written by Ta Nehisi Coates
penciled by Leinil Francis Yu
inked by Gerry Alanguilan
colored by Sunny Gho
After a disappointingly redundant issue #2, Ta Nehisi Coates bounces back somewhat with an issue that kicks his story arc into high gear.
On the trail of Power Enterprises, the unseen cabal responsible for the deadly super-soldier attacks upon American civilians, Cap gets help from T'Challa, the Black Panther and his trusty General Okoye, both of whom are after Ezekiel Stane, who very recently took part in an attempt to overthrow T'Challa and who is said to be among the chief architects of this shadowy new operation. T'Challa has a plan to take down the "Nukes" or the super-soldiers modeled after Frank Simpson, who long ago menaced Daredevil in Hell's Kitchen. Meanwhile, Sharon tracks down the lead that Thunderbolt Ross has given her, which may lead her right to the main bad guy herself, Selene. While preparing for his big attack on Power Enterprises, Steve learns something quite surprising about the time that HYDRA ran America: their methods may have been despicable, but they actually did quite a bit of good, like fixing schools, providing healthcare and even jobs, and from the look of it, Power is intent on keeping up the good work, even if all this almost certainly comes at a price.
I've said a few unflattering things about Coates' past work, as recently as issue #2 of this series, but one bad thing I can't say about him this time around is that he scrimps on action, because three issues into his run, every single issue has featured some pretty intense action sequences. This one, fortunately, feels a bit more consequential than Steve's throwaway punch up with the Nukes last issue.
More interestingly, though, Coates presents a somewhat different take on the HYDRA takeover of America, i.e. the revelation that they actually got things done. Coming from an avowed progressive like Coates, the devil's advocate argument as to the potential virtues of an authoritarian setup similar to what HYDRA had in place, albeit briefly is intriguing to look at, especially when one considers this has actually happened in real life. For example, the infamous Muammar Gaddafi, for all of his crimes against his people, had actually done some pretty good things with respect to social services like education and healthcare before his was deposed and eventually killed by rebels. This is genuinely engaging stuff; we're not even talking about people being fooled by fake news like they have been in the United States (and here) about the manufactured virtues of certain politicians.
Rather, Coates poses the question of how to get people to turn their backs on a system that actually works for them, and while he sets the issue aside for a while to get back to the action, the fact that he brought it up in the first place sets the stage for something potentially a lot more interesting than just another punch up with the big bad guys.
Helping carry Coates through all of this are the legendary art team of Leinil Yu, Gerry Alanguilan and Sunny Gho, who have yet to stumble in this run. This really is a winning creative team here, and while I don't imagine it'll stay together for very long, things being the way they are, I'm fairly certain I'll be able to enjoy the remainder of their work together as long as they keep up this overall standard of quality.
8/10
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