Captain America: Patriot

[rjpb]

In a thread asking what it took to get forum members to pickup a new title, i mentioned I was a sucker for new books set in the Golden/Atom Age, so I gave the first issue of this title a chance.

The concept of the book appears to be an exploration of the history of Jeffrey Mace, known as a second tier Captain America clone The Patriot during the Golden Age, and later retconned into the 3rd Captain America (1946-49)

 

I'm not familiar with Karl Kesel or Mitch Breitweiser, though I guess Kesel wrote the fake 40s Cap newspaper strip on the web ( the art was not appealing enough for me to pick the collected version of it). I did like the look of Breitweisers art (very much like Michael Lark's), and it seemed well suited to the era.

 

While Kesel did an okay job of setting up who Jeffrey Mace is/was and his decision to become the Patriot, the rest of the book is little more than a recap of his career as the Patriot during the war and just after, with no real conflicts and his relationship with Mary Morgan (aka Lady Patriot) barely explored.

 

The first issue ends with Mace taking on the Captain America role, and hopefully this is where the story really begins, with the first issue really just preamble. I'll be disappointed if this ends up being another Marvel Project, which had no real story beyond an embellished recap of the origins of the Timely Universe.

 

As it is only a four issue series I'm on board for the art and concept alone - but hoping for stronger writing as it goes on.

[rjpb]

Nobody else is reading this?

 

I found #2 to be an improvement over #1 as the story has gained texture.

 

I'm also enjoying the references to the stories that actually appeared in GA Timely books. Given how this issue ends, I'm expecting Cap to team up with Golden Girl next issue.

[Scrooge]

Didn't even know it was coming out RJ. I must admit that aside from any appearance of the Atlas crew (Venus, M13, Gorilla-Man, ...) I am only picking up non-Marvel U books from Marvel these days: the European collections and whatever Brub puts out under Icon.

 

You said: "I'm not familiar with Karl Kesel or Mitch Breitweiser, though I guess Kesel wrote the fake 40s Cap newspaper strip on the web ( the art was not appealing enough for me to pick the collected version of it)."

 

I picked up the Kesel Cap Strip printed version and enjoyed it for what it was. The art was okay but not bad and the story sufficient for what the project was. I'd buy a second round of it if they decided to do another.