Writer: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Art: Bob Quinn, Matt Milla, VC’s Joe Caramagna, and Alex Ross

Price: $3.99

Release Date: November 20th, 2019

We continue to follow the trail of the mysterious cop killer The Scourge- an oldie but a goodie from the depths of Caps Rogues Gallery, only last time Scourge was killing petty criminals and general miscreants, not New York’s finest. Who (or what) is The Scourge? Let’s dive in and see what’s happening.

We open up with Wilson Fisk (that’s Mr. Mayor to you, by the way) wanting some… information on the recruits Mrs. Lukin and the Power Elite sent Mayor Fisk for his Police Force. Why? Well, Fisk seems to think it’s an inside job, and one of the very agents sent to him is doing it. You can never trust a mercenary these days! He doesn’t get anything, and Mayor Fisk and Mrs. Lukin argue in that way that rich and civilized people do… in weird veiled threats and all sorts of proper grammar.

Meanwhile, Cap and the Daughters are on the trail of the Scourge, and for out first overreaction, Cap monologues that of all the villains and ideals he’s faced, he hates this Cop Killer the most. Think about that. The Red Skull. Baron Zemo. Hydra. AIM. Baron Strucker. Thanos. Korvac. Annihilus. Carnage. Genocidal madmen, tyrants and mass murders of truly innocent people. But a… cop killer? As tragic as that is, a bad guy set on exterminating an entire galaxy (including, you would think…. cops) ranks a little higher on the list of baddies to hate. Why do you ask? Cap doesn’t even know! So for story convenience Cap really is bothered by this. Which leads us to…

Being ambushed by… US Agent who really has a mad-on for Cap. In dramatic overreaction #2, John Walker goes ballistic and blames Steve for the cops and for the whole Hydra thing. John is subdued, but Cap wonders…. could Scourge be John? No way! Scourge is an idea, not a person.

We close with Mayor examining some files. He doesn’t look very happy, and on the last panel is shot by a bazooka sniper. He’s a big guy, but that big? Remarkably the explosion is contained to only A circle of Fisk radius. Whew!

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m beginning to wonder how well Coates actually knows Cap. This issue is full of odd ideas and overreactions, and we still don’t know much about the power elite, but it’s becoming a mystery I’m rapidly losing interest in. The art was better this issue than previous, but still not enough to raise the score.