Captain America: Symbol of Truth, Vol. 2: Pax Mohannda

Captain America: Symbol of Truth

by Tochi Onyebuchi (Writer), Ig Guara (Illustrator), R.B. Silva (Illustrator)

What is Sam willing to sacrifice for the mantle of Captain America? Still reeling from his conflict with Wakanda, Sam is called to the international stage once again to protect a visiting politician from the African nation of Mohannda. But the White Wolf has already put the second stage of his plan into motion, with dire consequences for both Sam's closest friends and Mohannda itself! When Sam's role as Captain America prevents him from pursuing his own justice, his government contact sets him up with a surprising new partner - an old ally long thought dead. It's the return of Steve Rogers' son, Ian, A.K.A. Nomad! But will Ian's return be a blessing or a curse? And what about Sam's previous partner, the Falcon? A heartbreaking showdown is in the offing. Collecting CAPTAIN SYMBOL OF TRUTH #6-11.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Science Fiction

136 pages, Paperback

First published June 20, 2023

About the author

Tochi Onyebuchi is the author of Beasts Made of Night, its sequel Crown of Thunder, War Girls, and Riot Baby, published by Tor.com in January 2020. He has graduated from Yale University, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Columbia Law School, and L’institut d’études politiques with a Masters degree in Global Business Law.

His short fiction has appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, Omenana, Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America, and elsewhere. His non-fiction has appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Nowhere Magazine, Tor.com and the Harvard Journal of African-American Public Policy. He is the winner of the Ilube Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novel by an African and has appeared in Locus Magazine's Recommended Reading list.

Born in Massachusetts and raised in Connecticut, Tochi is a consummate New Englander, preferring the way the tree leaves turn the color of fire on I-84 to mosquitoes and being able to boil eggs on pavement. He has worked in criminal justice, the tech industry, and immigration law, and prays every day for a new album from System of a Down.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as compelling as the previous volume, particularly as I felt the art took a downward turn for the final issues, felt like they were cutting corners by displaying figures as silhouettes and using generic "Everything Is On Fire" backgrounds.


Burn baby burn.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good volume. In that last volume, the White Wolf was behind everything. He’s still at it in this book. He has killed the prime minister of the country of Mohannda so he can take over and did some nasty business to Torres Falcon. Sam is fed up and is heading straight to Mohannda to take down the White Wolf. However, the senator isn’t letting Sam go alone and has contacted the Nomad to got with him. Nomad is Steve Rogers’ son from dimension Z?? What? I need to read my Remender Captain America omnibus. Just like the last book, the art from RB Silva shines as does IG Guara’s. Great action and I love how Onyebuchi depicts Sam as a badass throughout this book. Looking forward to the next volume.

[fer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tive alguns problemas com os traços desse quadrinho. fiquei bastante parte da leitura incomodada com alguns traços do rosto do Sam que parecia que puxaram o queixo dele mt pra frente. Na ultima issue esse problema desapareceu mas me incomodou durante a maior parte da leitura.

Essa segunda parte tem bastante cenas de açao, entao é bem rapidinho de ler. A briga final do Sam com o White wolf achei bem pesada.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Closer to a 3.5 but I'll bump it to a 4. Sam has to fight White Wolf and it's a pretty great team up with Ian (Steve's son) to take him down. Entertaining throughout.

[Alex Sarll]

Opening this Captain America series with a story about black America's relationship to Africa made perfect sense, but this follow-up arc becomes more thoroughly a story set in and about Africa, which feels as puzzling as all the times Captain Britain has ended up relocated to not-Britain in one misfiring run or another. But even accepting that as a given, it does sadden me how often Marvel stories set in Africa default to civil wars; if it's not the utopian promise of Wakanda being torn down, it's attempts to build a more equitable Mohannda dissolving into revanchist apartheid and bombed hospitals. Africa's a big continent, can Marvel not find some other stories to tell in it?

[Dallas Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

While White Wolf's climax didn't feel as huge as I'd hoped, I loved seeing Sam and Joaquin pushed to the brink and how they took it!

This is a pretty great follow up for a phenomenal first volume! Some quality threading through of connecting themes and follow ups.

The art team felt like they really popped off for this!

[Dean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just a prolonged fight scene.
Colours were quite bland and uninteresting. This volume can definitely be skipped.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good conclusion to this arc. Everything builds from an assassination to a coup, and then Captain America and Nomad enter the mix. We also see some big (and horrific) changes in the new Falcon. Then we get the big showdown with the White Wolf. I enjoyed the art as well.

At this point, this series is better than Sentinel of Liberty, but we'll see if there's redemption for that title before it all wraps up.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good depiction of Sam's personality and some interesting exploration of racial issues and national sovereignty (or stubbornness). But one star deducted for the vampire-falcon business. (Poor Joaquin!)

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another great one and my god what a story tackling so many themes while continuing its bigger stories!

This hits hard on so many levels and it was just insanely good!

So the big story here is Sam protecting the PM of Mohannda but what happens when she gets assassinated on American soil while giving some speech to the UN about reparations and asking for their help, and how it affects Sam and meanwhile in her country, a civil war has started on the topic of Apartheid, and the man behind it: White wolf! This makes it so much more personal for Sam as WW in previous volume also targeted him and thus this leads to such an insane thing as he has to go to Mohannda and solve the crisis there, with the return of Nomad which was a good surprise!

I loved how the action just romps up with constant big bombastic moments happening every issue after that and like the coming of Dimension Z monsters, then Falcon/Joaquin who was injured and whats happened to him and how Sam and Ian have to fight that and the way it makes it so much more personal for Sam and when the big fight against White wolf finally happens.. its like one of the best fight scenes ever.

One of my main complaints in the last volume was missed chances of the big fight but here its pure carnage and battle and felt like a movie scene as Sam is no longer holding it back, and White wolf comes like this villain as he is and even his motivations are well defined, he is not one-dimensional and there is so much great political commentary going on here be it in regards to Apartheid or connecting it to WW's life story and the resent he harbors for Wakandans and SAM personally.

This was a good moment and really made him like Sam's arch-nemesis who pretty much destroyed whatever Sam stands for and what it means going forward.

The other supporting cast of Mohannda was good too and I love their roles here and especially one moment where one of them reminds Sam of who he is and what he represents!

It was an epic moment and truly made me love Sam even more with a fantastic ending and closing about the first year of this series and leading to "Cold war" crossover and I can't wait to read that! Just truly epic volume and I highly recommend it!!

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain America takes the fight to the White Wolf in the wartorn streets of Mohannda in an arc that puts Sam Wilson on the political stage as well as the superheroic. Add in the return of Ian Rogers and some chilling developments for the Falcon, and there's a lot going on here, and all of it's good.

I very much enjoyed this arc. It shows a lot about the White Wolf without Sam actually having to fight him one-on-one for the most part, and the effect of the battles on Mohannda feels realistic in a way that most superhero stories don't delve into too much. Ian's role in the proceedings is a nice counterpoint and keeps Sam on his toes, as well as setting the stage for Cold War.

RB Silva unfortunately doesn't get to draw the entire story, with some assistance from Ig Guara and Ze Carlos along the way, who do a decent job, but no one really comes close to Silva's visuals.

A story of many sides, dressed up in a superhero costume and thrown out into the world. Something to point at when people say 'but superheroes are silly!'.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The lesser of the two Captain America series going, but still not bad. The focus in Pax Mohannda is on relentless action, which is generally fun, if effervescent. White Wolf orchestrates an assassination that leads to a civil war in Mohannda (Wakanda's neighbor?). Sam and new buddy Nomad (True Cap's son from another dimension???) take the battle to Mohannda, and then proceed to spend five issues punching bad guys.

It's never dull, but it's also not particularly interesting. White Wolf's reason for being is never really explained, nor is Nomad's. He just shows up so he can be a plot point in the crossover Cold War volume. Energizing art helps the whole book look great as you flip through it.

Oh yeah, and Hawkguy from the previous volume becomes like...a zombie bird or something? That part is totally unexplained and, perhaps smartly, retconned within the same volume it's introduced.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do you do with the weakest supporting character of an otherwise amazing comic book?

Drug him, put him in a coma, and mutate him further....
(Can't say that I've ever really enjoyed the new Falcon character. Maybe this will change things?)
-----------
This story of people fighting for their country and their identity is a GREAT update to classic Captain America storytelling. All the 'old school' themes of Captain America get a little shine and buff. We even get the reintroduction of Ian Rogers (Steve Rogers 'son' from Dimension Z). Everything about this book just scores... so good....sooooooo...soo..so good.

Bonus: A portal to Dimension Z? That can't be good...
Bonus Bonus: Captain America: Cold War is going to be an AMAZING crossover

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Volume of Captain America does what many Volumes of this title do: find a good balance between action and politics. This time an ambassador from the African country of Mohannda (neighbor to Wakanda) is at the UN making a plea for help. The White Wolf takes this time to attack, not only killing the ambassador, but also mutating Falcon into a more animalistic form. Needing help, the government assigns him Nomad (Steve Rogers' son Ian from Dimension Z), who is pretty badass.
The rest of the Volume plays out much like you think it would, with a happy (mostly) ending. I like Sam as Cap, but I'm hoping the merge book of "Cold War" will give both of them a chance to do something that wows me.
Recommend, good book, but somewhat predictable.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was ... readable. Following the collapse of Wakanda, lots of Wakandans relocate to neighboring Mohannda so T'Challa's relative the White Wolf (as the name doesn't derive from him being a white guy, I've never felt it particularly Wakandan) is engineering a coup. Can Captain America (Sam) and his partner Falcon II save the day?
Having both Steve and Sam as Captain America (at least I think they're both Cap) doesn't work for me (I'm old and prefer one secret identity behind one mask). And Wakanda as a failed state rather than a super-cool African nation has never worked for me (again, I'm old and it's not "my" Wakanda). Like I said this was readable but it runs against my tastes.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sam mixes it up in the made up country of Mohannda in Africa. The White Wolf is behind it all to create an apartheid state. Unless I missed some White Wolf stuff that doesn't make a lot of sense. The White Wolf was raised as T'Challa's brother. Doesn't make sense to me you'd be raised in that kind of environment and become a hardcore racist. There's some uninteresting stuff with Falcon as well. I did like the return of Ian from Rick Remender's run when he became the latest Nomad after Cap raised him in Dimension Z. R.B. Silva's art is excellent. Ig Guara's is fine too.

[Allysa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loving how this run of Captain America is tackling such large issues but in a way that doesn’t feel disingenuous to the heart of Captain America. Sam has always been about doing what he can for those in need, without power. This focus on Mohannda does just that. I enjoyed the return of Nomad but felt the story for Falcon just didn’t fit with the overall storyline. Can’t wait to see the two different Captain America arcs combine in Cold War.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was weak. The few issues not done by Silva are....not as eye catching in comparison. It's readable, but it feels oddly paced and like they cut corners. Sam takes the fight to the white wolf but it's pretty surface level. Poor Falcon just gets drugged and mutated, sidelining him after a issue mandated fight scene. My lack of knowledge for the Remender Dimension Z stuff probably took away my excitement for Nomad or the related material. I started skimming a lot by the end.

[Sarospice]

3.5 I totally love the idea of two Captain Americas, and this side of the tale had lots of positives. I wish it was continuing. What it does well is give Sam a very distinct reason for being a hero, an interesting group of supporting characters, and potentially an arc enemy. Marvel never knows when it's got something good.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting machinations and conflict here, but not a lot to elevate the Sam Wilson character amongst the action. A passable way to spend some time, I only read this so I’d know what was happening when I got to the Cold War crossover.

[tammy (eskel's version) · Rating 4 out of 5]

sam wilson MY captain america>>>

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't bad, but the story is really drawn out. I think the confrontation with White Wolf didn't need quite such a lengthy build-up. The art is good.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still feeling a bit lost. I remember Ian from the Dimension Z story but nothing after that. Was it in the main Captain America titles?
Anyways, onto Cold War.

[Lara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Messy

[Benjamin Kimble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tochi Onyebuchi seems to have found a better footing with this story. Cap has to tackle political unrest caused by the White Wolf in Mohonnada. Cap works with rebels and refugees and sees what some of his actions last time lead to so he works to do better. His sidekick Falcon is put out of action at the start and that’s okay. Falcons story was going nowhere and having him out of action is okay. Without Falcon Sam needed a new sidekick, so they bring back Nomad, Ian Rogers. Ian and Sam have a far better dynamic than Sam and Joaquin. Ian is darker and helped to highlight the good that Sam can do as Cap. R. B. Silva is still a good artist and does a good job at portraying the physicality and power of all the heroes. Pretty good volume.

[Shelby Fielding · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's surprising how potent Captain America stories can be when told directly and economically. Too often heroes like Cap or SuperMan are wrongly described as boring or superficial even, when, in fact, they are two of the few types of characters that allow for a story such as this. It is a small, punchy, limited series about the fight for a rightful homeland amongst African Americans, their access to prosperity, or new beginnings. The unique pressure of black leadership from both external forces and internal and how standards are different amongst their successes and failures. Onyebuchi wrestles with all those themes amidst a highly entertaining, explosive, bonafide superhero comic with crisp if still a little underwhelming art from Ig Guara and R.B. Silva.

[Anthony Ghavami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I continue to enjoy the modern political discussions in this series.