Review: ‘Captain America: Sentinel Of Liberty’ #2 Improves As The Conspiracy Deepens
by Tony Thornley
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty launched with some interesting ideas, gorgeous art, and lackluster execution. The second issue starts to pay off those ideas, and points better towards what the series could be.
Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Carmen Carnero, Nolan Woodard, and Joe Caramagna continue Steve Rogers’ latest adventure.
Steve Rogers is still trying desperately to uncover the conspiracy at the heart of the Fourth of July attack. The mysterious number station he’s discovered points him towards an experimental power plant in Germany. Can he stop an attack that will cripple most of Europe’s power grid? And what is the Winter Soldier up to as this is all going on?
A lot of comics are at their best when they’re leaning into the soap opera, rather than the editorially mandated three to five pages of punching. It’s really interesting to see how Lanzing and Kelly balance those two things here. They take the time to develop the supporting cast and other characters, giving the world around Steve depth it lacks when his only support system is SHIELD Agents and Bucky.
The conspiracy, meanwhile, actually feels way more interesting here. It has the very distinct feeling of taking ideas and concepts from Hickman’s SHIELD and finally integrating them into the Marvel Universe at large. Steve’s narration (which Caramagna renders perfectly on top of his normally great lettering work) feels much less overwrought, especially at this point in the issue, as his introspective attitude leads him deeper into the conspiracy.
Carnero’s art here is just stunning. Her page compositions change the tone of the story- such as the wide grid with Radio Company, the more modern layouts as Steve goes to coffee with his school friends, and the full page action of the issue-ending fight. She centers everything around Steve too, making his body language thoughtful and introspective. Woodard proves that he’s an underrated color artist too, setting the entirety of the fight in twilight. He makes it actually feel like late in the day, not just “the sky is reddish.”
Based on this issue, I’m coming around on the series. I hope this continues so we see a strong Captain America mini-line for some time to come.
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #2 is available now from Marvel Comics.
Overview
This issue is a definite step forward for the series. It incorporates some interesting ideas that have existed on the fringe of the Marvel universe, and centers the story on characters. Meanwhile, the art is just stunning, creating one of the best looking mainline Marvel books on the stands.
