Captain America: The Ghost Army (Original Graphic Novel)

It's World War II, and our heroes are fighting the Nazis in Lateria. Steve Rogers was a 98 pound weakling having sand kicked in his face before he participated in an Army program that treated him with Vita-Rays and Super Soldier Serum and became Captain America. Bucky Barnes, his sidekick, was a ward of the state and raised by soldiers at an army camp after the death of his parents. During a particularly heated battle, while Capt. America soldiered on in his tights, and Bucky faced the enemy armed with just a knife, they are saved by Jim Morita, who arrives with his unit, which is dedicated to keeping the enemy at bay by creating false troops to scare them away. However, there is an even graver threat than living Germans-- dead Nazis who come back as ghosts! Baron Mordo and his grandfather Viscount Krowler are based at Wundagore Castle, where they have a Ghost Machine that is bringing back the ghosts of people who died violently and is turning them into mindless killing machines. As one does. Mordo is angry with his grandfather for killing his father, but has an evil plan to tear a hole in reality and free Dormammu from imprisonment in the Dark Dimension. Dormammu will then make Mordo the "prince of what survives". Add to the mix Dugan, a soldier from Boston who is fighting with the British, and Sir Anthony Baskerville, who has lost a hand and makes a deal with Mordo to get it back if he helps out. When Capt. America and Bucky go to a local village to try to figure out how to thwart Mordo, they meet Mosha, a Romany man, and his granddaughter, Sofia. Sofia is an intrepid fighter with a keen knowledge of science, and she and Bucky become fond of each other while uncovering secrets about the murderous ghost Nazis. When Mosha is killed in fighting, this only firms Sofia's resolve to bring down Mordo. Will Captain America's powers, Bucky's knife wielding, Batman's Robin presence, and Jim Morita's theatrics be enough to turn the tide and save the world from evil?

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE GHOST ARMY is a new graphic novel adventure of Captain America during WWII. Captain America is fighting off the emeny soldiers with a small team, including 15-year-old Bucky Barnes, when it seems they are vastly outnumbered. Luckily, the United States Ghost Army comes in with their tricks to make it seem like they are bringing in the cavalry. Later that night, as they sit around the campfire, a literal ghost army begins to attack. They are unable to attack them back and only make a retreat by using the knowledge of a Japanese American soldier who knows the mythology that they cannot travel over moving water. They make their escape across the river.

Attacks are escalating as the man in the castle improves his weapon of resurrecting ghosts to fight the allied forces. Captain America and Bucky Barnes will have to defeat him before it is too late and his weapon can be deployed on the larger scale and a demon brought out of another dimension.

What I loved: The illustrations are really fantastic with lots of detail. They really bring the characters to life with plenty of emotion and color. The amount of dialogue was great too, with a focus on the images. It was easy to follow and see who was talking and heavily relied on the images to tell the story, which they did quite well. There were a few important themes throughout, touching upon a history of prejudice with the Japanese American having been put in an internment camp with his family (and the main characters pointing out that this wasn't right) as well as the Romani characters later discussing the terms they use and the things they have seen and faced as part of WWII.

What left me wanting more: This is being billed as a middle grade, and it was very violent with war scenes (a character loses a hand, though not as bloody as you might expect) plus guns and bombs throughout. The majority of the story is battle scenes. The characters are also older, 18-19 for most of the soldiers and even Bucky was 15. While this may work for some older middle grade readers, I think this would be better targeted to a YA audience. Additionally, the plot came with a few random surprises that seemed a bit out of the blue for drama at the end. It made the story feel less smooth and a bit more convoluted.

Final verdict: CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE GHOST ARMY is a graphic novel adventure of Captain America and Bucky Barnes that will appeal to fans of superhero warfare with a supernatural twist.