Captain America: Dark Designs

By: Stefan Petrucha, Marvel

Narrated by: Richard Rohan

Captain America has battled soldiers, terrorists, and villains of all kinds. Now he'll face a far more complicated enemy: his own body.

When S.H.I.E.L.D. discovers that Cap is harboring an extinction-level pathogen hidden in his cells for decades, Cap's greatest fear is realized: Until the virus can be cured, he'll have to go into deep freeze. But he won't be alone.

Years ago, Cap's greatest enemy managed the biggest coup of his career when he implanted his mind into a clone of Steve Rogers' body - virus and all. And Red Skull isn't the sacrificial type. Cap will have to put his archnemesis on ice - without exposing the virus. Can Cap stay alive long enough to capture Red Skull and return to his deepest nightmare? It's a battle for perfect symmetry in this original prose novel!

GraphicAudio® Production.

©2019 Stefan Petrucha (P)2019 Marvel

Incredible

This is one of the best graphic audio novels I have listened to. Very well written and performed. You can really see with your minds eye what is going on.

great graphic novel

I loved this book. being blind I gave up on comic books, it's so great to listen to my favorite superhero in an audio format.

Distracting background sounds

Very well performed all the voice actors are good but there is frequently a great deal of background noise. Sometimes it's beeping medical machinery or people talking in a command room or other mechanical noises, as well as long bits of human screaming.

Definitely one of the best CA novels.

So far I'm 2 for 2 with Stefan Petrucha's Marvel books. The other is the Spider-Man novel, Forever Young- not yet available at Audible.

I'm not sure where the story falls chronologically in the history of Captain America vis the comic books- my guess is it's a different timeline that uses elements of the comics but isn't considered canon by readers and creators of the comics. I prefer that. I stopped reading Cap comics a few years ago based on the two words, "Hail Hydra." This story has a more Ed Brubaker feel, which is what we have come to expect and appreciate for one good reason: he's an amazing writer who defined Cap for the 20th Century. Petrucha nails the style, but builds on some "mythology" that is pre-Brubaker. The idea that Red Skull is now living in Steve Roger's body (a clone) is an idea that came from Cap 350- but Brubaker and Petrucha use it in magnificent ways. This whole book is based on that idea, and it's a terrific idea!

Cap's body has been carrying a virus for decades, as has Red Skull's. This has incredible effects on both of them, and at a time when Cap is needed to rescue the world! (As I write this most of the United States is quarantined because of Coronavirus, so the idea that Cap needs to isolate himself is acute) Fortunately he does what is right and hides out as much as he can.

Petrucha also brings back Arnim Zola- and if you only know him from the movies you will find something very different here. He's closer to the Jack Kirby character and his monstrous look. He also brings back the Sleepers in a dynamic and exciting way. Clearly the author knows his Captain America lore!

I have yet to listen to Liberty's Torch, but I'll get to it soon. What I'd really like to hear someday is Captain America: The Great Gold Steal by Ted White. It was written back in 1968 and published by Bantam. I don't think it's ever been republished, and the story is pretty darn interesting. You may find parts of it familiar, but the copycats (if they actually are copycats) were later. Part of Wolverine's character seems to have come from the process by which scrawny Steve Rogers became Captain America. There's also a scheme from this book echoed in Die Hard With A Vengeance. Coincidence? Probably, but that's okay.

The multi voice performances have always sounded better to me. I write audio dramas for a living, so this is closer to what I like. One voice reading a book is lame when you can have something like this. I can see it if you're listening to Homer or Kipling. For an action packed story like this the SFX and multiple voices are the way to go. These voices are quite good too.

Great movie for your ears

They call it a movie for your ears (or something like that) and it’s absolutely true. Great performances from awesome actors/actresses. You absolutely feel like you’re resting on the couch while listening to a movie, but it’s done in such a way that you aren’t missing the visuals.

My only small complaint would be that sometimes the background music and noise is a bit too loud to understand the dialogue.

Great Cap story, maybe not the best COVID book

This was my first Marvel book, and is really good! I downloaded it to be a fluffy pallet cleanser during the pandemic, and want expecting the "Captain America in Quarantine" storyline (I guess I should have read the synopsis).
The story is classic Cap, with Sleepers, the Red Skull and a lot of tough decisions to make. The performances are good, and the background noise does a good job of seeing a scene without being distracting. My only real gripe is the B-plot kinda peters out at the end of the book. They probably could have done away with that part of the story altogether and still had a compelling enough narrative.

great story but I LOVED THE EPILOGUE!!!!

great story but I LOVED THE EPILOGUE!!!! I would recommend this to just about everyone simply for that alone... it's takes you completely by surprise!!! I MEAN... YOU COULD LITERALLY LISTEN TO THIS ENTIRE BOOK OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND,,..... AND AS LONG AS YOU LIVE IT WILL SURPRISE YOU EVERY SINGLE TIME!!! ENJOY!!!

Graphic Audio adaptation doesn't disappoint

I enjoy the Graphic Audio adaptations. While it has a bit of a "fast food" feel, it has great production value and accessible/fun/exciting listens. Nothing wrong with a really good cheeseburger.

Uneven offering but worth it for Cap fans!

I'm very mixed on this. The story was interesting, but a little underwhelming with Cap out of the action for a good portion of the story. I like that the author went back to the classic Lee/Kirby Sleeper storyline, and aspects of this were very thrilling. The interactions between Arnim Zola and The Red Skull were also very well done. Cap's voice was a little stiff, and the *spoiler*'s voice that you hear at the beginning of every chapter was horrible. The main narrator was very good however. He would have made a better Captain America to be honest. Overall it was uneven but still worth a listen for fans of Captain America comics. I will try another of this company's Marvel offerings next month.

This story makes absolutely no sense

If you're like me and need your stories to have some semblance of logic in order to suspend disbelief, look elsewhere. The villain's motivations made no sense. I have no idea what he thought his master plan was supposed to accomplish. As for the heroes, they could not have done more to sabotage themselves if their brains had been taken over by suicidal lemmings with a cliff fixation. Seriously, the last third of the book simply could not have happened if the heroes didn't look at every decision they had to make and repeatedly said, "Let's go with the stupid option to spice things up".

On top of that, Captain America simply was not up to the obstacles in front of him. The story had to contort itself in painful ways to make him relevant. I'd love to go into specifics, but this is a non-spoiler review.

I want to be clear, I know you have to give comics a lot of leeway with believability. The problem here is that the story collapses under its own rules. It'd be like saying a character could fly, and then having the story require that character fall to their death off that previously mentioned cliff. I'm sorry. I can't turn my brain off that much.