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Man, do I hate the Red Skull. I mean, I really hate that guy. It’s bad enough that he’s a Nazi. It’s bad enough that he’s responsible for the death of Steve Rogers. It’s bad enough that he’s planning on destroying the USA from the inside-out. But what really makes me mad is that he doesn’t care for France. I’m kidding. I don’t care that much about France either. No, what really gets me is how good he’s become at doing what he’s been trying to do for over 60 years: Destroy the Land of the Free. Now, I may not be overly concerned with France, but I do care about Sharon Carter, James Barnes, Sam Wilson and I really care about the memory of Steve Rogers. And as Captain America #37 suggests, so do a few other people.

Obviously, those of you who read my reviews know that I love Ed Brubaker. I’ve been loving him since he did the impossible: Bringing back Bucky and making it a really cool resurrection. I love the team of Brubaker and Epting on this title. And they have been cranking this title out, man. I think it’s actually been less than 4 weeks since the last issue, which always makes me happy. But this is the level of work that sometimes takes creators months to come up with; something with imagination, heart and intelligence. Brubaker has crafted one of the scariest and most frighteningly probable stratagems for a bad guy in years. The Red Skull, using Lukin’s legitimate corporation Kronas, is helping to bring down the United States. They do everything right to make the good guys look bad, or at least get lots of egg on their faces, and now, they’ve got a political puppet, Senator Wright, who looks like a strong third-party candidate for POTUS. And he’s doing everything right. He’s ‘negotiating’ with Kronas to get the price of oil down, making millions of Americans happy. In short, The Skull is winning.

Not to mention there’s a new Captain America out there that is not pleasing the people who cared for him the most.

This is another great issue in the run of Brubaker and Epting, and here’s a few reasons why: The opening scene with the triumphant Allies having fun in the newly-liberated streets of Paris and the Skull looks down at them with such seething hatred is just pitch-perfect for this character. Despite the loss of France to the Allies, it gives the Skull a new sense of purpose: To make certain that everything that America stands for is destroyed. Also great is the scene when Clint Barton (formerly Hawkeye, formerly dead, formerly Captain America for about 20 minutes, and now currently Ronin) comes to Bucky’s pad looking for a throw-down. And brilliantly, Bucky states that he remembers when the good guys fought on the same side instead of each other. Another casualty of Civil War. But Clint just wants to make sure that Bucky’s doing it right. Brubaker also knows how to have fun with a dream sequence. “Cap! Look out for the Internet!” is one of the funniest lines I’ve read in a non-Whedon book in a long time. He also really knows how to give you an ending. Last issue, Sharon got a glimpse of what looked to be Steve Rogers in some kind of warm-liquid-goo chamber. Now, believing that might actually be him, she forgoes her chance to escape and waits until she can take Steve with her. But of course, when revealed, this guy… is not quite Steve to say the least.

It takes a lot to create a credible threat that is really scary not only in the imaginary universe it inhabits, but to have it seep a bit into our reality and make you think that something like this is plausible… now that’s really scary.

Captain America #37
“Act 3 - The Man Who Bought America: Part One”
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Steve Epting
Colors by Frank D’Armata
Letters by VC’s Joe Caramagna

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