Captain America: Steve Rogers #3 Comic Book Review/Recap

Captain America: Steve Rogers #3: Showdown in Balgalia!

Captain America: Steve Rogers #3 Comic Book Recap

Steve Rogers contacts his Supreme Leader, with news about what happened in Bagalia. In spite of Dr. Selvig’s plea’s, it was no difficulty to take down both him and Zemo. However, there was a complication. Free Spirit and SHIELD discovered Jack Flag. Sharon Carter immediately wanted to go in and rescue the young hero, but things weren’t so simple – Bagalia is a city controlled and populated by super villains. Landing a SHIELD vessel in the middle of the city… would not end well.

But things weren’t looking good – Jack wasn’t breathing, and some of the villains were starting to notice their presence. With no other choice, Sharon went in. This got everybody’s attention, and pretty soon they were greeted by the local sheriff, Taskmaster. Now, he saw a number of crimes being committed, in the particular, invasion of sovereign territory – and, well, he’s got a Trip Advisory rating to protect.

Taskmaster mocks Steve, not surprised to find him in the mix. Though he’s gotta say, that new shield? That thing does not look aerodynamic at …on second thought, Taskmaster is coming around on the whole new shield thing. Meanwhile, Bagalia went into a state of martial law, so Cap and his crew knew they had to get out of there fast, but quickly found themselves swarmed.

Thinking quickly on his feet, Rick Jones announced to the mob that, as a man who just hacked and publicly humiliated SHIELD just two weeks ago, in five minutes, he would empty the bank accounts of every casino in the city. If they had any chips or money stored there, the villains would have to move fast or lose everything. This plan worked perfectly, and the heroes regrouped and got ready to go home. As Cap comforted Free Spirit over Jack, the paramedics made a surprising announcement – he has a pulse.

In the present, this news shocks and outrages the Red Skull, seeing this as an utter failure on behalf of his servant. He scolds Rogers, and points out the man is still soft. They are so close to victory, they can’t lose control now. He has to kill Jack Flag. They can’t risk anything.

Steve knows the risks. He understands the danger. He knows he probably isn’t going to live through all this, but he has to try. But, as he approaches Dr. Selvig, he wonders if he has to do it alone.

Captain America: Steve Rogers #3 Comic Book Review

So, I have been giving this series a fair amount of praise, so far. This issue is the first one where my feelings are a bit more mixed. It is refreshing, though, that a lot of the political nonsense has died down, so for this review, we get to mostly focus on the merits of the actual comics themselves instead of what Twitter thinks. Hooray!

On the positive side, the art, as always, was great. Jesus Saiz has been doing a really great job at both facial expressions and actions. The looks on character’s faces always convey exactly what it should and do so well, while the action is clean, polished, and easy to follow. The entire sequence in Bagalia was also great – it was like a mini version of Black Hawk Down with superpowers, and it just worked so well. The setting was different and led to a lot of tension, along with some great cameos, and Cap had a great moment just losing it on Taskmaster, showing just how different this Steve Rogers might really be.

That’s where the comic flourishes, but also where my praise ends. The stuff with the Red Skull and such, well, that wasn’t as strong as the rest of the series has been. I found it as confusing as I did… unremarkable. A lot of it was more of the same – the Red Skull going on about his big, important plans and a whole bunch of other exposition, but a lot of which we’ve seen already. They’re falling into that trap of telling and not showing, and I’d rather they just get on with things.

But I can also see this is build-up. There are more twists and turns on the way, and we’re setting up for something… more. I’m sorry if that sounds vague, but I really have no idea where, exactly, they are going with this. That last page really changes things on its head. Is Steve not really loyal to the Red Skull? I have no idea at this point, but I’m interested to find out, and coupled with the fact that next issue officially brings this series into Civil War II territory, I’m eager to see what happens next. That’s called suspense, and in spite of my problems with this comic, it is a good sign.