Captain America (2018) Issue 1

-By Ta-Nehisi Coates & Leinil Francis Yu

-Inker: Gerry Alanguilan

-Color Artist: Sunny Gho

-Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna

-Cover: Alex Ross

I've been a big fan of Ta-Nehisi Coates' work since I read his run of Black Panther (we'll get to that later) so when I found out that he had a hand in writing Captain America I immediately added it to my library. I was not disappointed.

This issue shows us a world that is recovering from a Hydra takeover. Through natural sounding dialogue and stunning art, we're shown that Hydra didn't just take over, but they broke what they had. There are many in the United States who are still loyal to Hydra and its ideals and Steve Rogers finds it difficult to know where his place is. When domestic terrorists shoot into a crowd of protestors with the American flag painted on their faces, the same flag Steve Rogers himself dresses with, it's difficult to know if you're the "good guy" after all.

As Hydra's influence in the USA is faltering, in Russia it still seems to have a firm hand over the people. A firm hand that a couple of special individuals are working to shake off, but we get a sense that Russia may just be exchanging one tyranny for another.

Something I'm already really appreciating about this book is that we get to see how the heroics are affecting ordinary people. We see civilians reacting with horror at the sight of armed gunmen, we see Cap and Bucky helping people get back to their feet or getting medical attention. It's a very grounded story that gives us the sense that Captain America is the people's hero, or at least is trying to be. He's not in the hero game for any kind of selfish reason. He's genuinely trying to use his power and privilege to help people.

To be honest, for the longest time Captain America didn't really do anything for me. I'm not sure why. Growing up a foreign kid in small town America didn't really breed much patriotism. That said, my biggest introduction to the character was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, wonderfully played by Chris Evans. I really liked his daring optimism and selfless heroics. He never sacrificed his own moral code, going so far as living in self-imposed exile in his effort to do the right thing.

Steve Rogers here seems so far to be on the same track. He calls himself "a man loyal to nothing except the dream" and that's the kind of character I can get behind.

Looking forward to next week when we move on to Issue 2.