Written by Jason Aaron
Illustrated by Ron GarneyCaptain America meets his ultimate nemesis–the Captain America of the Vietnam War! As new enemies face off, old secrets from the super soldier project are revealed. From the superstar Wolverine: Weapon X creative team of Jason Aaron and Ron Garney, get ready for a hard hitting story of one man’s quest to serve his country…and the sacrifices he must make.
If Wolverine: Weapon X proved nothing else, it’s that Aaron and Garney are a force to be reckoned with. With the Ultimate universe going as well as it has been going considering the recent creators telling stories, does Captain America under Aaron’s pen come out better or worse than Ultimate Cap’s creator, Mark Millar?
Find out after the cut.
For those that are familiar with Mark Millar’s work in the Ultimates, you’ll recognize that among a wide cast of different but entertainingly written character was this brand new Captain America. He didn’t ask too many questions, he served his country proudly, and he had a clear definition of what was right and what was wrong. Every crowning moment you might remember from the Ultimates usually revolved around Cap, including the now famous “Do you think this A stands for France?!” While Millar certainly didn’t write the same kind of Captain America Brubaker is currently writing in the regular 616 universe, it felt appropriate to have a Captain America so brazenly out there. Unfortunately, with Ultimatum, this all changed, and the Ultimate Comics Avengers Captain America just wasn’t the same, either in that title or his appearances in the Ultimate comics New Ultimates. Cap became a mish mash of creator ideas, with Millar very much writing in his post-Kick Ass success style and Loeb writing Cap his own way.
Cue Jason Aaron, who comes in not to “restore” Cap to his Ultimates identity, but rather to bring in a very Aaron-esque portrayal of the character that still holds true to the same basic ideals. In a way, this is sort of the “A for France” Captain America again, and when Cap makes a heavy duty entrance with guns a-blazin’, it reminds you of why this character became so infectuous in the Ultimate universe as opposed to his more stoic 616 counter-part. Aaron seems to be infusing a “just out of the ice” mentality to the character, almost with a “live every day like it’s your last” mentality as Captain America rather outwardly steps over a British op in order to take down some bad guys. This does come as an annoyance to Danvers and Hawkeye, both who note later in the issue that it was probably a bad idea to let him run wild like this (especially after the events with his son, the Red Skull), and Aaron does a good job of acknowledging the rest of the Ultimate Universe in this story. It’s rather clear that Marvel and it’s creators don’t plan to pull back on Cap anymore, and having such an unrestrained version of the hero is definitely entertaining in an over-the-top action/spy story.
Aaron does what you’d expect from him – he writes an absolute bad ass. After career defining work on Wolverine: Weapon X that not only got Aaron the main Wolverine title but also reinvigorated the character that had been so muddled down in crossover after crossover, Aaron is applying his methodology here for Cap. Aaron starts the story off with a more “solemn” moment for Cap, offering up just enough clues for a twist in the finale as well as a very Aaron-esque rant by the mysterious villain, but the story quickly moves forward with a fast paced action story. Cap is very much a top operative soldier spy in the Ultimate universe, and this issue illustrates that as Captain America goes up against Korean soldiers as well as an extended fistfest between himself and the “Captain America of the Vietnam War,” also known to fans (spoiler whited out) Nuke. The inclusion of him as the villain, as well as his reasons for being there, offer up that gritty Aaron vibe we’ve come to know him so well for. It’s also a very fitting story for a mini that stars Cap by himself rather than turning this into a series of ongoing adventures, but if the rest of the storyline starts off as strong as this issue does, I’d be willing to reconsider my stance on that.
Continued belowOne of the most important things to factor in with this issue is this: the reason Wolverine: Weapon X became the only Wolverine title that mattered on stands was not just because of Jason Aaron. It was because Ron Garney, who had previously teamed with Aaron on the “Get Mystique” arc of Wolverine’s main title, had an excellent sense of style and presentation to his stories that effectively displayed Wolverine’s animal nature and provided a “balls to the wall” action story in a way that Wolverine: The Best There Is could only hope and dream to try and match (and never will, because to be honest, no one ever will). Garney gets action, and he gets big action sequences (as illustrated in the unforgettable mluti-panel backdrop scene in Wolverine: Weapon X #5, which turned me into a casual fan into a huge fan), and that translates here extremely well. Garney understands perfeclty how much to show and how to focus his shots, and the fight scene between Vietnam Cap and WW2 Cap (do put it lightly and without spoilers) is magnificent. You really feel the punches to the gut and face that Cap takes with Garney’s art, and that translation effectly shows off just why Garney was the only man for this job (and why Garney needs more titles, preferrably with Aaron).
Ultimately (pun intended), this does do a good job of merging the old “A For France” Cap with the new “Red Skull is my son” Cap. The interesting thing with writers is that no two seem to perfectly agree on how to write a character, and with Ultimate Cap we certainly have had a fair share of writers taking their shots at writing him (Bendis, Millar, Loeb, and Damon Lindelof for example). Aaron is just another in a great line of talent who adds his own little twists that definitively define this Cap as Jason Aaron’s Cap and not just “Ultimate” Cap, and that infusion of familiarity from the writer as well as the great art from Garney make this comic a definite buy for fans of the Ultimate Universe.
Final Verdict: 9.3 – Buy
