Captain America Epic Collection: Justice Is Served (Captain America (1968-1996) Book 13)

The latest Captain America volume to hit the Epic Collection line covers material from 1986 and 1987 (with a few introductory pages from 1985, as we'll discuss in a sec) and follows on directly to the already-available Society of Serpents volume, with Mark Gruenwald's able pen continuing the adventures of the star-spangled Avenger. However, this one starts a little differently to other Epics we've seen.Throughout 1985, in the pages of a whole bunch of different comic titles, readers had seen a mysterious figure, the Scourge of the Underworld, gun down a whole array of minor and has-been supervillains. All those pages, and a John Byrne issue of Marvel Fanfare also featuring Scourge (although starring the Hulk) are collected at the front of this book so that readers don't have to miss a thing as the storyline reaches a climax in the pages of Cap's own book. It's a nice touch, and much appreciated.Apart from the big Scourge plotline, this era sees Steve searching for a place in the modern world, taking to the roads in a customised van to take his particular breed of patriotic justice to the whole nation. There are some fun stories, including a tussle with Flag-Smasher that leads Cap to take an action that haunts the book for months afterwards, an annual team-up with Wolverine and a mission with old buddy Nomad, but it's when rival Super-Patriot turns up that the book really takes off. Faced with a louder, brasher, stronger patriotic hero, Cap has to examine whether he's still the right man for the job.Gruenwald really had a knack for getting to the heart of the character, as we see Cap's soul laid bare and examine just why he is a rather unique hero. It all leads up to a dramatic cliffhanger at the end of the volume, but before then we still have the introduction of wacky sidekick D-Man, an absolutely wonderful story with Frog-Man of all people, and a trip to the late Red Skull's haunted house.Art is largely by Paul Neary, who I found solid enough but somewhat spectacular, but there is some wonderful work by Mike Zeck and Kerry Gammill in a few of the issues. Overall, though, I definitely felt like the writing overcame any shortcomings in the art.Extras are fairly restrained this time round, or at least they are if you don't count all the Scourge pages from the start of the volume. We have a couple of letters-page excerpts that helpfully give the first appearances of all the dead villains, a Marvel Age page featuring Baron Zemo, two pages of Fred Hembeck comic strip, a house ad for the Scourge storyline, original art by Neary and Zeck, and a selection of covers from trades that collected some of the stories here.Definitely an interesting period in Cap's life, with some reasonably deep discussion on what it means to be a hero, patriotism, killing, and government oversight. If that makes the book sound heavy, far from it - there's still plenty of derring-do, just with a nice layer of heart.

Bargin price, book was in great condition. Very quick delivery !