ENTERTAINMENT

David Morrell has done something totally new: The best-selling author of action thrillers has written a comic-book series.

It all happened because a Marvel Comics editor suggested that Mr. Morrell, who created the famous character Rambo in his novel, First Blood, would make a good pairing with another military icon, Captain America.

Mr. Morrell, who has a Ph.D. in American literature, hasn't had much to do with comic books since his boyhood, but he eagerly rose to the challenge. As he says in the book's afterword, he thought it would be interesting to "dramatize the burden of being a superhero in today's troubled world, especially a superhero named after the United States."

The result is Captain America: The Chosen, a stand-alone comic-book miniseries that tells a poignant, uplifting story with psychological dimensions that transcend the genre.

The opening pages show U.S. Marine Cpl. James Newman in war-torn Afghanistan, determined to do his duty, but exhausted from too many fire fights and longing to go home to his wife and newborn son. As he wonders how long he can keep on serving, a voice answers: "As long as we're able to lift a finger. As long as we can draw a breath." To his astonishment, it is Captain America, resplendent in his Stars and Stripes-themed costume.

With his help, Cpl. Newman fights off enemies and pulls fellow soldiers who are under fire to safety. Captain America comes to Cpl. Newman's aid whenever he gets demoralized, but oddly, no one else can see him. Cap is actually strapped to a gurney in a secret medical facility outside Washington. How, then, does he manage to appear thousands of miles away in Afghanistan? And what is he trying to do?

In this ingeniously plotted story, Cap comes through as a man of vision at his heroic best. Artist Mitch Breitweiser's work complements the story perfectly.