Captain America #23

By Rick Remender, Carlos Pacheco & Dean White

Steve Rogers is expiring, literally. Many aspects of Rogers’ character have been greatly detailed throughout his comic history, but admittedly, compared to his fellow Marvel heroes, Rogers is a very shallow character and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to come up with good stories for him. Having said that, this issue was very entreating, although most of the entertainment did come from the inclusion of the Avengers and a lot of secondary guest stars. Things are definitely starting to shake up in Steve Rogers’ life, and a lot of this could be due to the recent reveal of the future of Rogers and the Captain America series. If you missed the news, you can check out our article featuring all the details here.

This issue contained a lot of good elements that culminated in a great overall story. There was a big reveal that relates back to early Dimension Z stories, which is nice as readers feel that the story is finally coming full circle to its beginnings. The reveal couldn’t come fast enough but the lead up to the reveal featured a great opening clash between the Avengers and a mysterious man invading Avengers Mansion. Current Captain America stories have required the use of a lot of guest stars as Steve can’t physically sustain the excitement himself. The Avengers were great additions and made this issue better than it could have been, but it all relates back to the increasing difficulty of creating interesting stories revolving around just Steve Rogers.

Pacheco’s characters look amazing. He knows how to stage a scene. From the intro battle at Avengers Mansion to Falcon soaring through the skies, Pacheco captures the angles and perspectives perfectly. Dean White adds bright and beautiful colors to every panel. Sometimes colors can fall by the wayside but White can’t help but be the best artistic thing about this book. Lights, shadows, everything is colored uniquely and in massive detail.

Captain America #23 featured surprising reveals dating back to some of this series’ earliest story arcs. There was action and excitement due to guest appearances from Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Falcon, and more. The art from Pacheco and White is beautiful and really took this issue to a new level as it has been doing of late. I’ll admit that I’m not even a big Cap fan, but even I find it strange to see Steve Rogers sidelined and unable to fight alongside his Avengers companions. Guess you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, but things are looking good for Cap and his allies.