Captain America: Two Americas

Captain America (2004) (Collected Editions) #12

by Ed Brubaker, Luke Ross (Illustrator)

Captain America returns with a bang! Where has the Captain America from the '50s been the past few months, and what part of our modern world has welcomed him? And what will Steve and Bucky do when an old enemy tries to become a revolutionary?

Collecting: Captain America 602-605, Who Will Wield The Shield?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published August 3, 2010

About the author

Ed Brubaker (born November 17, 1966) is an Eisner Award-winning American cartoonist and writer. He was born at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.

Brubaker is best known for his work as a comic book writer on such titles as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Fist, Catwoman, Gotham Central and Uncanny X-Men. In more recent years, he has focused solely on creator-owned titles for Image Comics, such as Fatale, Criminal, Velvet and Kill or Be Killed.

In 2016, Brubaker ventured into television, joining the writing staff of the HBO series Westworld.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain America is back from the land of the pseudo dead. Now, it’s Awkward City between he and Bucky, who replaced him while Cap visited Not-Quite-Deadsville.

Bucky: “Hey, Cap! Do you want your shield back?

Captain America: “You keep it.”

Bucky: “Are you sure? I’m not the real Captain America.”

Captain America: “You earned it, Bucky”

Bucky: “You’re the real Captain America. It’s your shield.”

Captain America: “Bucky, if you don’t take the shield, I’m going to shove it up your….”

So Bucky keeps the shield for a while.

What follows is a nice Bucky/Falcon team-up as they go up against the crazy Captain America from the fifties, who’s leading a group of right wing terrorists. William Burnside, or Nutty Cap, or Counterfeit Cap, or Captain Shamerica, or Cuckoo Crackers Cap or (okay, I’ll stop), keeps whining about how much America has changed since he was chasing Commies and how they tore down his old home and replaced it with a Starbucks and how a cup of coffee used to be a quarter and how they don’t make apple pie like mom and… So he wants to blow stuff up. Real good.

This is prime Brubaker – a solid adventure tale and a great no-frills Winter Soldier/Bucky story.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brubaker's storyline was just a decent one for me, but Luke Ross/Butch Guice's artworks and Gerald Parel's covers were just over the top ones and I always had a thing for 50s crazy cap as a villain since first time I've read about him when I was a kid.



Bucky's infiltration plan (poor Sam) was hilarious, 2 issues more and this could have been a 5 stars and stripes smashing hit for me.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such a fun read!

It starts with Bucky wondering if he should be Cap now that Steve has returned and we follow his journey there and then he and Sam tema up to stop the crazy Cap of the 50s nicknamed Billy and we see what he has been upto, like teaming himself with a white rmy of Watchdogs to take down the govt nd blow stuff up, Bucky goes undercover to sto him but well is ambushed by Fake Cap and we follow the drama as he does all in his power too stop fake Cap plus Sam also has his own adventure which was fun to follow and until the last face off which leads to a big moment for Bucky.

Great volume and yep its fast paced and continues the pace of Bucky as Cap and also shows how different he is from Steve and the actions he takes. Its political in a way for sure but also does wwell to be subtle and give great social messages too and the art is just too good. Ross pencile with Guise's inks just make each panel feel so retro and modern at the same time and the human tones especially are perfect!

[Kemper · Rating 4 out of 5]

How many Captain Americas does it take to screw in a light bulb?

We get three versions of Cap in this collection. There’s the original one, Steve Rogers, freshly back from the dead. There’s Steve’s former sidekick James ‘Bucky’ Barnes who carried on the name while Steve was pushing up daisies. Finally, there’s a third one, a failed version from the ‘50s that the modified super soldier serum drove mad. This Bad Cap has hooked up with a band of Tea Party like domestic terrorists who want to ‘take America back’.

With Steve still reeling from his return and unsure if he should try to be Captain America again or if he should ask his former partner to continue, James and another former Steve Rogers sidekick, the Falcon, journey to Idaho to try and shut down the crazy version of Cap once and for all.

Brubaker does his usual stand out work in a tale that manages to put some drama into the idea of who will continue the Captain America name, Steve or James. Plus, his portrayal of the Bad Cap and his pals allows him to do some pretty good commentary about those who like to wrap themselves in flags and scream loudly about a return to a ‘real America’.

One of the things that Brubaker has tapped into for this storyline is the notion that Captain America isn’t just any superhero. In the Marvel universe, he’s an icon that represents America at its best. The idea that Steve may finally be buckling a bit under the weight of that and that James has struggled mightily trying to live up to it has made this a top notch super hero story.

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this story!

It was the best use of Falcon's skills that I've ever seen in a comic. I've never read a book that showcased how well he works with Redwing, his individual combat skills, his intelligence and his interrogation style. Hell, he even went undercover in this book. THere's a beautiful shot of him leaping out of a high floor on a building and his wings expanding out of nothing! If you're a fan of Falcon, this is a great book for you!

The storyline is pretty solid - as I said before: this was a great metaphor for what "fans" of Cap do to his character. Sure, Cap came from the past but his story has never been about turning America back into what it was when Cap originally grew up. Cap's all about progress and changing the world for the better. Old fashioned ideals and discrimination should be left in the past. Anyone who doesn't get that or tries to pollute that (*cough cough* Nick Spencer and whoever wrote that godawful racist issue where Cap was a 50s bigot in the early 2000s) doesn't understand what this character has been about since his creation.

In this story, the Cap that got plastic surgery to look like Steve compiles a group of "Americans" who are essentially trying to make America "great" again. Their plan involves blowing up big buildings in the city so, yeah... they sound like awesome guys. Bucky tries to stop them and gets captured. Which is the catalyst for Bucky and Sam each using their own styles to get out of the traps they've found themselves in.Sam gets trapped on a train with a bomb headed into the city.

I really loved the art in this book. I love Sam and Bucky's chemistry in the scenes they shared. As I mentioned, I loved seeing Falcon shine in this book.

Also, Steve Rogers meets President Barack Obama in this book!! It was amazing!

A definite recommend from me.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ignore the idea that there will be some sort of controversy over who will be Cap now, Steve or Bucky. Steve is too mature to make an issue of it, and Bucky respects him too much to do the same. Sure, it doesn't make for the most dramatic story in the world, but it suits the characters.

The Two Americas story that take up much of the book, on the other hand... I would not be in the least bit surprised to learn that Brubaker had a long visit from editorial partway through the story. What starts out as a very on-the-nose poke at the Tea Party and, more specifically, the militia movement gets significantly defanged by the end of the story. And I'm uncomfortable with how Brubaker ends up framing the issue: being crazy makes you ultra right wing, and/or being ultra right wing makes you crazy. Either deal with real-world issues in a serious way or avoid them entirely, because this is kind of cheap and adds nothing to either the political or mental health issues Brubaker is playing with. And I think he can do better.

[Clarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This opens with a slightly awkward but none dramatic talk between Steve and Bucky about who is Captain America now that Steve is alive again. It ends with Bucky keeping the mantle (at least for a little longer).

Then we get to the real story! A Bucky Sam, featuring Red Wing, team up to take on Bad Cap? Fake Cap? Eh, whatever you want to call the Cap from the 50s that went crazy from whatever they put in their version of the super soldier serum. It's a pretty solid story and I love how they work together.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Brubaker, but this wasn't quite 5 star material for me. It's a decent story, but I'm not exactly sure what he was trying to say with the story line. I'm not crazy about mixing my comics with blatent politics like that.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fallout of both Civil War and Reborn.

This focuses at first on Steve and Bucky and their current life. Steve is trying to figure out what he wants or if he even wants to be Captain America anymore. Bucky wants to hand back the shield, claiming he never wanted it, but damn does he represent well. The storyline after this is focused on the crazy Steve clone and his mission to save his "country" by causing chaos and killing people because...fear motivates like no other.

I really did enjoy the first issue a lot. Watching Bucky and Steve try to figure out their lives is both captivating and slightly sad. I also enjoyed the start of the 2nd arc, as it was both fun and reminded me of a good old cap and falcon team up stealth mission. However, the ending kind of was okay and the art, which I believe is different here, really didn't do much for me.

Saying that, this might be one of the weaker arcs in Brubaker's run but still good. Nothing ever tips into the bad. It's so refreshing to have a long run that goes from good-great-amazing often. A 3 out of 5.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid without being amazing. I'm just not finding this as enthralling as the previous issues.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

For perhaps obvious reasons, Captain America was one of the most popular superheroes who took on the Axis during World War II. In the post-war years, however, his popularity waned. He was brought back for a brief time in the '50s as a HUAC-approved "Commie smasher," but this iteration of the character proved short-lived, and he disappeared again for awhile.

When Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, and the Wasp found Cap buried in a block of ice in 1964 in "The Avengers" #4, it was explained that he had fallen from an experimental drone plane toward the end of WWII and been kept in suspended animation in the North Atlantic, while his young sidekick Bucky had crashed and died. Later, to explain the actions of the '50s Cap, a little creative retroactive continuity was used. While '40s Cap was frozen, a man made insane by the Super Soldier serum took on the mantle, and it was really him smashing all of those Commies.

Ed Brubaker has had a lot of fun with Captain America's history during his long and excellent run writing the series. He understands that from the '60s until today, the character of Captain America has mirrored America's own search for its national identity. First and foremost, Captain America is a symbol, and symbols can be appropriated by anyone with an agenda.

In the "Two Americas" storyline, Bad Cap is back, and a militia group of "real Americans" called The Watchdogs have rallied around him. Bucky, who took over the mantle of Captain America after Steve Rogers was assassinated (Rogers is back, but off doing his own thing now), infiltrates the group, along with Cap's old partner, The Falcon (one of the first mainstream black superheroes of the '70s).

The connections with the Tea Party movement are pretty obvious. There's an excellent part of the story in which Bucky poses as a regular guy trucker just in town and Sam (The Falcon) poses as a federal tax collector coming into the bar to squeeze the small business owner for more taxes. Bucky beats Sam up, throws him out, and endears himself to the locals. "Don't forget your briefcase, Obama!" one of the locals yells after Bucky throws Sam into the parking lot. Later, when the Watchdogs show up at Sam's hotel room to kidnap him, one of them uses a term for him that's represented--as all comic book curses are--with a bunch of symbols. However, unlike most comic-book curse words, there are six symbols, not four.

The first half of the story is stronger than the second, and not just because the second half devolves into a predictable showdown. All the racial specificity that identified the Watchdogs as a particular kind of homegrown terrorist is jettisoned, and there's even a black member of the Watchdogs who guards Sam after he's captured. (It's almost as if Brubaker received an edict from his editor.)

Still, Brubaker is a fantastic comic-book storyteller, and his run on Captain America has been one of the best mainstream comic books of the past 10 years. Many reviewers seem to think his work on the title is slipping, but I think he's still doing a fantastic job. Captain America is a title I look forward to reading every month.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This came out only 15 years ago, but the two Americas he describes were much longer in the making. I clock the start around the end of the Vietnam War when there was a general realization that the US government had gone down a wrong path. Trust in government had eroded, primarily among the white trash segment of the population, but also among the wealthy hippy types and the up and coming tech bros. Throw in the rude celebration of wealth and money-making that arose in the 1980s, and an ever widening gap in economic possibility. Rather than view this widening wage and wealth gap as a problem, wealthy Republicans and their well-remunerated mouthpieces cynically chose to attack liberal cultural initiatives to distract voters. Meanwhile, the process of US domestic industry being hollowed out by Wall Street and private equity continued. Conservative voters ignored the problems their own politicians had helped cause, while blaming everyone and everything but their own policies. Democrats hopped on that band wagon in the 1990s, with Clinton approving the big business backed NAFTA. (Some of the generation of conservative voters who grew up then are on this very site, claiming that America was/is broken. I don’t disagree with the fact that America has serious problems, only the cause.) And now so-called “Republicans” have gone full RETARD, kissing the Kremlin’s big fat A. You never go full retard.

*** Original review ***

Yep. Excellent story.
I am a fan.
I have made Cap’s shield out of metal and leather and it looks pretty good.

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steve Rogers is back but he goes on sabbatical with Sharon Carter. So Bucky is still Cap. He and Falcon are on the trail of another Captain America - the imposter from the 50s.

America is in some political turmoil as some people don't want to pay taxes... so they put on Stormtrooper-esque armour and team up with bad Captain America to go blow some things up. It doesn't really make too much sense.

What makes less sense is Bucky's plan to infiltrate Cap's base by himself.

This feels like Brubaker on cruise control.

Then the bad Cap's plan is revealed - he's gonna blow up Hoover Dam! Bucky goes and punches his face and then shoots him off the dam. His body is not recovered...

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though Steve Rogers is back, we get to see Bucky a Cap a little big longer, with the Falcon along for the ride. The pair encounter a militia led by "Bad Evil 50s Cap" who are attempting to blow up...well, that would be telling.

The art is really good in this one, and overall this was a strong volume since I find the Evil 50s Cap pretty interesting as a character.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the single issues were first published writer Ed Brubaker caught a lot of flak. Some accused him of having it out for the Tea Party with this storyline. Read the story, and the actual analysis of the Tea Party, much closer. This is a story about a man awakened from suspended animation who wants a return to the 1950s America, he fears and cannot handle change which addresses much of the Tea Party's issues (white males formerly in power having difficulty adjusting to change). Well done, fairly intelligent action yarn without hitting the reader over the head with politics.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing is the best way to describe what this book did for me I can't put a finger on why exactly - giving Tea Party softheads that much airtime, maybe, or the lack of historical threading between the current battles and all that came before it. A "Fake Cap" was interesting once, but tedious twice.

[Brandt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps I've now come to expect a little too much from Ed Brubaker's Captain America.

Perhaps I should have expected this. Brubaker's run from Winter Soldier / Red Menace / Death of Captain America is one of the all time great runs in comic history, lasting almost four years. And once you "kill" Captain America, where do you go from there? Of course, you have to bring him back, as Brubaker did in a somewhat convoluted manner in Reborn and then of course you have to deal with the fact that you have multiple Captain Americas. Of course, that's what the "Who Will Wield the Shield" special does at the beginning of this collection, at which point there is a pivot--even though there is now just one Captain America, we've conveniently forgotten about another Captain America who was part of the Red Skull's plot in that legendary early part of Brubaker's run. This dangling subplot comes full force in this collection, bringing the "true" Captain America into conflict with the "50s" Cap.

Of course, while the title "Two Americas" can refer to the multiple Caps, there is also a commentary from Brubaker here about those who consider themselves "patriots" and what they are willing to do to push their vision of what America "should be." In this case, Brubaker is prescient--Captain America effectively has to fight a bunch of MAGA chuds who are using a fake Cap as their figurehead. Of course Brubaker wasn't being prescient--racist nationalistic anti-government dickheads have been part of the fabric of the United States since before the American Revolution (why do you think the Revolution happened anyway?) but this volume was published in comic form before Trump gave these assholes their justification to become so bold and brazen--Brubaker treats them like a fringe element with a fake Cap. Reading this collection in 2019 makes you feel like they aren't so fringe. Brubaker wrote this with the historical context of Waco, Oklahoma City and Ruby Ridge, as well as 9/11. If anything is revolutionary here it's Brubaker's focus on domestic terrorism--we are always more in danger from our fellow citizens. History has proven this.

The real issue here is that given that Steve Rogers has returned, part of the fanbase was bound to be upset by the revelation of "Who would wield the shield?" Part of the strength of the early part of Brubaker's Captain America run was that Brubaker was able to bring Bucky back in a way that didn't suck. Eventually when Steve is "assassinated" we realize that everything that Brubaker had done was to set up Bucky to be the new Cap, in the process making Bucky a really compelling character rather than a cookie cutter sidekick for Cap. But with Steve back, who do you want to wield the shield? There isn't an easy answer to that, and hopefully as I continue through this run, Brubaker can use the situation for some great storytelling. We'll see.

[Kamillah · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 stars for the special torch-passing issue, "Who will Wield the Shield" included in this volume (Cap and Buck-as-Cap walking side-by-side again...although yes...Black Widow is there too...). In one issue, Ed Brubaker, Luke Ross, and Butch Guice put together another special issue gem in this landmark Captain America run. The special issues are among my favorites, somehow communicating so clearly the grief for the sacrifices and losses that Steve and Bucky have each made and continue to make for their country and for their friendship. My favorite image from this issue is of Cap and Buck-as-Cap walking side-by-side in the slowly drifting snow with the Brooklyn Bridge visible in the background. And oh, gotta love a cameo by President Obama lol.

3 stars for this arc overall. I enjoyed it, and the creative team does an admirable job of highlighting the tension between who Bucky was, and who he's striving to be, in a world where right and wrong isn't cut so cleanly. They raise timely moral and ethical dilemmas, which can be hard to maintain with a straight face in the comic book world where a "Crazy Cap" has run amuck trying to blow up the Hoover Dam... Yeah... Lol. It won't stop me from reading more though.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who Will Wield The Shield? - back cover blurb

Well, in this adventure it's both new Cap James 'Bucky/Winter Soldier' Barnes and former 50's-era Cap William Burnside, so to speak. Crazed Burnside, disgustingly using the old identity while leading a deadly right-wing militia group in Idaho, is planning multiple bombings on U.S soil. Barnes and Sam 'Falcon' Wilson venture west on an initially undercover operation that quickly goes sour, of course. A tight and still-timely (though it's only from 2009) action story -- 3.5 stars.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steve can't quite believe Bucky is the new Cap, they're each convinced that the other should keep the shield, and Bucky heads off to Idaho with Sam to deal with 50s Cap, who now has a grassroots army. Basically solid action story, some political overtones, good Bucky/Sam story. Also, hello President Obama.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grading up because I liked the ending.

[Angel Parrish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing story line.

Also, NOT for kids. Too much language.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following Steve Rogers' return from death, Bucky Barnes prepares to lay down the shield that he took up in Steve's absence. Bucky and the Falcon then have to confront William Burnside, the insane Captain America created in the 1950s.

Going into this book it would be reasonable to assume that the two Americas mentioned in the title are Steve and Bucky, but actually the question of which of them will wield the shield is actually resolved pretty quickly and without too much drama. The main story, then, is that of Bucky and Sam Wilson tracking down so-called Bad Cap, who has fallen in with the Watchdogs domestic terrorist group.

If you're unclear who Bad Cap/William Burnside is; he was a character created to retcon the fact that the original Captain America comics continued into the 1950s and the idea of Cap being frozen in the war was a 1960s retcon itself. The retcon reveals that Burnside was surgically altered to look like Steve and was given an advanced form of super-soldier serum that made him more powerful than the original but also drove him insane. Burnside (and a fake Bucky) were then cryogenically frozen by the US Government and he was later revived in the modern era.

This book's core narrative hook, and what made me like it quite a bit, is in confronting the fact that Burnside and Bucky share certain character beats, not least that they both took on the mantle of Captain America when Steve was supposedly dead. It's therefore really engaging to see Bucky have to confront a man that is not only a dark reflection of his mentor, but also of himself. It also works really nicely to have the Falcon in the mix too because he too is a protégé of Steve Rogers and will (admittedly much later) also take up the mantle of Captain America.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Linnea · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up because of the illustration. The storyline was interesting enough (bonus for the Obama feature, ah simpler times) and from what I have heard (and that breadcrumb of a teaser trailer) it seems like Two Americas is part of the basis for the FATWS tv series *hopefully* coming soon. If that's the case I'm super excited to see how they translate it to the MCU considering just how different the previous books (and how absolutely insane and unrealistic the world is in comic book land oh my gOd) have been to the movies and how the MCU has never touched on the other Captain Americas that took Steves place when he was in the ice. I'm assuming that they won't touch on that and just create a whole new character for "bad cap" but either way, the storyline in the comic is surprisingly poignant considering everything that's been going on and I sincerely hope they will incorporate the bad cap alt-right terrorism aspect to the tv show (though it looks like they're going more in the direction of government corruption, and lord knows we got plenty of that too). And looking ahead to what's next in the series in relation to the MCU it seems like Zemo is in the next book so hopefully that will give me even more of a sneak peak of what's to come on Disney+!

Anyways, I really should get back to my regularly scheduled novel reading, we ARE nearly halfway through this month (how??), but honestly I just don't feel like it. Captain America is so much more fun!

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure this contains the issue that caused a lot of manufactured mock outrage.

See, e.g.,
http://comicsalliance.com/captain-ame...
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/...

There's nothing wrong with taking a page from the times. But I think the politics here doesn't help the story because it's pretty flat. "Some people get self-righteous and are unable to adapt to changing times and become reactionary" is a pretty standard charge. Seems like it could have been done in a single issue.

There are a couple of fun interactions between Bucky and Steve and then Bucky and Sam. But the main story felt played out and somewhat lifeless.

Oh, and there's this whole weird thing with "Bad Cap" where Bucky keeps expressing a lot of sympathy to Sam. And then mercilessly derides him to his face. So either the sympathy is fake, Bucky thinks it's a good tactic, or Bucky has some real problems. It seems more like the last one. They never do one of those "keep him off-balance!" things that justifies it. And it seems like keeping an unstable person off-balance could lead to more trouble than it's worth when the unstable person has a large bomb, so . . . .

[Jaye Berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so scared to read this because the average rating is so low?? But nah I really enjoyed this one.

Steve Rogers is back from the dead but he doesn't want to be Captain America anymore. Bucky doesn't really want to be Captain America anymore either but he doesn't want anyone else to have the shield so he stays as Cap.

When wacko evil Cap from the 50s shows up angry because things aren't like how they used to be, he wants to literally blow things up.

He ends up with all the racist right wing psychos who get way too much screentime and then don't make any sense but do those peanut brain people ever do? 💀 I thought Falcon was gonna get hate crimed, I was shaking.

But this is a really fun team up with Bucky & Falcon on a mission and I loved the entire volume was just that fast paced story. I love comics that are contained, instead of having a million other things shoved in there.

I love Bucky & Falcon so much and omfg though Falcon's light wings are cool as shit??? I'm so upset we never got those in the MCU like sure it makes no sense how those even work but THEY ARE COOL AS SHIT. 🥺

[Phobean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Y'all. I tried. I'm just not the right audience for these. I read this run out of curiosity, cause I wanted to see how Sam and Bucky Cap got on, and because I heard a rumour that Cap Cap meets Obama. Curiosity satisfied, but the reader ... not so much. I can feel real effort here, to tell a good story, a complex story but, y'all, there's some troubling use of INSANITY as a plot device that I know we'll look back on and shake our heads at. They're Arkum Asylum level, these baddies (well, maybe less charmingly goofy.) The women are largely soft-frame and sidelined, which is pretty weird since the majority of them are also superheroes. (In particular, there's a scene where Steve Rogers touches the hair of his sleeping partner that I think was supposed to be loving but creeped me out.) And finally, there's some kind of comment trying to be made about white nationals / white supremacists that never gets legs. Instead, it has inuendo and bleeped out swears. Sam, at least, makes a surprising new friend in one of the more charming moments of the story. Otherwise? **¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Brubaker Captain America run is like Pizza, in that it has a very high floor and an high ceiling. The best arcs of this run are among the most gripping modern Marvel comics stories I’ve ever read. The weaker arcs of this run are still solidly enjoyable and packed with great ideas.

Two Americas has some interesting ideas about the political divide in America that still feel relevant today, but it’s ultimately unsuccessful in exploring those ideas as much as it could. I think the character of “Bad Cap” has well worn out his welcome by now (it feels like he’s been running lose forever and I’m a little baffled by Brubaker’s obsession with him) and the WatchDogs just don’t get enough play to really feel like worthy ideological rivals to Captain America.

That said, Bucky and Sam remain an engaging duo and the book is still a fun read. I just feel like Brubaker was in a holding pattern while the post-Siege status quo was unfolding. I have a feeling the next several arcs are going to return to the heights this run has been capable of.

[Katlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I imagine that the return of Steve Rogers lead to some really dramatic promos before the release of "Who Will Wield the Shield?" But, true to both of their characters, Bucky and Steve just keep trying to give each other the shield back and forth for like 3 pages before Bucky takes it because Steve says "do it for me."

Two Americas was a solid story about Bucky dealing with 1950s Cap. I know that story is controversial because of the depictions of tea-party-like protests, but I thought those elements added weight and context to this story and why 1950s Cap would be successful in gaining a following.

[David Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I initially thought this would be a story of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes trying to decide who would be Captain America since they were both now alive and well, but that was resolved early on in this collection and we see instead Cap going head to head with an extremist group using for their cause a former Captain America (from the 1950s) who has since kind of lost his mind.

I enjoyed reading a super hero story that was not about a giant threat to all of existence or insanely overpowered characters. Brubaker does with Captain America the same thing he did so well with Daredevil, keeping him grounded and focusing on a character focused on a cause.