written by Mark Waid
drawn by Chris Samnee
colored by Matt Wilson
back-up story scripted by Waid from a plot by Stan Lee
drawn by Jack Kirby (!) and Frank Giacoia
colored by Wilson
Having deposed King Babbington, Cap sets out to restore some semblance of sanity to America, only to find out, the hard way, that by creating a power vacuum, he's pretty much caused everyone and his brother to descend on the country. He rushes to defuse one military crisis after another, even as he must deal with a massive food shortage. In short, he learns that running a country, especially one that's in shambles, is no easy task, though there could yet be a way out, as Bruce Banner has fashioned a time machine of sorts. Cap finds himself facing a dilemma: should he stay and try to salvage the present, or go back and try to prevent this nightmare from ever happening?
After stuttering out of the gate with a couple of issues that were surprisingly short of the standard of quality that I, as a long-time fan, had come to expect from these two, Mark Waid and Chris Samnee delivered a pretty good riff on "The Most Dangerous Game" before plunging Cap into this dystopia that is basically a thinly-veiled shot at the state of things in America right now. The quality of Waid's scripting has been surprisingly erratic, but the good news is that he finishes his story off quite strongly here. Given that the arc only lasted six issues, I feel Waid could have spent more time setting up the dystopia, and perhaps introducing readers to his villain Babbington before dropping Cap into the hellscape that America became. Issue #696, for example, was pure filler and really did no favors at all for the run on the whole. Still, this was a well-written issue, even if the overall arc still disappointed, given the caliber of the writer involved.
Samnee, in contrast to Waid, has delivered consistently stunning work all throughout this brief six-issue run, with perhaps his relatively weakest issue being #696, and he finishes off his run in fine style, though I must say I was slightly peeved that, even though they appear on the cover, neither the Hulk nor the Thing appears in the book itself, though Bruce Banner has a pivotal role in how things play out in the end. Still, that was all about the marketing and editorial; Samnee just delivers thirty glorious pages of his trademarked knock-out art, with able assistance from colorist Matt Wilson. There's something distinctly saddening about knowing that this is the last work Samnee will be doing for Marvel for the immediate future; I've adored this man's work since I first picked up Captain America and Bucky back in 2011. At a time when I'd suffered from "event fatigue" and had lost interest in much of Marvel's printed output (as opposed to their movies), Samnee brought back a great deal of joy into reading comic books, which are a visual medium, after all. Sure, it helped that he worked with great writers like Ed Brubaker and later Mark Waid, but having tracked down a lot of his other Marvel work like collected editions of Thor: the Mighty Avenger (written by Roger Langridge) and the Siege crossover side-story Embedded (written by Brian Reed) I can say with some certainty that Samnee elevates whatever book he's working on, regardless of the writer. I don't know where he'll end up next (and he's been quite tight-lipped about it), but I'm almost certain that I'll pick it up in one form or another, even as I hope that he one day returns to Marvel.
Incidentally, this issue also features a charming short-story based on an old plot treatment by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, featuring some pretty stunning art by Kirby. Because it was only available in plot form, Waid provides the script, which, to my mind, was actually pretty good.
Waid has one story arc left before Ta Nehisi Coates and Leinil Yu take over, and I'm still on board for that especially after Waid's strong finale to his big story.
Again, thanks very much Chris! Hope to see you again in these pages someday!
8/10
Back up story 8/10
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