Thunderball of the Wrecking Crew steps up in Captain America No. 10
By Alex Widen
Image by Marvel Comics
This Story Walks a Tightrope, without a Net!
Ta-Nehisi Coates is doing his best to tell the umpteenth story about Captain America bring framed and make it different than the previous ones. There haven’t been too many stories where Steve was in a legitimate prison complex alongside the other dregs he fights. Coates does his best to drive home the current social trends of entrenched autocratic power going hand in hand with media conglomerates and even international criminals. He has Cap relearn the fact that there’s a drastic difference between soulless Nazis and bank robbers.
The biggest problem involve some of the figures making these speeches, as well as the recklessness of the heroes’ plans. This issue gets around the first hurdle with Thunderball, as Dr. Franklin is easily the least loathsome of the Wrecking Crew. Out of the four of them, he was always the one who fell in with a bad crowd. The latter, however, only gets worse with Invisible Woman becoming an active player in a massive super villain jailbreak. There’s bending the rules, and then there’s genuinely risking lives by liberating an “army of evil,” even for five minutes.
Image by Marvel Comics
What Will Be the Verdict When This Tale Is Said and Done?
Adam Kubert and Frank Martin continue to do a great job on art, for the most part. Many of the scenes in the prison are well staged, and he has a great take on Crossbones. Most of the fight between Steve and Wolfgang is well staged, akin to a storyboard. On the other hand, comic books are not storyboards and a reader may be reminded of How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way where Stan Lee and Sal Buscema talk about making scenes more dramatic just with some staging or camera angles.
Image by Marvel Comics
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On the one hand, Steve Rogers is going through a humbling experience which very much captures the spirit of the times. Coates has a great voice for his narration, which is always spot on. On the other hand, this arc flips is at times heavy handed with its story tropes and messaging. The story seems to be leading to Rogers thinking that the only thing dividing a hero and a villain is timing, as the legion of baddies may become allies of convenience. While this is true to an extent — more than one Avenger was a criminal when they joined — this story risks taking it too far. However, what it remains is riveting, which ultimately is the best thing a comic book run can be.