Captain America: Steve Rogers #5 dives deep into the current Civil War II event answering a lot of questions that I have had throughout the event. Written by Nick Spencer, the comic continues to bounce between the past and present showing Steve’s indoctrination into Hydra and his current machinations. We learn he’s had a lot more planned than we’ve known about and in some ways manipulating behind the scenes of Civil War II.

Throughout the comic we finally get Steve’s perspective on Civil War II and he realizes that someone who can see the future threatens his plan and allegiance. It’s a question and concern that I’ve had for quite some time, and thankfully it’s answered. We get some other realizations that feel slightly forced in, but overall what’s shown also reshapes some of the key moments of the series. That’s both good and bad in that it again moves the overall point of the event from being about preventing crime through precognition and profiling to being more about white men. That’s a criticism I’ve had about the event as a whole and your mileage may vary.

But, Spencer plugging in Captain America as he has is interesting and it shifts the narrative a bit. That I have to give some credit, it’s not easy to do and works pretty smoothly.

The art by Javier Pina is hit and miss. The flashbacks are fantastic, but I think that’s primarily a combination of the art and the coloring. The minimal use of black, white, gray, and red, look fantastic and really make those scenes stand out. The modern times art isn’t quite as smooth and some detail is lots. It’s not bad in any way, it’s just not as fantastic as we’ve seen in the past for a Cap series.

Captain America: Steve Rogers #5 is an interesting issue that will give you a lot more information about Civil War II and may even change your perspective about the event as a whole. It’s interesting issue and as a part of the bigger storyline going on throughout the Marvel Universe it’s more intriguing, but on its own it still feels gimmicky and sowing the seeds at the next event to come after Civil War II.

Story: Nick Spencer Art: Javier Pina Cover Art: Paul Renaud
Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7 Recommendation: Read

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review