Civil War: Captain America

Captain America (2004) (Collected Editions) #5

by Ed Brubaker, Mike Perkins (Penciller), Lee Weeks (Illustrator)

Collects Captain America (2004) #22-24. Captain America has fallen into a clash with his government and his friends, and the people close to him are paying the price. The life of Cap's girlfriend, Agent 13, is torn apart as her superiors use her divided loyalties against her. Elsewhere, a new villain emerges; the Red Skull begins to make himself known; and the Winter Soldier again comes face-to-face with Cap. But which side will he choose?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

110 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 2, 2007

About the author

Ed Brubaker (born November 17, 1966) is an Eisner Award-winning American cartoonist and writer. He was born at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.

Brubaker is best known for his work as a comic book writer on such titles as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Fist, Catwoman, Gotham Central and Uncanny X-Men. In more recent years, he has focused solely on creator-owned titles for Image Comics, such as Fatale, Criminal, Velvet and Kill or Be Killed.

In 2016, Brubaker ventured into television, joining the writing staff of the HBO series Westworld.

Reviews

[Kemper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ed Brubaker was in the middle of his excellent run on Captain America when Civil War occurred, and you’d think he’d have had some input on it since Cap was such a key figure. However, you get the distinct impression when reading this now that Brubaker saw it merely as an annoying interruption to his story flow and just wasn’t that interested in participating.

Instead, we get some solid side tales with Sharon Carter a/k/a Agent 13 and Bucky Barnes a/k/a Winter Soldier dealing with the implications of Civil War. There’s really not all that much with Cap and his main contribution involves him taking down a Hydra base rather than fighting with Tony Stark. Brubaker seemed perfectly content to ignore the crossover and focus on laying the groundwork for the next big event on Cap’s horizon which was dying.

A reader looking for more insight into Cap’s mindset like we got with other characters like Iron Man and Spider-Man in their tie-in books might be disappointed. If you’re like me and enjoy Brubaker’s work on Captain America a lot more than Civil War then it’s kinda satisfying to see how he just kind of breezed by it here.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a interesting title since Captain America is only in 1 out of the 4 issues.

The first one with Sharon, and getting a deeper look into the character, and her love for Steve was interesting. It's a well told tale, and also the ending is building up to a big moment in Captain America's future. I also thought the Winter Solider one was pretty interesting. Get to see how much of a spy he is and a little bit more story on Nick. The Cap issue was kind of meh actually and not all that interesting. Finally, the Christmas Story with Winter Solider was great with a ending that hits hard.

I think what Brubaker does with Bucky is kind of amazing. Makes me really like this character which I usually don't. I think the way he structures this story to build towards the famous "Death of Captain America" storyline. Funny enough the weakest issue was Captain America issue. Overall, some good stuff, not amazing, but good. A 3.5 out of 5.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Distrupts the Brubaker storyline and I haven't read the Civil War comic (but have seen the movie which helped a bit with my understanding). Only Brubaker could make this work - somehow this was still very entertaining and doesn't derail his main story.

Winter Soldier: Winter Kills is the type of comic I love. The plot doesn't matter much, we get some action and a focus on fleshing out the character. Sometimes these Marvel comics just feel like one thing happening after the other with no breathing room, no time for reflection. Brubaker does a great job making these heroes feel like real people.

[Zack! Empire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but it doesn't seem to focus too much on Captain America. It's more about Sharon Carter, and Winter Solider. I wanted to read this because I wanted to see what else Cap might have been doing in the Civil War event, but instead you get Agent 13 getting a psyche evaluation, and Winter Solider talking about Christmas?
If I had to guess I would say that what was going on here is that Ed Brubaker wanted to keep working on his Cap series, but Marvel said he had to tie in to the Civil War event. So he did that in a way that kept his story going, but also tied into Civil War in the smallest way possible.
If you take away the Civil War part out of the title, this would be a much better collection. Sounds weird to say, since it's just the title, and shouldn't reflect the work itself, but the fact that it's there gives you a certain expectation that just isn't meet.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so good.

It focuses on multiple stories like what's going on with Sharon and how her personal life is clashing with her Shield life now that Cap is an outlaw and how she struggles with it and the other focusing on Steve as he tries to run and evade Shield while taking down Hydra.

But most of the story is about Bucky coming to terms with the present reality like taking down enemies on Fury's command and we follow him as he evades the civil War and the other story focusing on him on Christmas teaming with Young Avengers and thinking of times past and meeting old friends. It was such a heartful story and I loved it!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

because i knew a majority of what happened in this already, my favourite part of this was definitely the one-shot "winter soldier winter kills". bucky barnes centric and a kate bishop appearance? yes please

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, I guess I never left a review for this either.

This doesn't show a significant part of the Civil War storyline. It doesn't even show 1/4 of the storyline. It's a few issues that basically deal more with how Sharon is handling Steve's rebellion than anything else.

The last issue with Bucky and the Young Avengers is my favorite. It's also a really wonderful look at how Bucky's been coming to terms with everything he missed while he was the Winter Soldier. Namely, Toro's death and the way the world has changed in his absence. It was nice to see him interacting with the Young Avengers and their respect for him because he was basically the first real sidekick.

Not a recommend, to be honest. You can get by on the Civil War story without reading this.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just two quick points here.

First is that this arc is back to focusing on Agent 13, Nick Fury, and Bucky Barnes, instead of on Captain America -- although it is good to see Cap go rogue after having previously chided him for being so boringly lawful/good.

Second is that this trade paperback has all of four issues in it, and one of them is a barely related one-off of Bucky encountering Vision, a female Hawkeye, and some other rogue superheroes, which while interesting, didn't really have much to do with Cap. So caveat emptor, this is not a robust volume for a trade paperback.

[yeşim]

Filmden önce re-read yapayım dedim. Gerçi MCU çizgi romanla çok alakasız oluyor ama zaten film sadece bahane. Uzun zamandır re-read yapmak istiyordum

[Jim C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one more collection of side stories that relate to Marvel's Civil War. Although this says Captain America this is more like characters that are close to Captain America. This collection deals with Agent 13, Winter Soldier, and Nick Fury.

I enjoyed this collection although it did not add anything to the major story arc. The story of whether Agent 13 should be with Captain America or betray him was well done and shows how this war is affecting everything from work to one's personal life. The story of Winter Soldier and Nick Fury was fine but was incomplete. It was nice to see some information about well known villains and what they were striving for during this story arc. The highlight of this collection was the story "Winter Kills" and has nothing to do with the civil war. It is about Bucky coming to terms with his past and has two different time periods that happen on Christmas. Everything about this story was top notch including the artwork. This story alone was worth the price of this collection.

This is a good collection for the companions of Captain America. It isn't vital to the story arc but it does show how these companions are suffering as the heroes fight it out over the registration act.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this had been titled "Civil War: Winter Soldier" because then I would have expected what I actually got from this. Granted, this was still a good comic and I don't regret having read it. But it does require previous knowledge of the Civil War event (check) and context of the series (not check; I only read vol. 1 of this series a while back and never got around the the other three volumes unfortunately).

Captain America is trying to fight Red Skull during the Civil War arc, which is news to me. Agent Sharon Carter is doing SHIELD stuff and some secret stuff. Winter Soldier... He was doing something. I'm not sure what, because I read it out of context from his standpoint.

I would recommend this, but after reading the preceding Captain America titles by Brubaker (who is a good comic writer, I might add).

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

For something titled Civil War: Captain America, this is rather lacking on the Cap front. Front and centre are Bucky and Sharon Carter, with a strong dose of Fury. Cap's role is pretty incidental, really. It's good for getting the perspective of some of the most important people in Steve's life, during the Civil War event: it's interesting that neither of them are particularly on his side, despite their strong affection for him.

Also, gotta love the brief appearance of some of the Young Avengers, how they honour Bucky, and that bit where they tick him off for calling Hydra pansies.

[sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this, it wasn't mind blowing or anything and i knew most of what happened in this but I'm still glad i read it. I like Sharon and enjoyed seeing more of her arc and her relationship with Cap as i haven't read much of that before.

The winter kills one-shot was probably my favourite part, i really enjoyed seeing Bucky and Kate (two of my favourite characters in the marvel universe) interact it was very awesome.

Not sure how many of these Civil War arcs I'm going to read, I'm enjoying them so far though!

[Javier Muñoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paradójicamente lo mejor de este tomo es lo que no tiene relación con civil war, la primera parte del tomo que desarrolla una trama en la que aparecen el soldado de invierno, craneo rojo, pecado y calavera y un par de historias del final... Lo peor los tie-ins de Civil War, que lo único que hacen es repetir machaconamente lo que se ha venido contando en el evento en sí y en los demás tie-ins.

En todo caso son buenos cómics, buenas historias y buenos dibujos, es uno de estos cómics que se leen muy rápido, son muchas páginas pero en un par de sesiones me lo terminé.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was 3 separate stories. The Winter Soldier one was tbe best the others were pretty meh. Wasnt overly fond of this short event.

[Jaye Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happy 4th of july, Captain America really says fuck the government and politicians in particular.

This was actually pretty good for being all part of an event that I haven't read much of and thus have barely any context. I really considered reading Civil War, truly. But when I looked it up and it was almost 100 issues, a lot with characters I don't even care about??? Immediately no. I know a lot about the storyline tbh because it does follow the movies... mostly.

This volume follows a couple characters during this event, like how Sharon is dealing with being in love with Steve Rogers but also how that gets in the way of her work at SHIELD. Then we have the Winter Soldier still working on getting over his past and working with Fury. Meanwhile Cap is struggling and trying to stop the fighting.

I may be biased but a lot of this follows Bucky and he is my love so I didn't really need much else. There is a really nice issue in here where Bucky ends up teaming up with the Young Avengers on a mission on Christmas Eve. I didn't need any of the other issues in here because that story alone was five stars for me. The melancholy at Christmas, remembering everything that you've lost? Shit hits.

There are a lot of conversations in here about the Registration Act and a lot of it was just back and forth about how it was bad but I really like the dialogue. Like is that weird to say??? I noticed in the last volume but the way conversations play out is so natural but so intense. I cannot even explain myself but yes I really like this writer and how he does his writing.

[Sookie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every comic in this collection is a reflective piece and serves loosely as a premonition. Sharon Carter/Agent 13 reflects on her role as an agent, as a lover , supporter of Registration Act and as a soldier. Her monologue during her psych evaluation screams "chaos" and its seen in the end panel why.

Nick Fury and Winter Soldier team up to investigate further complexities this civil war has brought upon the world of superheroes and espionage. It was good to see them together working on a common goal. Both are exemplary spies and men brimming with secrets. Their camaraderie is interesting, Fury's paranoia is justified.

Steve Rogers has a moral code that reflects the sentimentality and ideological foundation the country was built on. His passion brings him to his knees but it doesn't stop him. He becomes a rebel for not agreeing with what government wants by quoting the need for privacy and protecting loved ones. This is repetition of what he has said earlier to other characters but for the first time to Sharon, his lover. His trust in her is absolute and unwavering. His passion is killing him from the inside; he has lost some of his friends, alienated best friends and has unfortunately inspired wrong set of people to commit crime in his name and the side of the argument he represents.

Bucky/Winter Soldier reminisces the last Christmas even he spent as just Bucky Barnes along with his friends Toro, Rogers and Namor. What seems like a pointless story in this collection with bunch of new avengers taking down a HYDRA base, gives a glimpse of Bucky as a potential leader and the future that awaits for him. He mourns for a man who once was Bucky - as a friend and as someone who shaped "Bucky - Captain America's side kick". He doesn't fully understand the expectations that come from a role that has been already performed flawlessly by a different person. This piece is again a reminder of the things that were about to change.

This is a good buffering volume. Can be skipped but still makes a good read.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good comic, but I thought it would have more of what happened to Captain America during the Civil War. It was nice to see Bucky, Nick Fury, Sharon Carter, and Steve again. Quite good.

[Raül · Rating 4 out of 5]

Calavera i Pecat, un sicari i la filla de Crani Roig, respectivament, prendran protagonisme en aquesta història al voler venjar la mort del malvat geni nazi.

El Capità Amèrica, amb l'ajuda dels superherois britànics Union Jack i Spitfire, seguiran els passos del General Lukin a Londres, amb la missió afegida de trobar al Soldat d'Hivern.

Maria Hill persegueix al Capità Amèrica dins l’esdeveniment Civil War. Crani Roig mou els fils i apareixen també personatges com Dr. Doom, Nick Fury o Bucky Burns.

Con en el volum anterior, l’acció i l’espionatge internacional estil SHIELD es combinen amb històries que revisiten o descobreixen parts del passat del Capità Amèrica, Bucky Burns i els Invasors.

Destacables també les històries «Secretos de hierro y fuego», amb la participació de diversos dibuixants com Javier Pulido, Marcos Martín i Mike Perkins; «Sangre roja, blanca y azul», vampirs a les trinxeres de la Segina Guerra Mundial; i "Civil War: balas de guerra», guionitzada per Christos N. Gage enlloc de Brubaker, que enfronta dialècticament al Capità Amèrica i Iron Man, cadascú en un bàndol d’aquesta guerra civil superheroica.

Encara que per les pàgines passen diferents dibuixants, es manté la qualitat i un estil homogeni.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edition combines "The Drums of War" and "Winter Kills." Back when I was reading Marvel Civil War—after it had concluded, I borrowed it from a friend who had the entire saga in e-book form—I picked my way through the threads I thought would be most interesting but got pretty fatigued with it toward the end. I read Fallen Son, but I either skipped this chapter or skimmed through it quickly enough that I didn’t remember reading it. After getting hooked on the MCU version of the Captain America story and reading some other Brubaker, I decided that I needed my own paper copy of this chapter of the story.
These are pretty good stories. They’re more about the reactions of people close to Cap to the Civil War situation, and only one section is actually from Cap’s own point of view; but that works okay. Steve and Sharon Carter/Agent 13 have an interesting discussion about the superhero registration law (at times quoting Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine at each other) and including this cool bit:

Sharon: …rule of law is what this country is founded on.
Steve: No…it was founded on breaking the law because the law was wrong.

It’s interesting to see more about this version of Sharon—and to find out how she was being manipulated. But I will always find the graphic novel version of Red Skull silly. I don’t care for Doctor Doom or the graphic novel version of Arnim Zola (so weird), either. The movie version of the conflicts works better than this one which includes Red Skull’s, Doom’s and Zola’s interference.
The Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes parts of the story, including the flashbacks to WWII, are good. He’s such a tortured soul. Namor’s grumpiness provides some welcome levity.

Namor: Enough of these pleasantries. And if you attempt to give me a criss-mass present, I will break your arms.
Bucky: I swear, I’m only packing heat.
Namor: Then I’m not unhappy that you’re not dead.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entretenido complemento a la Guerra Civil Marveliana y buen aporte al Capi bruberkiano. No me pareció particularmente atrapante pero tiene varios elementos frikis que la vuelven disfrutable, como la cuestión de los Nick Furias robot o el accionar del ya redimido Bucky (que se ve que se curó del todo en el #3 que me salteé). En el rubro dibujantes, todos de buenos para arriba. El capítulo final, a cargo de Gene Colan, quizás está poco logrado, pero se le perdona al jovie por currículum (y porque en ese entonces ya estaba medio patrás). A ver si en la próxima tanda llega la muerte así estoy un cacho más al día. Y ya que estamos, a ver cuándo me pongo al día con las reseñas, que en este último mes y pico ya leí como 30 más que aun no reseñé...

[Luke Zwanziger · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I feel that this story is cohesive within both the Civil War and Captain America series, I didn't feel like it lived up to its full potential.

It is a fun espionage styled story, with perhaps more depth than one might expect from a tie-in. But I like to keep the bar high, and this didn't quite satisfy. A nice read and better than some of the other tie-ins for sure. Good to read in the climax to Cap's Death though.

[Искра · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of the emotions.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, solid read thanks to Ed Brubaker's writing. Fills in gaps in background story, but not critical to read to appreciate Civil War.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cap is the epitome of i have to go to work while my friend group crumbles around me

[abi · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5


The Epilogue for this was so sad :(

[Alan Castree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really nice to read such a coherent run of a comic. Civil War did make things a little “jumpy” in the narrative, but definitely more streamlined with its own title’s narrative than the other tie-in’s I’ve read. Now to finally get back to volume 6 in this run, the comic I started a bit soon. Glad I went back to catch up!

[Jeff Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a bit over the Marvel Civil War event at this point. It seemed like Brubaker was too. The Civil War seems to interrupt the flow of his great arc. These stories seemed sort of half hearted.

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that reading this alone out of the whole series doesn't give you the entire picture. I feel like I have some holes in my understanding. I am hoping my library has all or most of these. I like the idea of presenting the situation through the eyes of various characters in the Marvel world. Each one would have a different vantage point based on their worldview and life experiences.

It's not a big surprise that Captain America and Iron Man come out on different sides of the issue. However, Captain America stands against the Superhero Registration out of sheer belief that it is wrong and it goes against the principles of a free society. As a true patriot, he is willing to fight for the rights of others. Iron Man doesn't have a POV in this story, so it's hard to argue his viewpoint, but I believe in his own way, he thinks he's doing the right thing as well. That's the anguish of the situation, that there are good people on both sides, although the baddies like HYDRA and Dr. Doom are going to use the discord to advance their own agendas.

The Winter Soldier has a big role in this book, as well as some protegees of well known superheroes, such as the next Hawkeye, Kate Bishop. Even Namor, who fought with Cap back in WWII shows up. It was neat to read more about TWS after seeing the excellent movie a couple of months prior to this. I hadn't even heard of him until the movie came out and from watching Marvel's Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

The artwork is lovely and the writing touches on the emotional battlefield that Captain and others around him face. Civil War is an apt title for this series, because we are seeing the Marvel heroes well and truly divided.