2.152 (517) Captain America vol 2 (Heroes Reborn) #1 ... Marvel ...

I have to admit that prior to this release, I was not a fan of Captain America. I did not mind when he made his appearances in Avengers but his own solo title was good for the casual peruse while at local convenience stores' spinner racks (back in those days). So when it was announced that Captain A would be one of the titles involved in Heroes Reborn, it was not on my pull list and look at the cover! So not there when compared to say Iron Man or Avengers. But the moment I bought it (with the white cover) and got home and read it ... well I was hooked and knew for sure, I would follow the next few issues. That's how good it was

Of course, if you do online googling, you will find that this issue is one of those that earned creator Rob a lot of flak from his detractors but you know what? To heck with them all. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Don't read it. Why bother spending hours and days just typing up articles to put down someone, right? And anyway, no one artist is perfect. Here in this issue, there is so much goodness that why anyone would want to look at the negatives is beyond me ...

Examples of what I enjoyed included:

Page 3 - with Cap holding his shield up close and looking serious - every inch the war hero!

Nukes - the page where Agent Hunt (Mission Impossible? Hahaha) - come on! That is so awesome and scary - the shiny and clean lines of the Nukes versus the darker, warmer colours of Hunt and his rocky outcropping

Nick Fury - splash page - you can tell that Rob is a fan of Fury. That is one awesome Nick!

See?

SPOILER ALERT

Story wise, everything goes off at a rapid pace with no time wasted on why Rogers is awake from WW2 without remembering anything (kind of like Wolverine). We see him dreaming more and more of a time in WW2 when he is dressed in a costume but he does not know why he has this dream and is afraid to tell his wife even though he supposedly is in love with her

And one fine day, while engaging in his routine dredge of a job, an old black chap ... who apparently has been tracking him down for over 50 years ... finally sees him passing by and waited for him to finish work ... because this man found the shield of Captain A and is looking for Steve to return it. Unfortunately all is not on the up and up in Steve's life as some of those around him are posing as friends and colleagues for Master Man and his World Party

Master who?

Master Man is one of the engineered super humans from WW2 who like the Skull survived WW2 and is now establishing a new party called the World Party aimed at Aryan Supremacy. Some of the rhetoric he spills when standing in front of his supporters ... well if you take out the Nazi reference ... can fit many of the situations in our world today as there are still politicians who do this. Scary when you think about it. Open racism!

Anyway, aside from Master Man and the Spy Hunt, we also see a new "Barnes" in the form of a young girl named Rikki whose dream is to be a dancer. And her dumb brother who is buying into the World Party spiel

So what happens next?

Fight fight fight that's what! Great stuff here with Rogers recovering part of his senses and taking down goons but how much does he really remember eh? Well that's for issue 2

Ratings: 8/10