Captain America #5 Review

Captain America has been a pretty weird title since it fell into the hands of Rick Remender and John Romita Jr. That weirdness has been cooking and simmering for the past four issues, and starts to boil over here. Issue #5 is an epic collision, a battle at the gates between Zola's army of mutants and the Phrox. Oh yeah, and there's the Captains of Zolandia who yell out things like “War! Injustice! And slavery for all!” Weird stuff, but good. Good weird stuff.

Remender continues to tie Steve Rogers' past into the insanity of Dimension Z. This issue is free of flashbacks to ol' time New York, but the themes and incidents we saw there still echo throughout these pages. It's a strong showing, and the absence of flashbacks actually helps to keep the action and story flowing. Cap takes a hell of a beating in this issue, but keeps coming back for more. Even in a zany science fiction landscape, Remender remembers what makes Steve Rogers tick.

The art suffers slightly here, most likely to the missing Klaus Janson. Romita is inked by Tom Palmer & Scott Hanna this time around, and it feels like some of the heart has gone out of the issue. There's still plenty of awesome pages – Marvel needs to print the last page as a mini poster – but when the action really gets going everything becomes a jumbled mess. The character's anatomy is screwy at times, too. Overall, the issue still looks good, but there is a noticeable dip. Dean White's colors still look amazing though, so that's something.

Benjamin tripped on a hole in a paper heart. He's not himself. Follow Benjamin on Twitter @616Earth, or find him on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com