Friends On The Inside – Captain America #10 Reviewed
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Invisible Woman infiltrates the Myrmidon and meets up with her contact: Thunderball, aka Doctor Eliot Franklin. Dr. Franklin agrees to help Steve Rogers, and it results in Franklin passing out in the cafeteria. On the outside, the Foreigner begins to suspect that Aleksander Lukin isn’t being entirely honest about the identity of the Dryad, and the Foreigner threatens his boss. This results in Lukin hiring more outside help. Finally, it’s come time for Steve Rogers to have his fight in the cage with Baron Strucker.
Captain America #10 begins to show signs that Cap’s time in the Myrmidon is winding down, and we’ll be able to see the Sentinel of Liberty get back to kicking Nazi ass, particularly the one attached to Baron Strucker.
While “Captain of Nothing” has been an interesting story, Ta-Nehisi Coates continues to have pacing issues, and this arc threaten to drag.
It’s nice to see Thunderball’s redemption arc continued here, though Invisible Woman still largely treats him as disposable. It’s even revealed that Eliot Franklin’s time as part of the “Army of Evil” was spent doing spywork for Wakanda (Black Panther-heads will remember that Thunderball began working for Wakanda during the pre-reboot Coates Black Panther run).
Cap gets to narrate large stretches of this issue, and he gets some good lines. It’s pretty cathartic seeing him fight back against the shackles that have been put upon him in the Myrmidon, though it seems his struggles are far from over.
Adam Kubert’s artwork continues to provide the right level of grit and shadow to support “Captain of Nothing’s” tone. The action scenes we get look quite spectacular, and every blow is felt by the reader. There’s also a lot to be said about how well the panels flow into one another. Frank Martin’s color work is distinct and well-balanced here too. He gives the book an appropriate mood from page-to-page which does wonders for the tone of the story.
Captain America #10 is a turning point for the “Captain of Nothing” story. Steve Rogers is beginning to fight back against Strucker, and we find that Captain America still has many friends. This one gets a recommendation. Feel free to check it out.
Captain America #10 comes to us from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, artist Adam Kubert, color artist Frank Martin, letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna, cover artist Alex Ross, and variant cover artist Dave Johnson.
