Captain America: Steve Rogers #13 - Marvel Comics

CAPTAIN AMERICA: STEVE ROGERS No. 13, May 2017

Just why Issue Thirteen of “Captain America: Steve Rogers” saw an incredible increase of seven thousand readers over its previous publication is arguably anyone’s guess, as such a significant surge of popularity can surely not be placed exclusively at the feet of Nick Spencer’s script? True, the two-time Cincinnati City Council candidate does finally explain within this book just how the titular character fought during World War Two on the side of the Allies when “he had been an agent of Hydra since childhood.” But in many ways, this “untold story” is actually secondary to the twenty-page publication’s prevalent plot of Baron Helmut Zemo enlisting “more resources” for Steven’s plan from within the criminal community.

Perhaps therefore this edition’s success can be assigned to the wonderfully detailed Arthur Adams (and Jason Keith) cover, which flamboyantly depicts the Invaders in their heyday brutalising an entire regiment of Nazi goose-stepping goons in an effort to dismantle a salvo of giant rocket shells? This dynamically-charged illustration really is as characterful as it is colourful, and smacks of the super-team’s Bronze Age shenanigans by portraying plenty of fisticuffs, as well as smiles; something which soon proves to be in direct contrast to the actual interior script which emotionally describes a mortified Rogers realising that his actions have caused the death of his best friend’s father.  

What should be easily agreed upon however, is that this magazine’s focus upon the thirteenth Baron Zemo and his trek through some of the Marvel Universe’s most recognisable villains, proves a highly entertaining experience, especially when Spence simply leaves the storytelling to artist Ro Stein. Indeed, the six-sheet sequence of Heinrich’s son ‘socialising’ with the likes of the Wrecker and his Wrecking Crew, Kraven the Hunter, Yellowjacket, Mister Hyde, Graviton, Serpent Solutions, the Circus of Crime and the Grey Gargoyle (politely sipping tea outside a shop front) makes for a fantastically fun visual journey…  And what better way of concluding the master swordsman’s massive ‘recruitment drive’ than by having it culminate with a double-splash featuring the fruits of Helmut’s efforts in their entirety; “You are with your true family now.”

Writer: Nick Spencer, Artists: Ro Stein & Ted Brandt, and Color Artist: Rachelle Rosenberg