When one picks up an issue of the new Captain America series, there's no chance of being disappointed. John Cassaday's art is a wonder to behold. The detail he brings to the work and the intensity he instills in the title character will never let you down. The story here, on the other hand, is a different matter altogether. Rieber's plot, though political in nature (something I love to find in any storytelling), comes off as rather generic. This issue also plods along at an unnecessarily slow pace.
Terrorists who took an entire American town hostage were in the possession of technology available only to S.H.I.E.L.D., and Captain America is determined to find out how that came to pass. As the political bigwigs who oversee S.H.I.E.L.D. lament Cap's revelation of his civilian identity, they also order Col. Nick Fury to refrain from telling Cap anything about the tech leak. The star-spangled soldier seeks answers from someone further up the chain of command, but along the way, he finds a new obstacle in his path.
Cassaday's art is stunning. Obviously, his eye for realistic detail is awe-inspiring, but what really drew my attention in this issue is how much determination and restrained outrage he injects into the title character through his eyes. All of the characters speak volumes through their eyes here. I also enjoyed Dave Stewart's colors. By bathing a key scene in red tones, he adds to the tension of the moment.
Rieber grabbed my attention in the first issue with some powerful narrative phrases, right on the first page. Here, though, I don't feel the same kind of impact. The villains Cap has fought have been rather run-of-the-mill. There's nothing that really sets them apart from the hundreds upon hundreds of armed henchmen or mercenaries we've seen in super-hero comics over the years. The cookie-cutter quality of those antagonists doesn't make for a suspenseful read.
The plot has a rather generic tone to it as well. Given the far more refined quality of the art, I'm looking for an equivalent in the writing as well. Wouldn't it add some spark and drama to the story if Nick Fury, instead of just standing idly by, actually turned his back on Cap due to politics? It's easy to buy into Cap's outrage here, but he also comes off as a bit naive when it comes to the political side of warfare and intelligence.
