Captain America: Symbol of Truth #2 is written by Tochi Oyenbuchi, illustrated by R.B. Silva, colored by Jesus Arbutov, and lettered by VC’s Joe Caramagna. It’s published by Marvel Comics. Part 2 of “Homeland” deals with the fallout of Sam Wilson stopping a group of smugglers from trafficking a caravan of human prisoners – which includes Luisa, the cousin of Sam’s partner Joaquin Torres. Wilson follows a new lead that takes him to the nation of Latveria and into the path of Deadpool! Meanwhile, the White Wolf continues to lay out his mysterious master plan, which involves his home nation of Wakanda.
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Toyenbuchi’s written Symbol of Truth as a tightly-paced spy thriller in the vein of Ed Brubaker’s run on Captain America, and it’s working like gangbusters. Not only does the series deal with political themes including immigration and arms dealing, but it features action sequences that wouldn’t be out of place in a spy franchise like Mission: Impossible or Splinter Cell. The only difference is that instead of guns and grenades, the main characters possess an indestructible shield and a pair of katanas respectively.
I also remain amazed that Toyenbuchi managed to write Deadpool in a way that’s entertaining, rather than annoying. The Merc without a Mouth is a tricky character to write for; yes he’s hilarious and violent and off the wall, but overdo it and you’ll lose the audience. In the same vein as his current appearance in Wolverine, Deadpool serves as the straight man to Sam and even helps him find a lead on the smugglers he’s been tracking. Other writers would do well to study how Deadpool is currently being used and apply that to his future appearances.
Silva throws a wealth of obstacles at Sam and Deadpool, which makes it difficult for the two to escape Latveria – but gives the action sequences the necessary injection of intrigue and danger. The two are shown mowing down waves of armored Latverian soldiers, then working together to overcome an armored tank that looks like it walked off the set of Metal Gear Solid, and finally hijacking a helicopter. Joaquin gets his own action sequence, as he fights off a legion of soldiers to save Luisa. The color art from Aburtov gives each character their own distinct color scheme: blue and white for Sam, dark red for Deadpool, and emerald green for Joaquin. And of course there’s the yellow filter applied to Caramagna’s word balloons whenever Deadpool speaks – because is it really Deadpool if he doesn’t have the yellow word balloons?
Captain America: Symbol of Truth #2 continues the series’ political thriller approach and has Sam Wilson joining forces with Deadpool in the process. With the next issue featuring an appearance from Doctor Doom himself, it looks like Sam Wilson’s return to the mantle of Captain America will be full of challenges. I definitely recommend picking up this series if you enjoyed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier or are looking to get into Captain America’s comics – or both!
Captain America: Symbol of Truth #2 is available wherever comics are sold.
TL;DR
Captain America: Symbol of Truth #2 continues the series’ political thriller approach and has Sam Wilson joining forces with Deadpool in the process. With the next issue featuring an appearance from Doctor Doom himself, it looks like Sam Wilson’s return to the mantle of Captain America will be full of challenges.
