Both artists bring some great imagery to their stories. Leonard Kirk has a great eye for a story grounded in dark intensity. Michael Cho brings a classic sensibility to the art in the second story and the style of the art and its characters has a timeless quality. Read Full Review

Another meaningful entry that not only takes time to dissect Steve's character, but that of Sharon Carter as well, proving Coates mastery of this part of the Marvel Universe. Read Full Review

The current volume of Captain America reaches its twenty-fifth issue with a stylish pair of stories that aim to challenge their characters' relationships with momentous events in their lives. While Cap revisits his friend's struggles to carve out a positive life in the United States, Sharon revisits the impact of constant war on Peggy Carter's life and how it molded both her own and Alexa's present. Streamlined portraits and block shadows dominate both Cho and Kirk's artwork, lending a sleek sensibility to Falcone and Coates' scripts. Captain America #25 balances taut action with a strong inner voice to produce an understated but impactful comic book. Read Full Review

Coates has done wonders developing Sharon's character and through the Daughters of Liberty, he has done more for Peggy Carter's character than any modern writer. His run continues to be intriguing and politically conscious, though one often wonders when Steve himself will get his day in the sun as well. In that respect, it's certainly the outlier in the various Captain America runs, though that's hardly a bad thing. Read Full Review

Captain America #25 is another magazine where we see Sharon Carter narrating and starring. And that is tremendously good. Anyone who doesn't understand what Coates is doing is probably thinking that this is the worst Captain America magazine.

But all the men who innovated something were severely criticized. Coates is not writing an action comic. He's writing a novel, a real book with drawings. And he is also giving protagonists a lead role, something that, if it didn't happen in a Captain's magazine, would probably not sell well as solo. Not if these characters didn't get married from where to start. And yet, this is still about Captain America. And what is Captain America about? About all of us.

For those who did not understand the magazine, we are dealing with a Captain America who does not know what to do in the face of the destruction of his image. Before, it was enough for the world if Captain America just solve a crime, express yourself with the people... but how people need more. And that’s why Captain America needs the help of the love of his life, Sharon, his friends, the Daughters of Liberty, and all the support he can, because Dream cannot die.

Whoever understood this, is in love. And that’s why Captain America #25 deserves a great score. For the opportunity you give to the Captain and everyone else. For the dynamics it brought to the magazines again after the very narrative narrative. For showing that sometimes, even Captain America needs help, like any other human being. Nor did art get in the way of this day.

And about Cho's work... what can I say? for those who were looking for the return of Captain America's protagonism it was a full plate. Not just a full plate, it was the best and most necessary story we had in the decade.

Captain America speaks at the funeral of a friend (unknown to us until then), an immigrant he met in a cafe a long time ago. This man was like Steve, a person who was trying to find his place in a new country that was not known to him (in the case of Steve, after the freeze.) And in this parallel, we could see what the Captain fights for, with all the words.

The Captain reinforces that he doesn't fight for a country, a president or a flag, but for the Dream. He mentions that the founding fathers of the country (USA) were imperfect people in an imperfect time, but that their ideas are worth fighting for. He makes it clear that he fights for those who have never stopped fighting for the Dream to honor them. He fights for freedom of speech, religion, thought, and a better world for everyone.

Thus, we were able to see the Captain express everything he had to say to a divided America, showing that he is there to defend everyone. And recalling the conversation that Bucky had with the Patriot (Elijah Bradley): "Captain America doesn't need to be aligned with the United States. It's the United States that needs to be aligned with Captain America."

Because Captain America isn't about Steve Rogers. It's about all those who fight and those who cannot fight, but it has a Dream. A dream of a better life and opportunities for everyone. more

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• tliscord

DDJamesB - Nov 24, 2020

Thats fine then write a novel. His storytelling overall isnt bad but its just not good for a monthly comic book in my opinion.

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The Coates story continues his run and it's... Satisfactory. It does what it sets out to do but I don't find it extremely engaging. I wish I did because I liked the last few issues, but I just didn't. I felt nothing with that ending. Nothing at all.

The second story was honestly much better. I kind of despise America in a lot of ways but by virtue of being born here, I guess I find myself caught up in that patriotic spirit at times. But never for the sake of the government, only for the people. And I think that, especially in the current awful political climate that will no doubt be overtaken by a worse one in the years and decades to come, sometimes a story about Captain America being Captain America is necessary or at least fulfilling to me as a reader. It's nothing unexpected, it's been told a thousand different ways, but it's still good to read sometimes. more

This run feels so stretched out and slow moving, I feel so disconnected from it. The second story was actually really nice, it touched my stupid cynical little heart, so this is getting a higher score than it probably otherwise would have.

And we're back to another skip worthy issue. Super corny second half

While the art has been inconsistent at best, Acuna's issue 24 being the best, Coates' focus on Sharon and the Daughters is absolutely correct, and much needed. This issue continues her soliloquy and bears down on the Daughters, and on Peggy. At first I was put off by Peggy's reboot but in the context of the Daughters I'm settling into a nice vibe here ... especially with the Carter sisters. I believe this will stand the test of time, and cannot thank Coates enough for acknowledging previous iterations by Remender and Spencer. Tidying up their threads needed to be done. Looking forward to a meeting again with James and Nat here. The Black Widow's treatment by Spencer, and the following clone saga in TOS was ... well an abomination. No doubt Nat and James remain an integral partnership, and an important theme to Captain America. Looking forward to the next issue, feeling somewhat let down that this extended issue would have been better served with more of the current plot. Falcone and Cho's piece was lovely only somewhat misplaced in an arc that written by Coates by definition remains methodical. more

The main story, eh. Its more Sharon than anything and its more of a learning issue. I really liked the back up story the best.