Captain America: Man Without a Country

Captain America (1968) #450-453

by Mark Waid, Ron Garney (Illustrator)

Accused of attacking a U.S. military base, C aptain America has been removed from his position and exiled from the country. Captain America has to do something to cl ear his name but first he must save the United States from a nother threat. '

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

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

Mark Waid (born March 21, 1962 in Hueytown, Alabama) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America.

Reviews

[Tom Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a different take on Captain America. I think this somewhat innovative take on the Captain America story-line is a little forced and hard to follow. Overall, I liked it.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

When secrets known only to Captain America fall into enemy hands, combined with his recent alliance with the Red Skull, the President of the United States strips Steve Rogers of his title and of his American citizenship. Allying himself with the equally disavowed former SHIELD agent Sharon Carter, Steve sets off across Europe to foil the Machinesmith and clear his name.

This is a perfectly adequate 'protagonist has to clear his name after being framed' story, no more nor less than that. We all know that Captain America isn't a traitor, so there's little for the reader to do except wait until he's eventually proven innocent.

There are two slightly more interesting elements to this book, thankfully.
The first is Sharon Carter who is still romantically drawn to Steve but ultimately discovers that she's indulging a fantasy rather than acting on any real chemistry. The second is simply that, to save the POTUS, Steve has to seek help from a very unlikely source; Doctor Doom.
However, these elements don't do enough to raise the story above the aforementioned level of 'perfectly adequate'.

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[Josh Cleverplacehölder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unremarkable story, boring villain, bland art. Disappointing being a story from Mark Waid. I will say that I appreciate the president being modeled on Bill Clinton, which is just sort of funny to see in 2024.l, especially when he exiles Cap to the UK.

[Ondra Král · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fajn námět, ale zoufale nevyužitej.

[Doyle · Rating 1 out of 5]

The begining of Waid and Garnet's "legendary run on Cap" is pretty meh. Maybe the latter half is better.

[Alex Sarll]

Not seen the new film yet (this evening, all being well), so by way of tiding me over I thought I'd try some of the Mark Waid run, because if nothing else he's generally a safe pair of hands. Alas, there are limits. The very nineties Garney art doesn't help (though he manages a few nicely kinetic action sequences), but even aside from that this reads like Waid was trying to fit in with an era and style antithetical to his strengths. The plot, such as it is, follows Cap in the aftermath of one of the previous times he was sucked dry of the super-soldier serum, with a chain of consequences obliging one of his regular abandonments of the Captain America name and costume (though this time out the poor sod doesn't even get a new alias to list alongside Nomad, the Captain, Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier et al). Noteworthy in the use of a real European country (Moldavia) as an antagonist rather than the usual Marvel options of Symkaria, Latveria &c, plus clearly showing the US President, something I thought they'd only done since Marvel fan Obama got in. Is it deliberate that William Jefferson Clinton never gets to share a panel with the sole female character?

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good gracious, so many words! Such a '90s book.