All-New Captain America #6

Writer – Rick Remender
Artist – Stuart Immonen
Inker – Wade Von Grawbadger
Colours – Marte Gracia

After Cap’s devastating loss last issue, he is more determined than ever to stop Baron Blood and bring Zemo and his plans crashing down around his ears.  Rick Remender’s latest epic involving the legendary hero comes to a close as we see a hero rise and a hero fall and the villains being as bad as they can be.  This issue also reveals the identity of the traitor and it is not anyone that anybody would have expected and as such, is quite shocking.  Remender also closes the book on Sam Wilson’s first outing as Captain America and while Sam is not the same man as Steve Rogers, he is definitely just as interesting.  We have gotten more backstory and history about Sam then we have ever seen before and it is good to see the man get a little characterization after so many years of just being on the sideline with little-to-no exploration of his life.  Many of these moments are interspersed with the action of the book as they relate to what is going on, specifically what Zemo has planned for the world.  There is a fantastic battle between Ian Rogers, the new Nomad, and Baron Zemo with a similar fight taking place between Cap and Baron Blood and if both fail, the world is doomed.  It is to be expected that our heroes get the win, and they do, but it is not without cost and while it is somewhat sad and a little mysterious, the death that took place in the last issue turns out to not be so permanent but may make things pretty intriguing going forward.  And then there is that big mystery about the traitor that Remender introduced early on in the series.  It was a big to-do, with a proclamation stating that there was a person or persons on every major team who was secretly a mole.  Who it was had never been revealed and it almost seemed like that little plot point had been forgotten, but thankfully it was not and it leaves a lot of unanswered questions for fans to mull over.  Action-packed, exciting and with some fantastic artwork from Stuart Immonen to push it over the top, the All-New Captain America will hopefully be around for some time to come.

4.5 out of 5

Hellbreak #2

Writer – Cullen Bunn
Artist – Brian Churilla
Colours – Dave Stewart

The members of Project Kerberos have another case on their hands, this time to go down to a hell-realm that has not yet been explored.  With new territory come new dangers of course and our team, no matter how prepared, will never be ready enough to face all the levels and threats that Hell has to offer. Like an action-blockbuster right from the big screen mixed with elements of faith and horror, Cullen Bunn and Brian Churilla have created a book that not only reads well, but looks good too, like it had just been ripped from the big screen.  The great thing about this book is that it can go anywhere in any direction and do anything as the concept is so big.  The premise of this issue is somewhat the same as the last with little differences here and there involving a possessed man but that is exactly what this team has been assembled for – to rescue those that need it from the depths of Hell, or at least some version of it.  What is going to give the most enjoyment going forward is the exploration that the team does of these various hells.  It will be interesting to see just how creative Bunn and Churilla can get, and if they can manage to scare the reader on an ongoing basis, or at the very least creep them out. The realm the team finds themselves in now, dubbed Meramec does not seem all that bad except for the dead children and the acid-excreting, giant snail-things.  At least for now.  As we are left on a cliff-hanger, our creators promise more and so far, they have not let us down with this most excellent series.

4 out of 5