One Man Against Everything: ‘Captain America: The End #1’ Reviewed
by Josh Davison
Mild Spoilers Ahead
It all happened: famine, disease, war, earthquakes, a climate catastrophe. All of this afflicted the world and in this chaos, the Red Skull has risen again. He released a mist that began to turn the whole world into copies of himself. A scratch, a touch, a smell could turn an individual into another instance of the Red Skull. Every one of them moves as a unit and they all want to kill Captain America. During a brawl, Cap fell through a collapse in the sidewalk and found an enclave of unturned survivors beneath New York’s streets. They had been there since the beginning of the end, but the Red Skulls followed Cap down here. That means it’s his duty to save them from the oncoming Red Skull horde. Thankfully, Cap has a lead on how to break the Red Skull hivemind.
Captain America: The End #1 finds our beloved Sentinel of Liberty fighting against the eternal recursion of his greatest enemy.
It’s not so much a zombie apocalypse as a Red Skull-ocalypse–or just an Omega Man-style apocalypse. It gives Cap an endless horde of Red Skull-minded enemies to fight. However, he won’t stop believing in the potential of a cure, so he will never kill one of them.
The comic has a very classic feeling to it. Cap is prone to monologues about how he will never give up, and the third-person narration is prone to colorful turns of phrase to describe things that could be more simply described.
In addition to writing the tale, Erik Larsen also provides his artistic talents for this comic. His styling harkens back to an older era of comic art, giving the book a focus on action and grand expression as opposed to small motion and detailed emotion. It looks fantastic and it contributes to the feeling of Cap as a throwback in a world that had left him behind. Dono Sánchez–Almara provides a vibrant and explosive color palette which fits Larsen’s art style fantastically.
Captain America: The End #1 is a charmingly straightforward finale to The End’s series one-shots. It’s Cap against the Red Skull as always–the only thing that’s changed this time is the amount of individuals involved. Larsen gives the comic a classic feeling and earns a recommendation. Check it out.
Captain America: The End #1 comes to us from writer and artist Erik Larsen, color artist Dono Sánchez-Almara, letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna, cover artist Rahzzah, and variant cover artist Erik Larsen with Edgar Delgado.
Final Score: 8/10
