What If?: Captain America #1

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• 4.0
  

  Ryan Spade

  Jan 12, 2021

  This look at an alternate reality version of Captain America who fights in the American Civil War proves to be a lackluster story that doesn't feature Captain America for most of it and doesn't impress the reader that much. The plot opens with The Watcher, here a computer hacker named Hector Espejo, telling us that he's able to access and read websites from an alternate reality. He explains that the national hero of this other reality is General America, the great-grandson of this world's Captain America, our lead character. Hector is able to access the story of this version of Steve Rogers' origin through the aforementioned website. Beginning in 1863, Corporal Stephen Rogers falls in with a regiment of soldiers tasked with going into Jackson County and destroying the towns there. Stephen is unable to comply with his orders when he witnesses the destruction and slaughter his allies bring down on the townsfolk. After getting some local children to safety, Stephen is shown the true colors of his leader and is attacked by him. Barely alive, he is able to flee and after a very short dream sequence, is rescued and taken into a camp where he is nursed back to health. It's here where he becomes Captain America. We are given a slapdash explanation of Stephen being the one to unite everyone and stop the war because of his morals and views (also because he's white and no one of any other race would be trusted if they were Captain America). Following this, our protagonist is being given his powers through a Native American Spirit imbuing them in his body. While Stephen's transformation occurs, the villain is also exposed to said transformation and becomes the White Skull. This enrages the Skull and leads to him killing multiple people in camp, before quickly being stopped by the newly minted super soldier. The narrative ends with Stephen earning the rank of Captain by the war's end, alongside telling us other differences in this world, such as the suppression of the KKK before it could expand itself and Abraham Lincoln surviving his assassination attempt. We are also told that the White Skull survived, escaped jail and formed a hate group to take over America, which still exists to this day and is still fought by Stephen's descendants. The inclusion of this version of the Watcher seems pointless since he only shows up in the beginning and ending of the issue. We are simply told that he can hack into the websites of other realities. No other explanation besides that. It would have been better to just use the normal version of Uatu the Watcher and have him narrate the issue to us. There's almost no difference between Captain America here and the one in the main continuity. The only exception is how this version gets his powers. He's still the same old Steve Rogers we're all familiar with. The only major difference here is the identity of the White Skull and it serves as an unexpected reveal towards the story's conclusion, though we don't see much of him as the Skull before Cap takes him down. The artwork here is shoddy and grimy. With the exception of the dream sequence and the Native American spirit, all of the art just looks terrible when reading. Characters look ugly and for the most part, with every expression on their face looking very unpleasant. The colors used are mostly dark with very few lighter shades being used. All of it makes the artwork feeling off and will make you want to stop reading because of the sheer hideousness on display. With poor illustrations and an uninteresting story, this What If issue doesn't deserve to be read by anyone. You can easily ignore this one and read other, better stories where things take a different turn of events. more

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