Captain America by Ta-Nehisi Coates vol. 4: All Die Young

Coates’ previous volume of “Captain America” was something of a mess in terms of its plot and its art.  “All Die Young” turns things around a bit as it delivers some straightforwardly satisfying superheroics.  Most of these focus on Cap and co.’s efforts to take down one of the Lukins’ inner circle:  Mutant soul-sucker Selene, who has set up shop in the town of Adamsville, Ohio, and is selling a gospel of manhood to anyone who will listen.  This leads to Cap, Bucky, and Sam going undercover to get a firsthand look at the situation while Sharon Carter and the rest of the Daughters of Liberty try to figure out how to break the literal spell she’s cast over the town.  It’s a pretty straightforward superhero story with a solidly relevant political allegory and decent art from Bob Quinn.  Fans of Sharon, however, will likely get a real kick out of the ending as she gets a major change to her status quo while putting one of Norman Osborn’s most eye-rolling gimmicks to better use.

After that, it’s back to catch up on what Alexa Lukin and her husband Alexander are up to.  Though the latter’s resurrection has brought back the Red Skull, Alexa feels that this is more of an added benefit than anything else.  This is because while Alexander may be willing to do a lot of things for power, the Skull is capable of doing the rest.  I still think that Alexander/The Red Skull’s return works as a great metaphor for fascism’s fashionable resurgence, and that gives the storyline an extra charge as Cap and friends prepare to storm the bad guys’ stronghold in Madripoor to rescue their friends.  Daniel Acuna and Leonard Kirk provide some very good art for these issues and I think they manage the talking-to-action ratio better than the main story.  The volume as a whole does feel like it puts Cap in the backseat for anything that actually drives the plot, but I only see that being a problem if it persists through the end of Coates’ next and final volume.