Advance Review: Captain America Annual #1

Back in the day, before event storytelling took the main stage, the annuals from Marvel Comics would run one long story. Who remembers such classics as The Evolutionary War or Atlantis Attacks? This time around the delayed Infinite Destinies is the focus. With the Infinity Stones getting bound to random people, the fate of the universe, the multiverse and the whole of existence is in the hands or finger click if you will, of irresponsible people; take Star for example.

This series, delayed from last year due to the pandemic, has to deal with unavoidable odd timings; Star was a book from last year which would have fed directly into this, with Black Cat linked to it also. As publishing has returned to mainly normal, character have moved on. Case in point, in current continuity, Captain America and guest-starring Black Widow don’t actually exist! Cap and Widow are on the trail of the time stone, AKA the green one, which has bonded itself to a stick-up artist awaiting the death penalty. Now armed with the means to turn back time, he set out to right his wrong. So why are Cap and Widow chasing him down?

Gerry Duggan is one of Marvel’s current crop of heavy hitters. Here he crafts a story that feels episodic by nature; there are still several Infinity Stones to account for. Duggan uses one of my favourite pairings in the Marvel Universe, Cap and Widow two distinct opposites in practically every way. The dialogue between the characters is fun, full of banter which is reminiscent of their double actin the Winter Soldier movie. At this stage the villain is purely functional though Duggan does try to imbue some emotional context to proceedings.

The art is provided by Marco Castiello is an artist I haven’t seen a lot of. Here, he uses a scratchy style of pencils that may seem at odds with the more commercially bland Marvel style. Whilst this may look unique there is an odd juxtaposition in play between the fun dialogue and the darker art; it is as if those involved aren’t sure of the tone that they are aiming for. Castiello is aided and abetted by Vincenzo Acunzo on inking assists. For large parts, this pairing does work well though there are a couple of odd panels that will require a second or third glance even. The same can be said for the colors by Ruth Redmond who buys into the darker vibe. There are a couple of color choices that had me scratching my head. Letters are supplied by VC’s Joe Caramagna whose font is as scratch as the pencils.

There is a back -up story, written by Jed MacKay with art by Juan Ferreyra and letters from VC’s Joe Caramanga again is a kind of set up for the next issue. MacKay gives us a more tongue-in-cheek Cap as he “chats’ with Nick Fury. Ferreyra’s art has a look and feel of Chris Samnee, with a kind of pseudo red, white and blue look.

Captain America is the kind of character who seems to be used to make political points and view points in any number of creators. Duggan has returned to a straight up superhero story, which when compared to the possibly heavy handedness of his regular book at times, is actually quite refreshing.

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars

Overall – 4 Stars

Written by; Gerry Duggan & Jed MacKay
Art by; Marco Castiello, Vincenzo Acunzo & Juan Ferreyra
Colors by; Ruth Redmond
Letters by; VC’s Joe Caramagna
Published by; Marvel Worldwide Inc.

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network