that the book achieves with a disgusting sounding SLURP as MODOK is snatched back into the eye socket of the larger MODOC body and a WHAM as a shield hits a man’s jaw.