The trade paperback for Captain America Vol. 1: Our Secret Wars hits shelves this week, and it’s an absolute no-brainer for our most anticipated trade paperback (MATP) of week 27. If you missed out on the single issues, this collection is the perfect excuse to dive in. Chip Zdarsky and Valerio Schiti bring a massive, espionage-fueled energy to this run, throwing Steve Rogers into a world completely different from the one he left behind. As Cap wakes up from his long freeze, he lands right in the middle of a modern era defined by black-ops missions, blurred moral lines, and enemies without faces. It’s fast, incredibly smart, and skips the usual predictable tropes to show a totally different side of the Star-Spangled Avenger.
A Fractured Mirror of Two Captains
The premise hooks you right from the jump. This series tweaks Marvel’s sliding timeline, picking up just a week after the Avengers pull Steve out of the ice. Instead of easing into the modern world, he immediately rejoins the military for a high-stakes mission: stopping a newly emerged Doctor Doom who just took American diplomats hostage in Latveria. Zdarsky’s script acts as a killer introduction to what makes Steve tick, painting him as a principled idealist who uses his head and prefers to de-escalate a situation rather than just throwing punches.
To balance out that classic heroism, Zdarsky introduces a brilliant, dark parallel story starring a new super-soldier named David Colton. Shaped by the fallout of 9/11 and hardened by years of deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan, Colton is the perfect cynical counterweight to Steve’s old-school optimism. When the two Captains team up for the Latverian rescue mission, their ideologies clash big time. Steve breaks off to help local freedom fighters against Doom, while Colton sticks strictly to the official military objective, viewing Steve as a relic who doesn’t understand the messy gray areas of modern warfare.
Philosophical Debates and Political Betrayals
The story really hits its stride during a long-awaited face-off between Captain America and Doctor Doom. Instead of a standard superhero brawl, the two engage in a philosophical debate that’s just as captivating as any action scene, pitting Doom’s massive ego against Steve’s quiet intensity. Meanwhile, Colton’s side-plot with the new Howling Commandos takes a tragic, dark turn into the grim realities of modern military policy.
The narrative delivers a massive gut-punch when Colton uncovers the real reason they were sent in. It turns out the American government actually backed Doom’s rise to power, and the “hostages” are just embassy workers who knew too much. The actual mission isn’t a rescue—it’s a cleanup operation to eliminate the witnesses and keep the secret buried. This total betrayal completely breaks Colton, setting off a chilling moral downward spiral that guarantees a tragic collision between the two Captains. It’s the kind of storytelling that leaves you desperate for volume two the second you finish the last page.
Valerio Schiti’s Visual Masterclass
While Zdarsky’s script is incredibly sharp, Valerio Schiti’s artwork is the real heartbeat of this book. His pencils elevate the entire story, giving every soldier and tyrant a distinct silhouette, unique posture, and incredibly expressive body language. Schiti’s soft style skips the heavy, harsh lines, relying on subtle shading to let the characters’ faces do the talking. You can actually see the transformation in Colton, moving from wide-eyed and hopeful in flashbacks to completely clenched and hardened in the present day.
Frank Martin’s muted yet vivid colors work in perfect harmony with the line art, shifting from brighter, classic tones during Steve’s heroic moments to darker, grounded hues for Colton’s trauma. Letterer Joe Caramagna rounds out the stellar presentation with sky-blue monologue boxes that blend seamlessly into the background, making sure the heavy dialogue never crowds the art. It’s a gorgeous, introspective book that values thematic depth over simple superhero spectacle, making it an easy recommendation.
Captain America Vol. 1: Our Secret Wars TP (Get the Trade)
