Just as the Marvel Cinematic Universe stopped for no one and one project followed another the fourth entry in the absolutely gorgeous Infinity Saga Art Book series is already hitting shelves. Focusing on the first Captain America movie, this volume takes readers back to the World War Two, to the birth of an icon, and the emergence of an organisation that would plague the MCU for decades to come.
As with the previous books, this volume opens with an introduction and dive into the characters history on the comic page. However, because Captain America is one of the oldest characters in the Marvel catalogue, and because of the era in which he was created, things go a little more in depth this time around, and we also touch upon world events; namely, World War Two. Captain America is intrinsically linked with this time in American history, and whilst certain details in Cap's life can shift and change his origin in this time period is cemented in stone, and is perhaps the only comic hero whose birth won't ever shift with moving timelines. Featuring some artwork from the time, artwork that isn't connected to Cap, but shows the patriotic wartime propaganda art of the era that would influence his creation, it's one of the more interesting character introductions in the series and I would happily read a book along these lines, delving into the creation of the character and the era in which he debuted.
After our introduction to the character on the page we make the leap to the screen, and our first chapter deals with the important aspect of bringing the character to life. Out of the heroes we've seen in this series so far Captain America is perhaps the most difficult one to do this with. Iron Man is a man in armour, and the audience will pretty much buy any kind of mechanical suit. Thor is a god from myth, so almost anything goes there. But Captain America is a soldier from one of the most well known and most documented conflicts in history. His look has to work in that area, which isn't an easy thing to do with someone wearing a red, white, and blue costume. The fact that the chapter opens with his USO show costume, the most gloriously comic accurate look for the character is the best way to start things, treating the reader to a look at the wonderfully bright and silly costume that might still be my favourite of the character in the movie.
However, this is not a combat suit, and from here we see the various design iterations for getting Cap of the stage and onto the battlefield. Making a suit that feels period accurate, isn't too ridiculous or out of place, and is still very much Captain America is a very tight line to walk, but taking inspiration from Ed Brubaker comics, or the Ultimates version of the character, we can see some very interesting designs. The book shows that unlike some of the other MCU characters it seems like Cap had a very clear path very early on, and the designs were much more focused on a single style, with slight variations in each of the ones shown here. It's still interesting to look at the tiny changes, like how much blue is on the sides of his helmet, and see how even that changes the entire flavour of the costume.
Whilst Cap seems to have been easier for the team to get to a final design on his nemesis, Red Skull definitely has some more varied and shocking designs, and the next chapter deals with him in depth. Much like the film, the chapter opens not with Red Skull, but with his mission, and we get looks at his quest to retrieve the Cosmic Cube and the ancient church his troops assault. With this being a location we only see briefly, and at night, in the film it's great to see more of it here and to learn more of the design process that was involved. But, following this we look at the man himself. Some of the alternate costume designs for him are fantastic, and veer away from the more traditional Nazi look whilst still evoking that feel. But it's the designs for the face that are the showstopper here. Whilst the film went for a very smooth, almost clean look to him some of the rejected designs were much darker and horrific in their ideas, featuring lipless teeth, scarring, missing chunks of flesh, and bone showing in certain places. It's a shame the film didn't go a little more along this route, as it' certainly would have made the character stand out a lot more.
A large section of the book goes into Hydra, looking at the armour and weapons they use. Again, like Cap's suit this section seems to be having to juggle the realism of the era with the absurdity of concept of weapons powered by alien tech; but as with Caps suit the filmmakers seemed to have a pretty clear idea of what they wanted to begin with and stuck pretty close to that theme. Whilst that part of the book doesn't offer a huge variety in design, it does give you a closer look at things you might only have briefly seen in the movie.
The rest of the book is divided between other, more grounded character designs, and location and tech used in the film. It seems like having settled on the designs for Cap and Red Skull the rest took their ques from this, and these designs mirror those feels well. The allied forces and Hydra also have pretty distinct looks and feels to them, and whilst they're very different they work well together, with the Allies having a much more grounded, real world flavour to them over Hydra's more fantastical side. These elements are reflected in every aspect of the rest of the book, with the heroes vehicles, weapons, and bases being a slightly heightened version of our own history, with locations that could be used in a historical piece. Meanwhile, Hydra has ridiculous cars, mountain bases straight out of a pulp story, and vehicles that make you cock your eyebrow as they push the line into being too silly an inclusion. The result is great on the screen, and the book showcases this all wonderfully, and helps to highlight just how stark these differences are.
Captain America: The First Avenger was definitely something of a gamble for the still relatively young MCU. It was taking viewers back in time, and trying to make something that straddled the line between realistic and recognisable, with the world of the comics. And whilst you can argue that perhaps it wasn't perfect, that it didn't embrace its source material as much as some of the movies that would come later, it still did an incredible job at marrying these things together. And this book showcases how a lot of that came from the visual design of the movie. Everything from costumes, to sets, vehicles, and weapons, all of it was carefully chosen, specifically designed, and made with a very careful attention to detail; and those that love seeing this kind of process, and enjoy understanding more about how these characters make the leap from page to screen are going to want to give this book a read.
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