Captain America #36 Review

Written by Ed Brubaker
Artist Butch Guice and Mike Perkins

Synopsis: The Bucky era continues to thrill and move us. Last time we left our hero he was about to go toe to toe with the Serpent Squad in the inside the Senate office. That is pretty bad ass so what better way to start that issue than with an action scene (segway). He starts brawling with the Serpent Squad who put up a fight. Black Widow hears this going down and begins to make her way to the Senate office. The corrupt Senator hears all this and decides to contact Fatus on the goings on within his office. Bucky does his signature move which is throw the shield and start shooting everyone else who doesn't get hit by the shield, a true classic. He clips Sin and shes down for the count but Crossbones is having none of that bullshit and unloads a cap on Cap's ass (pun). Crossbones then gives Bucky the classic mudhole stomping and starts choking him out. Luckily, Bucky is scrappy enough to knee Crossbones in the groin/lower abdominal area (not sure) but Crossbones comes back with a monster haymaker to Bucky. Bucky doesn't go down and goes Chuck Norris on Crossbones head and follows it up by stabbing Crossbones leg. At this point we get a commercial break where Red Skull learns of Sharon's pregnancy and what Bucky has been up to. Back to the fight now, Crossbones has just handed a vicious elbow to Bucky who is clearly losing. He tries a round house but no go, Crossbones gets a clean jab to Bucky's face. Natalia (Black Widow) is racing in Sharon's old car and manages to get there as Crossbones tosses Bucky's broke ass out the window. Bucky hits the car but pulls out his gun and repays Crossbones all those bullets he had lent him at the start of the fight, he shot him several times basically. He makes a quip real fast as he and Natalia return to the office to asses the damage. They have managed to catch some Serpent Squad jobbers and Crossbones. Sin has managed to escape and is being transported by a random Serpent Squad member. He tells the Skull what has went down and the Skull figures out that Bucky is at his crazy teenage antics again. Bucky goes to the protesters and tries to calm the hippie radicals down but as we all know hippie radicals don't listen to reason so the cops get back to work with their nightsticks (the only other languages hippies understand beside nightstick are gases and or houses). The news is reporting about the Captain America citing as well as the footage of the Senator getting saved which was doctored by the Skull and company. Stark meanwhile is covering and claiming he has no idea who or what is going on with the new Captain America. Bucky is working out and talking to Natalia about the current state of affairs. The scrubs they captured didn't know anything and they still have no leads. She tells him that now SHIELD has to work underground even more now that Bucky has showed himself and they share a kiss. Sharon is meanwhile escaping from the Skull and appears to have gotten over her brainwashing. She is looking for a secret escape tunnel when she finds a clone or the original Steve Rodgers?!!

Comments: This comic rocks so hard. It is the front runner for best comic ever. The amazing blend of action and drama cannot be any better. Brubaker gives us the best writing, we get amazing art, and it ships consistently. You can't ask for much more. Just to give you a sample of how much I respect this title, I am looking forward more to Captain America than Secret Invasion. Brubaker is like Grant Morrison in DC, he dictates what happens in his comic book and no one is going to adjust for continuity or any other bullshit. You play by his rules not your own. Now on to this issue. The dialog is fantastic, everyone has their own voice and don't sound derivative. The characters define the situation not the other way around which is pretty powerful. The plotting on this title is fantastic. The Red Skull's plan is insane if he has a Steve Rodgers in a tank. That means he is up to something big. Bucky comes across as a great Cap. He doesn't have the physical assets of Steve but makes up for it with his craftiness and his resolve to win. He and Black Widow will hook up as foreshadowed forever ago when you learned he had history with her and it didn't seemed forced. That's always a positive. Stark also looks good putting his ass on the line lying to Dick Cheyney about Buck. There is a real emotional moment when Bucky is trying to calm to hippies but they don't respond and you see the growing pains of being an American icon. They don't respond right away and you are seeing growing pains that come with the role. Bucky is trying to be the best he can be and it'll take time but it was a nice moment. It takes real courage to try to reason with hippies (my grandpa lost a hand doing it). This was simply a fantastic issue, part of a fantastic series, the only thing i can say is

OWN IT