Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates, Review | Tagged: captain america, Comics, dc, marvel, MVL, superman

Wednesday Comics Review: Captain America 1 And Project Superman 2

Two origin stories. Both familiar characters. Both portrayed as young boys being used by the American government to fight their wars.

In Captain America And Bucky… well scrap the beginning of that title. This is Bucky Year One, in a number of ways. It's the origin of the character, both in mind and in body, and justifying how a sixteen year old boy is fighting alongside America's finest super soldier in the war against Hitler.

The Year One comparison is not just in topic either, Chris Samnee's art takes a dimmer, darker tone than we've previously scene, playing off Mazzuchelli with a loose line that takes to large blocks of ink with ease. And its too his credit that the repeated blows made by Bucky from his classmates to his army mates connect with impact that seems to belie his spindly frame.

So this is not the Bucky from the forties comics, this is a boy who has seen his fair share of hard knocks, and finds inspiration in Captain America to be the very best. And while it doesn't quite come close to exactly why the government would choose a sixteen year old boy over a fully grown soldier to partner with Cap, it does at least make it slightly less ridiculous.

It's a story about loss, anger, and finding a structure. The armed services gave that to many people and when taken away, left them with nothing. Here we see Bucky relying on it more and more for everything in his life, surrogate parents, inspiration and joy, challenge and conflict. Especially effective is the cinema treatments of Captain America both giving Bucky spirit in his training, but also raising nagging doubts at to the very point of Captain America, when Bucky is in Europe and Cap isn't.

Project Superman #2 has a very different tone. Just as Captain America And Bucky doesn't have Captain America in it, so Project Superman doesn't have Superman in it. Instead we have a very different young man.  The book is about the way a government uses people as weapons, but also recognises that governments and armies are people and that changes the equation. The motivation and the actions are the same, but Superman, or rather Superboy here, isn't regarded as the human being that Bucky is – well, of course, he isn't. In the eyes of the official bodies, he is no different than a dog, an alien dog at that. In the eyes of the general in charge (Lane, naturally) however, he is so much more. This book also gives us a glimpse into a different origin to Lois Lane, encountering the young Superman in a very different way.

There are multiple forces at work here and complexities and conflicts within those forces. But it all ends up fighting over a little, scared boy, who can melt your face with his eyes. Gene Ha brings that conflict together beautifully, beauty in the face of destrution, frailty in the face of impossible force and the beginnings of Goth Superman.

There is a difference is that Superman is forced to be this way and Bucky chooses to. But Bucky's choices we see are all the result of his life. In the end, he's as trapped as Superman, in a cage not built by his own choosing.

Flashpoint: Project Superman #2 and Captain America And Bucky #1 are both published today.

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics, London. Today at 5pm, Orbital have a Marksmen signing by Dave Elliott and Garry Leach to celebrate their new exhibition of original artwork by Leach, including Marvelman, Zirk, Judge Dredd, Transmetropolitan and The Twelve.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!