REVIEW: Captain America #612

Or – “The Problem With Reality In The Marvel Universe.”

So, James Buchanan Barnes is in jail, being held for the crimes committed during the decades when he was a mindwiped Soviet operative known as the Winter Soldier.  This situation is being played for super-drama, even though it’s a world wherein telepaths exist and creatures like Malice that inhabit and control the minds of others run rampant.  If we truly believe that the Fantastic Four and such have been around for years, then we have to assume that this isn’t the FIRST time a character has been held for crimes committed under someone else’s control, right?  Of course, in the name of drama and awesome, we have to ignore that thought process for the story to work.  In short, the success of this arc is going to hinge upon Ed Brubaker’s ability to smooth icing over the edges of his metaphorical layer cake, hiding the apple pie baked into it.  Or something…

Captain America #612
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Butch Guice
Colors by Brett Breitweiser
Letters by Joe Caramagna
Cover Art by Marko Djurdjevic
Published by Marvel Comics

Previously, on Captain America:  Ever since James Barnes returned to the land of the living, his life has been a one-way rocketbus to adventure, quickly going from Winter Soldier to solo agent to replacing his mentor as Captain America.  During those months (or are they weeks?  Marvel time compression is a bit vague on this point) it has been known to Iron Man and others that Bucky worked as a Soviet assassin for a lot more years than he was cute sidekick in red booties, but now that the general public has found out things look bad.  The pendulum of public opinion has swung again, and the man previously heralded for saving the President and such is widely believed to be a stone-killer.  Commander Steve Rogers of the whatever-it-is-he-commands has advised his old pal to turn himself in and face trial for his crimes, while the daughter of the Red Skull has been ominously laughing in her cell at a remote lunatic asylum.  So, the hero is in jail, Nazis are in play, and things couldn’t get much worse, right?  If you agreed with me, you must be new to comics…

We open with wall-to-wall cable coverage of the trial of “the man who until recently, we only knew as Captain America.”  That’s kind of an odd statement, there.  We also get to see two schmucks talking about the coverage, one of whom wants to “just put him in the chair already.” Pull out a bit, and we find that we’ve been watching two of the guards at the prison where James Barnes is being held.  I kind of like that sequence, very cinematic and fitting for what we see.  Barnes goes to see his lawyer, and in a fit of nostalgia, he’s being represented by Cap’s 80’s flame, Bernie Rosenthal!  I spent about ten minutes staring at Bernie, trying to figure out who they’re stuntcasting her as, as it’s clear that she is drawn with photo-reference.  After obsessing, I finally recognized Lisa Edelstein, the actress who plays Doctor Cuddy on ‘House.’  With that out of the way, I was also troubled that my copy of Page 5 has a bizarre fading effect, as though it were printed with the wrong color balance.  The crux of Bernie’s defense strategy is to keep Barnes off the stand at all costs, figuring that having him talk under oath about all the people he has killed would be bad for his chances of aquittal, and she even warns Commander Rogers that Bucky may not get the clean slate that Rogers hopes will come of all this.

At the same time, upstate, the villainous Master Man busts into the Kurtzburg Institute for the Criminally Insane, to save Cynthia Schmidt from incarceration.  With her new facial burns, Sin is hailed as the new Red Skull and Master Man even kisses her to prove his point.  Ewww…  Since the arguments that favor Bucky Cap involve mind-control, The Falcon and the Black Widow set off on a solo mission to find an expert witness in mind control:  Doctor Faustus!  The not-so-good doctor tries to come quietly, but his words and history of mind-control cause the Falcon to punch him unconscious, angry that they need the help of such a villainous personage.  Bernie goes on TV, while Bucky contemplates his future, and the new Red Skull prepares to make a victim of the new Captain America.  In the Nomad backup, we’re treated to the main character being beaten and tortured after being captured on a black ops mission, ending with her breaking her thumbs to escape from handcuffs and apparently shooting her torturer dead.  As with all the Nomad episodes thus far, the strength of the narrative is undermined quite a bit by the cartoony Humberto-Ramos-style art, and the overall effect is jarring to say the least.

I’m really impressed with the fact that this arc of Captain America has built so organically from the first issues forward, and that for about 7 years now, Ed Brubaker has been involved in, essentially, one long storyline.  The events here spin out of previous arcs naturally, making it hard to remember what events took place in what issues, and making it seem like only yesterday that Captain America set off on the mission in issue #1.  There are some problems with suspension of disbelief in the issue, but the character work is strong, with Bernie on a Larry King-type show and The Falcon’s surly disbelief at having to team up with the villain who has vexed Captain America and himself for so long standing out as well done.  I’m less in love with the Nomad backup than the lead tale, but so far, the balance between real-life court drama and superhero stuff is holding better than I thought it would, leading to a good issue overall.  Captain America #612 balances difficult source material with style, earning an impressive 4 out of 5 stars overall.  Brubaker is working his magnum opus here, and its fascinating to watch a master craftsman at work in an extended narrative…

Rating:

Faithful Spoilerite Question Of The Day:  Why in the world would the heroes ever trust Doctor Faustus with guys like Professor Xavier around?