RECAP: Steve Rogers/Captain America has found out that in his absence America continued its experiments with the Super Soldier program. Frank Simpson was a product of the program and while fighting in Vietnam he saw the horrors war could bring. It made him think twice about his loyalty to America and he turned traitor and disappeared. Frank Simpson turned back up at the beginning of Ultimate Captain America and gave Captain America a royal beat down. When Cap finds out it was Frank Simpson that beat the crap out of him Cap tracks him down in Cambodia with the intention of capturing and bringing him back to America.
It is in a small Cambodian village filled with meta-humans that Cap discovers there has been further experimentation with the Super Soldier formula. All the meta-human villagers have been given the serum and they all give Cap another brutal, royal beat down. Simpson than holds Cap captive, tortures him on a daily basis, and takes samples of his blood. During Cap’s captivity, Simpson tries to get Cap to renounce America by telling him horror stories of the evil things that America has done while Cap was away. Though Cap tries to escape, all of his attempts are thwarted by Simpson and the villagers.
By the end of issue #3, Cap is informed that they have gotten what they need from him and since they can’t turn him they are going to kill him. With a gun pressed to his head Cap starts to pray. Simpson finds this amusing and gives him 5 minutes alone for his “God” to save him.
REVIEW: Issue # 4 picks up with Caps “miracle from God” coming in the form of a snake. He grabs and rips open the snake to pull out the venom sac, which he stores in his mouth. When Frank Simpson comes back to finish Cap off he gets a face full of venom! The next few pages is an all out brawl of fisticuffs, which leads to a fight with a couple of hammers and a sledge hammer. Once again, Simpson gets the upper hand and has Cap on his knees. Now comes the classic villain cliché — the stall.
Simpson could take out Cap right then but decides to get him to admit that America is dead and broken. This gives Cap enough time to pick up the sledge hammer and give Simpson one hell of a crotch shot! Cap has taken down Frank Simpson and places him into S.HI.E.L.D. custody.
Back at HQ, Cap and Hawkeye are sitting around drinking beer and watching some boxing. When Cap explains how he escaped by “a miracle from God,” Hawkeye turns it around and asks if he really thinks it was God or “the other guy,” as snakes aren’t really Gods thing. Hawkeye goes on to explain to Cap that both of them have killed people and will most likely do it again. He also states that they are trying to do the right thing, but have never done so in accordance with “the good book.” After that talk, Captain America walks into Frank Simpson’s highly secured cell. Simpson asks Cap if he has come to gloat and Cap replies, “Nope, just returning the favor.” The issue ends with Captain America sitting by Frank Simpson’s bedside and reading the Bible to him.
With the exception of a couple of bad eggs in the Ultimate universe (Ultimate X and Ultimates 3), I have been a long time fan of almost everything in the Ultimate comic line. Though Captain America has never been one of my favorite characters, this series was just as great as most of the other Ultimate titles. And even though I had some problems with the end of the issue being a little ‘preachy,’ I would totally recommend this series to Captain America fans old and new alike.