celestialwillow's review

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fast-paced

3.0

mwren707's review

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3.0

I really enjoyed the first three volumes of Nick Spencer's Sam Wilson arc. It was political, funny, and timely.

These issues feel like they're simply treading water as the Steve Rogers story picks up steam. I'm sure that the two stories will crossover for Secret Empire, but it really felt like Sam lost a lot of steam. I'm hoping that the series picks up where volume 3 left off.

scottpm's review

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3.0

I read this as single issues.

I am somewhat disappointed here as the first issue was awesome and had the promise of a huge story. Then I read the rest and that awesome story vanished. They were solid but they didn't move the story along. I have to say I am enjoying the storytelling here more than in Steve Rogers. I wish that the transition from Steve to Sam was handled better than it was. I am imagining the possibilities that could have been if Nick Spencer wrote it instead of Reminder.

emperor_e's review

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Thank you to the person that told me I should read this book last night. That is all.

havesomeshawarma's review

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2.0

...Ugh. This was advertised as Sam's "darkest story yet," even though half the issues are one-shots with happy endings, not to mention the fact that he's hardly in them. The second star is because some of these legitimately did make me smile, but they weren't what I read the book for.

Another thing: The Misty story doesn't really seem like a superhero problem, does it? There was no immediate threat besides... Lady Stilt-Man... Really more of a police issue. Just call the cops. And then afterwards, breaking into all the perps' homes and assaulting them was probably a bad plan too, even if it felt good to read. I'm pretty sure there are no laws against what they did, at least not in real life. What she should've done is rallied the wronged parties and sued the heck out of the bad guys. There are plenty of hero lawyers who would help out. Or did Civil War kill them all?

Oh, and good job alienating your conservative audience as well as your college audience with your caricatures, Nick! That's what we want from comic books, right?

lukeisthename34's review

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1.0

Ridiculous. What is Marvel doing? They dare to say their lagging sales are due to 'diversity' within their books, then they put something like this out? You can't be shocked that this Secret Empire nonsense is a flop when you have the enemies of the black Captain America being villains like a group of uber-liberals trying to kill right-wing people screaming 'this college is not a SAFE space!' or a faux-Flag-Smasher pushing neo-liberal ideals as he kills a senator. They aren't even trying to masquerade their hatred of diversity and social awareness. What a disgrace.

tmaluck's review

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4.0

The love letter to pro wrestling is particularly well-done.

tabman678's review

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4.0

Nick Spencer writes the hell out of this title. I was skeptical to the idea of Falcon as Cap and wasn’t impressed with Remender’s volume but Nick Spencer’s run on the character has been quite good. He handles the political nature of it really well I think, because I am not in favor of brining modern politics into comics.

But he doesn’t just use this book to blast Trump he uses the politics to embody the idea of Steve Rogers as Captain America and Sam Wilson as Captain America. And he shows the contrast between the two.

He also does some great building towards Secret Empire.

The art is great and the only criticism I can muster is he summarizes in place of showing us. Though this is probably better reading issue to issue instead of a trade.

4 stars.

fishmeal's review

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2.0

Sam Wilson’s fifth volume (but it’s volume 4! Thanks, Marvel!) as Captain America has a whole lot more of what makes the first books in his story great. In Captain America: Sam Wilson: #TakeBackTheShield, Nick Spencer has added some liberal villains to provide a contrast to all of the conservative ones he’s had in the last volume.

The first liberal villain makes for a great read – Flag-Smasher is as realistic as any super-villain can be, and it’s easy to imagine him as a real life person, resorting to terrorism when he feels like his voice isn’t being heard. I love the way Sam Wilson reacts to him – Sam is truly trying to do what he thinks is best while still respecting the huge mantle he’s currently carrying.

I did think that the second liberal villain, a team of social justice warriors called The Bombshells, took the political commentary into ridiculousness. Spencer has made these characters into SJW stereotypes, featuring a “can’t even” and misuse of the trigger warning and ally concepts. I totally get what Spencer is going for here – and I know I’m part of what’s being poked at – but I don’t think any of the other villains in this series (liberal or conservative) were treated quite this disrespectfully. The Bombshells would have been more realistic and impactful if they had been toned down.

Read more of my reviews (plus cat pics!) on Her Little Book Review.

alicyaiskandar's review

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adventurous reflective
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5