By Kiel Phegley
A project nearly five years in the making hits stores on July 9 in the form of CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE #0 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. While the acclaimed creative duo behind such past hits as SPIDER-MAN: BLUE and DAREDEVIL YELLOW took their time delivering their latest Marvel masterpiece, the key word for readers to remember should be "timeless."
"I think one of the strengths of the Loeb/Sale brand is that we don't necessarily take into account current continuity," explains Loeb. "We don't go against it per se, but we like to think of it as 'continuity through omission.'"
For CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE, that reader-friendly quality presents itself in the form of a World War II-based tale showcasing a young Cap and sidekick Bucky fighting the Axis forces in 1941. "As we see in the #0 this is very early on in his career," Loeb notes of the comic special that will include a unique take on Bucky's origin. "That allows us to do what I think we do best in dealing with a hero who doesn't have the most experience and learns some of the lessons that will make Cap the legend we know him to be in present day.
"It's pretty much the story we talked about four years ago but only in concept. Things change and evolve during the writing. And Tim very often has new ideas and in particular a new style which will veer the story in another direction. But it still has the same tent poles that we want to hit."
That change in Sale's style this time around centers on the incorporation of painterly inkwash work inspired by the World War II drawings of a young soldier named Jack Kirby shortly after he co-created Captain America to be a force against the Nazis. And much like Kirby and his famed collaborator Joe Simon were able to move from project to project and keep their signature style in check, Loeb promises that he and Sale have easily fallen back into their collaboration as easily as remembering how to ride a bike. Well…maybe a little more fun than that.
"With Tim, it's less of riding a bike than it is tooling around in a red Miata, top down and a hot girl riding side by side," jokes the writer. "I have no idea what that means, but I like the metaphor."
And while CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE #0 may just be reaching readers now, Loeb promises he's already hard at work crafting the full tale to dazzle fans.
"We want to tell a great adventure story that at its core is an emotional, character driven rollercoaster. We can only promise it's the best story we can tell and hope folks like it!"
But the one tease the writer won't give away quite yet—the significance of the color white in the book's title.
"Ah, you clever fools," taunts the scribe. "You'll find out soon enough!"
CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE #0 ships on July 9. For past Loeb/Sale goodness, check out DAREDEVIL: YELLOW, SPIDER-MAN: BLUE and HULK: GRAY on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited!
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