Writer – Gil Kane
Artist – Gil Kane
Inker – Wally Wood

With this fifth issue, the story of Captain Action comes to a close but it does so with a bang, with drama, with tragedy and with explosive action. Written and illustrated by Gil Kane with an assist from Wally Wood, it finds a madman looking to unleash chaos upon the city, nothing exactly new when it comes to this title but in the case of Blackwell, there is a bit of a difference. For one, Blackwell is an average man though unlike most as he has a split personality. On one hand, he is the dutiful father, a little worn down from work and from the years, but one who loves his son more than anything and on the other, he can become a terrorist looking to destroy the state, the norm and to do as much damage as possible in the process. Trying to stop him is Action Boy who is in the thick of it at first though it is not long before Captain Action also heads into the fray, the damage being caused by Blackwell paid in human lives. There is one life though, that brings it all to a stop and brings Blackwell down and that is his son Johnny who realizes what his father has become and knows that it falls to him to stop the villain and pay the ultimate price to do so. Gil Kane, who has written and drawn the last few issues outdoes himself here, both in terms of story and artwork. The story is packed with tension and heartbreak and pulls the reader along with every twist and turn until that final tragic panel while the artistry within is the best this book has seen yet. Kane must have really felt what he was writing as he lays down some truly great pencils, one sequence depicting Blackwell as his madness comes and goes through a series of headshots during a scene that ruins the man for all time. Another shows Captain Action performing a feat of strength before stumbling onto Blackwell holding the son he loved above all else, now dead through his own fault. The entire book makes for a great issue, the best in the series perhaps though it would touch little upon the rings of power, characterization or anything else of note, Kane simply telling a great story of one man on the side of good and the other evil and those who are caught in between. This might be the last book in the series but it does not feel like one and thankfully is not left on a cliffhanger like so many of those that are, thereby ending it at the very least, on perhaps the best note possible.

5 out of 5