Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale are back with the newest installment in their Marvel “Colors” series with Captain America: White. This mini-series sets out to examine in detail the time immediately after Cap woke up from being frozen in ice for several decades, as well as the Star-Spangled Avenger’s relationship with his teenage sidekick, Bucky. The first issue depicts that very wake-up scene from the early days of the Avengers, and the moment that Steve was told by Nick Fury that Bucky didn’t make it through the war. He then reminisces on their time working together during the height of the war. I’ll be completely honest, this is my first foray into the work of Loeb and Sale, but I’ve heard great things about their other Marvel works, so I thought I’d give this one a shot.
Loeb’s writing is interesting here. As with many good Captain America stories, there’s a significant amount of introspection from the character. Cap is the soldier out of his own time, and that is at the forefront here as he struggles to deal with waking up in a strange place surrounded by people he doesn’t know. He has a lot to think about, and it shows, particularly after he’s confronted with Bucky’s Medal of Honor and he goes into his memories. He blames himself for his sidekick not making it back, and throughout the extended flashback that is obviously a tremendous weight that he still carries on his shoulders. Loeb does a good job with the character here, making his dialogue introspective and thoughtful, without ever coming across as mopey. Honestly, my only real complaint is that it ended too quickly, but I guess that’s what issue #2 is for. Marvel also justifies the cover price of this one by including the previously published issue #0, a nice touch.
I feel like Tim Sale’s art is the real star of the issue. The style has a vague, dream-like quality to it that comes across like a memory being recalled, and also acts as a nice throwback to the art style of older Captain America comics. The other effect that it has is being reminiscent of the propaganda posters from the era of World War II, which again, just adds a nice and authentic quality to the story. Putting the Avengers in their original costumes during the opening scene was also a really nice touch. And the massive two page splash image near the middle of the issue is simply beautiful. Kudos to colorist Dave Stewart as well for putting together such a marvelous palette.
Overall, this first issue was really good, if a bit short. As nice as it was to have issue #0 tacked onto the end of the book, I think I would have preferred for an actual double sized issue #1 to get this story kicked off. That being said, I’m really looking forward to the rest of this mini-series.
The Verdict for Captain America: White #1:
4/5 – I can dig it.
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Stay nerdy, my friends.
Upcoming reviews:
Captain America: White #2
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