Captain America #615: Review

Mar 2011

Ed Brubaker, Butch Guice

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Story Name:

The Trial of Captain America—Part 5

Review & Comments

Rating:

Captain America #615 Review by Peter Silvestro (February 28, 2011)

Review: Last issue’s final panel announced a conclusion no one was expecting, and they were right: it came on the last page after the conclusion we were all expecting. We all assumed Bucky would be acquitted, exonerated, emancipated, whatever but Captain America would not go to jail. And that is what happened, after some speechifying (including a two-page spread of Blake Tower’s position paper) about heroes’ responsibility and other major issues which are never seriously addressed, Bucky gets a free pass. Lame and predictable so far. Let’s hope this Russian thing is more than a speed bump for the title, since Marvel is promising another “things will never be the same!!!” epic. Low point: Sharon Carter’s butt crack ballet. The Nomad story, with a new and more realistic artist, simply wraps things up and gets it out of the way to make room for the new Steve Rogers back-up series. It’s not bad otherwise.

Comments: Final episode of Nomad’s series in this title; it moves to ONSLAUGHT UNLEASHED #1 this month. The title is a reference to the TV series IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Captain America #615 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

At the base of the Statue of Liberty, Captain America battles the new Red Skull, Sin, to prevent her detonating the bombs and rescue Falcon and Black Widow. Cap is being overwhelmed by Master Man and her henchmen when Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter arrive. The two veteran heroes take on the backup baddies, freeing Cap to go after Sin. He pursues her to the head of the Statue, dodging explosive gunfire on the way. At the top, where Falcon and the Widow are bound alongside a cache of explosives, the villainess dons a jetpack, detonates a bomb which blows a hole in the wall (and knocks Cap for a loop) and jets out. Cap has only enough time to cut the ropes holding his friends before leaping out of the hole after her. Sin shoots at him, causing him to lose his grip and fall. Falcon barely manages to swoop down and catch him in time. It is then revealed that the explosives upstairs were never armed; her victory was a symbolic one: giving Liberty a black eye. Bucky returns to court and is castigated by the judge for his reckless actions. In her closing statement, defense attorney Bernie Rosenthal summarizes her case as having established that Bucky Barnes is a hero forced to do evil things against his will and is now struggling to redeem himself. Prosecutor Blake Tower insists that this is just the latest in a series of attempts by a superhero trying to avoid the consequences of his actions. Bucky startles everyone by rising to his feet and changing his plea ot guilty, the first step in taking responsibility for what was done through him. The judge sentences him to twenty years…and commutes the sentence to time served. As Bucky’s friends rejoice, the Russian ambassador enters and presents extradition orders to bring Winter Soldier back to Russia, where he has already been convicted in absentia of crimes against the state….

Story #2

It’s Never Sunny in Philadelphia

Writer: Sean McKeever. Penciler: Pepe Larraz. Inker: Pepe Larraz. Colorist: Chris Sotomayor.

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

By Peter Silvestro

One rainy night, Nomad sits perched atop a cornice on Philadelphia’s ornate City Hall, meditating on how, despite all her efforts, she still does not fit into this world. Earlier she had encountered a gang robbing a family at gunpoint, donned her costume and defeated the bad guys. Learning they were after money for meth, she confronted their dealers and made short work of them, explaining she was trapped in a world that is not her home and had nothing to lose. Looking back she realizes she is not from this world, will never be a part of it, and to embrace her identity as…Nomad.

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