Comic Book Review - Captain America: Unforgiven #1

Steve Rogers, Vampire Hunter?

For those who don’t know in the Marvel comic universe, the Forgiven are a group of Vampires who’ve turned their backs on the killing and feeding on humans. Not content with simply existing, the Forgiven have banded together to use their supernatural powers as a force for good. But when one of the group betrays them and slaughters their leader, the disillusioned team disbands. However, a new threat is emerging and the Forgiven are the only ones who can stand up and fight.

Enter Captain America. Avenger. American hero, and all round badass. But has Steve Rogers bitten off more than he can chew as he battles to get this wayward group back together? 

Unforgiven starts with quite a challenge for Steve Rogers. With the Forgiven having split to all corners of the Earth, Rogers teams up with Redblood in order to (re)assemble the team. Across this opening act we see Rogers personally meet with each team member as we learn more about their experiences since the spilt - Visigoth ends up working for the Russian mob, while Quickshot works at a computer repair store. Once the team are back together, Cap then informs them of the wider threat. Thanks to a vision from Zawadi, Cap has learned that Chthon’s apostle Geiomar is on his way with plans to use the local Vampire and Werewolf population to enact a bloody war on humanity. With no one aside from the Forgiven best equipped to deal with the threat, they have no choice but to follow Cap’s plan. 

While I’m not overly familiar with the Forgiven, writer Tim Seeley utilises the comics first act to bring everyone up to speed. We get plenty of exposition that details Caps past pact with the Forgiven’s former leader Raizo Kodo, as well as his journey in reuniting the wayward group. It’s a very well played out opening as it details both Caps commitment in keeping his oath, as well as highlighting the individual personalities that make up the group. Moving the comic forward, Seeley then gives us the hook with explaining this arc’s villain. Again, Chthon and Geiomar aren’t exactly villains I am familiar with but, through the characters interactions you do get a good feeling that both are not to be trifled with. 

The rest of the book then deals with the “Call of Chthon” and what it means to the “Demon-Touched”. It’s here where the action really picks up pace as we get the likes of Spider-Man and Wolverine battling to keep the streets of New York safe from some familiar faces. It’s not all glamour as artist Sid Kotian captures the horror going on with plenty of rough line work, and brooding shadows. The characters also play into this dark horror with gorgeous displays of how vicious and frightening Geiomar’s group are. Hell, Geiomar himself has a face that only a mother can love! And I’ll leave it as that! 

Edgar Delgado then keeps everything from being too nightmare inducing by using brighter tones as balance. It works exceptionally well and his uses of reds and purple really highlight the meetings of the two worlds being at war. Away from this and Joe Carmanga’s letting tops everything off by capturing the sounds of the intense battle raging on. 

All in all, Captain America: Unforgiven #1 is a nice and simple done-in-one story. It’s a bit of a slow burner which helps to not only build its story, but get us acquainted with its rather large cast. While it’s narrative does fit this style well, it is quite a hard one to follow. As such I wouldn’t say it’s particularly friendly to those who’ve been captured by the cover art. Wether we’ll see any ramifications is up for debate, but with the wealth of Marvel comics that hit news stands each week I won’t be surprised. 

Rating:7/10 

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Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow us on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev, and TikTok @Geekculturereviews.