Captain America; Hail Hydra, Jonathan Maberry

"From the dark days of World War II to the Heroic Age, witness the brutal battle between Captain America and the immortal evil known as Hydra! How far back has the gruesome group been killing its way to capture the secrets of eternal life? What can Steve Rogers do to halt its sinister spread when the horrific hordes of the undead rise to stop him? Find out as award-winning horror novelist Jonathan Maberry (DOOMWAR) teams with five different artists to capture five different time periods - including Sergio Cariello (Lone Ranger), Tom Scioli (Godland), Phil Winslade (Wonder Woman), Kyle Hotz (ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST - WRAITH) and Graham Nolan (X-MEN FOREVER)! Guest-starring the Falcon, Black Panther, Nomad, Nick Fury and the Avengers! Collecting CAPTAIN AMERICA: HAIL HYDRA #1-5."







Because I've been picking up the Brubaker run of Cap stories I figured I would give this one a shot - the art looked nice and it was about Hydra, who are usually fun to see beaten up. But I definitely wasn't expecting this book to be quite so good.

Let me go further than that. This is the single best Captain America book I've read. Better than Brubaker.

It has everything you could want from a Captain America book - opening with a mission to destroy a Nazi science project reanimating the dead and continuing through the ages, from Classic Avengers, to Cap and Falcon, through the Busiek era and finally to the Heroic Age Cap. Each issue stands as a chapter in the ongoing war against Hydra and their mission to overcome death and create a new race of immortals.

It adds significantly to the Capt Mythos, positing that the Lazarus serum introduced here is what kept Cap alive alongside the Super Soldier Serum. Whilst it conveniently ignores Nick Fury's Infinity Formula, something that one would imagine would be of use to anyone gathering together materials for an elixir of youth, it ties in all sorts of great ideas, such as Thor being a target for his God blood.

But its the art that really makes it - a collection of excellent, but lesser known, artists each take the different ages and its great to see the different styles next to one another. Tom Scioli in particular draws one of the most fascinating versions of the first Avengers team I've ever seen. His art is so atypical of conventional superhero looks, yet so Kirby-esque in its design that it can look almost ridiculous - giants heads and massive smiles leave everyone looking like Puppet Master, but for some reason it works perfectly for a storyline that is all about the boundaries of science. It's made me want to hunt down more stuff by Scioli, because I absolutely love his art here, and that's a pretty fantastic thing for me to find.

If you're at all a fan of Captain America, Marvel or just great comics you need to read this.

Also Try:
Captain America: Winter Soldier, Ed Brubaker
Secret Warriors, Jonathan Hickman
Wolverine: Enemy of the State, Mark Millar