Captain America: Steve Rogers #17

   Hmm.

   I've been trying hard to be upbeat about this "Cap is a member of Hydra" storyline that has led to the Secret Empire mini-series - but it gets more difficult as the story just keeps trudging along with neither hope nor an end in sight.

   (It is going to end, right?)

   Then this issue arrives, and this is where the comic starts beating you over the head with its desire to be a political statement about the results of the last presidential election.

   Which is fine, that's the story the creative team wanted to tell, good for them - but (and maybe it's just me) I'm so tired of all the political warfare that's all over the Internet, television and other social media, and the ongoing predictions of doom and worse.

   I read comics largely for escapism, and this series is so heavy-handed and depressing that it drains any entertainment value out of the story (again, for me). And to make the story work, they have to take Cap further and further down the road of villainy - and you don't get much more super-villainous than his actions as Supreme Hydra.

   The art is terrific, but the story's been dragged out for far too long. The end can't get here fast enough for me.

Grade: C-

-------------------

Posted in: Reviews