Up for review: Captain America: White #0

Together, Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale have created some of the most memorable comics of the last decade, including Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory, and their Marvel “colour” books which explore the origins of characters such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Hulk. The pair also work together on the hit TV show Heroes. So, when this new project was announced, reuniting the pair, to say that expectations were high would be an understatement.

Did this #0 issue of the series meet those expectations. Not really, no… the story is essentially the origin of Bucky, Captain America’s child sidekick during the second world war. The story was ridiculously simple, and had plot holes so big in it that you could drive a tank through them. It kicks off with Steve Rogers and James Barnes watching a government issued movie of Captain America in action. James talks at length about how cool Cap is on the way back to the army barracks where they are stationed. The two say their good-nights, but James forgets something, comes back in, and sees Steve changing into the Cap outfit. For some reason he runs away, thinking that Cap would hurt him for finding out. He then tells Cap he won’t tell anyone if he makes him his sidekick. Cap decides to train him, in an delicious 80s style montage sequence. Cap then makes a quick call to the President, who likes the idea of sending a child to war. Bucky gets a mask on, and they go off to fight crime.

It seemed very convenient that he discovered Steve was Cap, right after they watched a movie about Cap, and James had just talked about how cool it would be to meet him. Why James would run away is a mystery, he just spent ages talking about how great Cap is, why would he be afraid he’d be mad at him for finding out his secret identity? I love the way Cap can just call the President and says “Hey, I have this kid with no powers, and minimal training that I would like to take to the front lines, that OK with you?”. The President’s reasoning for letting him do this was even more silly, he thought it would encourage kids to join the Army right out of school. Hmmmmm……

Jeff Loeb used to be a really good writer, but ever since he started out on Batman/Superman his quality has been slipping. Hulk seems to have lost its momentum already, and I have heard terrible things about Ultimates 3. I was hoping that teaming up with Tim Sale again would reignite the creative spark within him, but alas, no.

Tim Sale’s artwork on the issue was very nice, but it is no way comparable to much of the other stuff he has done recently. It seems a little more rough around the edges, and rushed to be honest.

I might still check out the #1 issue, but this didn’t really impress me, especially since the main story was shorter than normal, and the issue was packed out with interviews in the back.

Grade: 5 out of 10 - I’ll probably give #1 a chance, as this was only really the prologue

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