Captain America #13 – Doom Does Not Believe in Regrets

Cap in a coma? With the fall of Doom and the power vacuum in Latveria, Steve Rogers went on a mission to help S.H.I.E.L.D. try to protect the country from Ross. Now, New America, Ross is on a rampage. Now in Captain America #13, Steve Rogers lies in a hospital bed in a coma after protecting a civilian from the wrath of Ross. While his body heals, his spirit and his consciousness travel to Hell. Who should he discover in Hell but none other than the soul of one Victor Von Doom. Now Cap finds himself in a new battle with a surprising teammate as Doom leads an attempted takeover of Hell from Mephisto. Not one to go down without a fight, Mephisto has enlisted Cap’s oldest nemesis, The Red Skull.

This review is brought to you by Nerd Initiative’s Shawn!

Creative Team

Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Ton Lima
Color Artist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: Valerio Schiti
Cover Color Artist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.

Writing

It’s good to see Chip Zdarsky write Spider-Man again. He always did a great job of capturing Peter’s wit and his ability to use humor to defuse situations. On top of that, Captain America #13 does a good job of showing readers that for his long-running feud with Reed Richards, Steve Rogers perhaps makes a more stunning contrast to the will and ruthless drive of Doctor Doom than Richards does. Zdarksy shows us what a real enemy of my enemy moment looks like when Rogers works alongside Doom despite the obvious ideological differences in pursuit of a common enemy in Mephisto.

I really enjoyed the conversation Zdarsky puts down between Doom and Rogers. It’s also nice to see some clear lines in the sand for Victor. Having been a god himself, he has a surprising soft spot for the suffering of souls, even if it is only to ultimately benefit himself. I also really enjoyed how perfectly Zdarsky captures the mannerisms and attitude of the Red Skull. He feels delightfully evil as always, but we get the reminder that even in death, the Red Skull is smug. Zdarsky closes by ratcheting the story up a notch with the craziest cliffhanger of the year so far.

Art

Ton Lima, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Joe Caramagna did really good work on this issue. The art is stunning, and Lima becomes one of the few artists to ever get to draw and unmask Victor Von Doom for Marvel comics. Lima’s line work perfectly captures not only the characters, but the hopelessness, pain, and suffering of Mephisto’s Hell. The demons are terrifying and feel ready to devour anything in their path, but the damned souls of the Nazis, ready to serve Red Skull, are perhaps even more terrifying.

Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Joe Caramagna take terrifying art and a great story and bring it to life. The colors are so vivid. Fajardo Jr. doesn’t rely solely on red tones to paint the desperation of Hell. He does it through a variety of beautiful palettes, making even minor demons seem unique. The final cliffhanger at the end of the issue was beautifully colored. Joe Carmagna takes readers carefully through the story, helping your feel the weight of the words and the art.

Final Thoughts

Captain America continues to be one of the best series Marvel comics has going right now. This issue finished on one heck of a cliffhanger and I can’t wait to see what happens from here. Even before the cliffhanger, the artwork and narrative were perfect. Rogers and Doom make such a contrast of service vs brute force, helping vs power and control.

Overall Grade: 10/10

What did you think about this issue of Captain America? Let me know in the comments