Captain America (Vol. 4) #31

Background

I am not up to speed on my Captain America, and lets face it, this is a Spider-Man fan site, and its merely a guest shot, so do you really need the backstory on this?? How about: Cap was caught by the the bad guys he was fighting last issue. Okay okay... so it was the Serpent Society, lets just get on with it.

Story 'Super Patriot'

Alright... seems Cap is chained up with a female named Diamondback (Hmm... getting captured might not be all that bad now) anyway, Cap isnt too worried about the situation he is in, because he is too concerned about acquiring late fees on the movie he rented... ah, the confidence of a Super Hero.

Cobra (I guess hes the king snake of Serpent Society) visits Cap 16 hours later intent on auctioning him off to any number of nasty fellows. Since they have to unchain and move Cap, it was just the opening he was looking for and in true Captain America style breaks free of his bonds and proceeds to kick everyone butt.

I realize I am not making this sound exciting at all, but hey, it is some good stuff so if you want the details of every panel just go buy the issue!! Alright, Cap goes back and frees Diamondback just in time for a pretty big brawl and the two make quick work of all the nearby baddies, and afterwards Cap calls in SHIELD for some clean up.

Meanwhile, a bunch of evil guys are still waiting in the sub basement... heh, guess they dont know what happened. On board a SHEILD aircraft of some sort, Fury appears to have caught some rogue SHIELD agents in the act, which must have been part of some sub plot in previous issues of Captain America.

Now we cut to Spidey, who swings to Caps apartment looking for him. Considering it was blown up last issue, Spidey easily enters through the huge hole in the wall. Discovering that Cap isnt home, he takes off for Iron Mans place. I suppose I should say here that I am not entirely sure why Spidey stopped by, but I am guessing it had to do with the Avengers Disassembled storyline and what was going on there. I did however check out some issues of Iron Man and didnt see Spidey... oh well.

Seems like things have died down for Cap and Rachel (Diamondback) who are taking a stroll down the street and pause to share a kiss. They make their way back to Caps place and Rachel invites him over considering the condition of his apartment. Cap accepts the offer after he tends to a few details. Cap surveys the damage done, makes a call for repairs and gets a message from his landlady about Paladin.

Rachel is about to prepare a dinner when she is interrupted by none other than the Red Skull. From their conversation I gather her original job was to kill Captain America but now after developing feelings for him, tells Red Skull she wont do it. The Red Skull then coldly snaps her neck, and just as he holds her there by her throat, there is a knocking at the door. Its Steve, otherwise known as Captian America!

General Comments

ARGH!! Any Marvel fan knows that Cap and Red have been going back and forth since day one, so I will probably have to check out issue 32, but as far as Spidey cameos go, its a full page one, so you Spideyfans better pick it up.

I apologize since I kinda rushed the review here, and its tough to rate a book when I only read the middle of a story, but I guess I feel like the Serpent Society wasnt much of a threat to Captain America, but then who is, and he does have enough on his plate as it is with the whole Avengers thing. Nice action in this issue though, and the ending was a helluva setup for whats coming!

Overall Rating

I might have rated it differently had I been reading the whole storyline, but then again, you wouldn't be seeing it here on a Spidey site now would ya??