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Captain America: Theater of War #5-7
Captain America: America First
When Captain America goes up against the Nazi commander behind the anti-gravity weapon, he is captured in his civilian identity, Steve Rogers.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published June 23, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 10, 2018
"The American 'super-soldier' . . . the Nazis truly fear you." - Lior, Polish resistance operative
"They should . . ." - Captain America
The back cover of America First promises "a trio of war-torn tales!" and that's about right, but to split hairs the first two are during Cap's salad days of WWII and the finale is during the Cold War. Each story also has a different author and artist.
'Operation: Zero Point' - Cap goes behind enemy lines to extricate a scientist from a Nazi weapons research & development facility. The unexpected roadblock in this mission? A towering, scarred 'kommandant' known as Der Metzger ('The Butcher').
'Prisoners of Duty' - Pvt. Steve Rogers is injured / captured during battle and thrown into Bavarian castle-turned-POW camp. He leads his fellow Allies in planning a daring prison break.
'America First!' - set stateside during the 'Red Scare' of the early 50's, Cap matches wits/fists with an infamous Minnesota senator 'Senator Joe McMurphy' (Wisconsin senator Joe McCarthy anyone? *cough cough*). The politician accuses our beloved Cap of being a communist. Also features an appearance by a young, brash (as usual) Nick Fury.
So the first two are great war / action stories, while the third is more of a government conspiracy angle, and as such feels like the odd man out here. However, it was a still a decent anthology.
"They should . . ." - Captain America
The back cover of America First promises "a trio of war-torn tales!" and that's about right, but to split hairs the first two are during Cap's salad days of WWII and the finale is during the Cold War. Each story also has a different author and artist.
'Operation: Zero Point' - Cap goes behind enemy lines to extricate a scientist from a Nazi weapons research & development facility. The unexpected roadblock in this mission? A towering, scarred 'kommandant' known as Der Metzger ('The Butcher').
'Prisoners of Duty' - Pvt. Steve Rogers is injured / captured during battle and thrown into Bavarian castle-turned-POW camp. He leads his fellow Allies in planning a daring prison break.
'America First!' - set stateside during the 'Red Scare' of the early 50's, Cap matches wits/fists with an infamous Minnesota senator 'Senator Joe McMurphy' (Wisconsin senator Joe McCarthy anyone? *cough cough*). The politician accuses our beloved Cap of being a communist. Also features an appearance by a young, brash (as usual) Nick Fury.
So the first two are great war / action stories, while the third is more of a government conspiracy angle, and as such feels like the odd man out here. However, it was a still a decent anthology.
August 28, 2015
An anthology of Captain America "one-shot" stories by a number of different writers and artists, similar to Captain America: Theater of War. A decent anthology overall; I am going to review and score each story individually.
1.) "Operation: Zero Point" - In this tale, set during World War II, Captain America must infiltrate a secret Nazi research facility that is building anti-gravity flying saucers powered by "zero-point energy". The art is solid, and the muted colors really help set the mood. There are also some truly awesome splash pages as Cap blows up UFOs and punches SS officers in the face! There's an epic final fight between Cap and the facility's SS Kommandant, a man with a cybernetic eye and preternatural strength who goes by the moniker of "The Butcher". Captain America fighting Nazi UFOs and cyborg SS officers? What's not to like? Surprisingly for a story containing such bizarre elements, "Operation: Zero Point" is actually not campy at all. In fact, the tone is rather serious and brooding. And it actually works very well! The ending is poignant and bittersweet. 4 stars.
2.) "Prisoners of Duty" - Another tale set in WWII. This time, Captain America has been captured and is sent to a medieval German castle that has been converted into a POW camp. Cap must help his fellow prisoners escape to the advancing Allied front line. The artwork is kind of hit-or-miss in this story, but it tends towards the good. While not as action-packed as the previous tale, it has a similarly melancholy tone and also has a bittersweet ending. 4 stars.
3.) "America First" - The titular story of this volume, it is of markedly inferior quality to the others. The 1950's "Commie-Buster" Captain America (who is not the same person as the WWII Captain America, Steve Rogers, btw) must expose a cliched Joe McCarthy analogue called "Senator Joseph P. McMurphy" as a clandestine Soviet sleeper operative. This unimaginative premise is not helped at all by the sub-par writing and truly atrocious artwork. I am not exaggerating when I say this story is one of the ugliest-looking comics I have ever laid eyes on. The writer/artist Howard Chaykin simply does not know how to draw properly-proportioned humans, especially if they are doing anything other that standing motionless. And even then, they still sometimes look severely out of whack, if not just plain ugly. 1 star
1.) "Operation: Zero Point" - In this tale, set during World War II, Captain America must infiltrate a secret Nazi research facility that is building anti-gravity flying saucers powered by "zero-point energy". The art is solid, and the muted colors really help set the mood. There are also some truly awesome splash pages as Cap blows up UFOs and punches SS officers in the face! There's an epic final fight between Cap and the facility's SS Kommandant, a man with a cybernetic eye and preternatural strength who goes by the moniker of "The Butcher". Captain America fighting Nazi UFOs and cyborg SS officers? What's not to like? Surprisingly for a story containing such bizarre elements, "Operation: Zero Point" is actually not campy at all. In fact, the tone is rather serious and brooding. And it actually works very well! The ending is poignant and bittersweet. 4 stars.
2.) "Prisoners of Duty" - Another tale set in WWII. This time, Captain America has been captured and is sent to a medieval German castle that has been converted into a POW camp. Cap must help his fellow prisoners escape to the advancing Allied front line. The artwork is kind of hit-or-miss in this story, but it tends towards the good. While not as action-packed as the previous tale, it has a similarly melancholy tone and also has a bittersweet ending. 4 stars.
3.) "America First" - The titular story of this volume, it is of markedly inferior quality to the others. The 1950's "Commie-Buster" Captain America (who is not the same person as the WWII Captain America, Steve Rogers, btw) must expose a cliched Joe McCarthy analogue called "Senator Joseph P. McMurphy" as a clandestine Soviet sleeper operative. This unimaginative premise is not helped at all by the sub-par writing and truly atrocious artwork. I am not exaggerating when I say this story is one of the ugliest-looking comics I have ever laid eyes on. The writer/artist Howard Chaykin simply does not know how to draw properly-proportioned humans, especially if they are doing anything other that standing motionless. And even then, they still sometimes look severely out of whack, if not just plain ugly. 1 star
May 29, 2016
Three different stand alone Captain America stories. The first two stories were from WWII, both stories were excellent with fantastic art. The final story took place during Cap's "Commie Smashing" days, it was confusing and ugly, and a reminder that not everything about Captain America is great.
March 5, 2016
Nic moc jsem od toho nečekal a dostal dva příjemné příběhy z WWII. Nejdelší příběh se pak odehrává během mccarthyismu a je bohužel po stránce scénáře nejslabší a hnusně nakreslený.
May 27, 2021
Fun collection. Little gory - so watch out little kids.
May 22, 2023
Great art for 2/3 issues collected here. But this whole thing is pretty boring, and the 3rd story feels tacked on and unrelated to the first two.
January 20, 2020
Three decent but irrelevant stories that are worth reading but do nothing to add to the mythos of Captain America. For fans of Cap, or just those looking to read a short, complete story.
February 7, 2011
Collection of one shots featuring Captain America from different points in his history.
The Howard Chaykin story, featuring 50's commie-busting Cap was my favorite.
The rest of the stories are okay, there are no clunkers, but aside from Chaykin's nothing else really grabbed me and impressed me the same way.
The Howard Chaykin story, featuring 50's commie-busting Cap was my favorite.
The rest of the stories are okay, there are no clunkers, but aside from Chaykin's nothing else really grabbed me and impressed me the same way.
July 26, 2016
There are actually three stories here. The first was probably the one I enjoyed the most. A WWII Cap story where he goes behind enemy lines to rescue a scientist trying to defect. Good art and interesting story.
Chaykin's art has never been my fav. This was on sale for four bucks and I picked it up thinking it is unlikely to be collected in omnibus format. Worth the money at that price.
Chaykin's art has never been my fav. This was on sale for four bucks and I picked it up thinking it is unlikely to be collected in omnibus format. Worth the money at that price.
September 17, 2019
Great artwork, bad stories
January 7, 2019
It was a great book because it had the fantasy of hero but the speaking of a german reagular, and with a lot of life lessons to be told. For example, it said don't make promises on the battlefield becasue that's how a person died in part of the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews