Captain America #10 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Tom Palmer, Scott Hanna (Artists), Dean White, Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorists)

The Story: Jet has second thought about the plans of her father as Steve and Sharon tries to convince her that perhaps her father was an enormous and villainous jerk.

The Review: Conclusions are hard. A lot might say that it’s never the ending that actually count rather than the journey itself, but let’s be honest that it’s always kind of disappointing when a story hit a lots of notes right only to end in a way that feels off.

This issue of Captain America does not actually reach a level of disappointment that makes it unpleasant to read, yet there are several elements that, considering the level of talent here, could have been handled better.

One of them is the pacing, as the issue seems to differ in the space it amounts to several scenes. While many of the previous issues went full speed ahead through the chaos that is Dimension Z as Steve Rogers fought the many monstrosities of science that inhabits it, Remender always kept it full of action and crazy concepts. Those issues were crammed with lots of ideas and most of the scenes never wore their welcome. Here, though, there are mainly three things that happens: Jet fly toward the rocketing city in doubt about what her father was doing, Sharon Carter confronts Arnim Zola and Steve gets out of Dimension Z as he is still in shock over what happened. There are myriads of details to these scenes, of course, yet it all boils down to those three key events in the issue, plus an epilogue.

Of course, the length of these scenes is to make sure the emotional impact is relevant to the readers, who spent the best of 10 issues in this mad landscape created by Remender. It arguably work for Sharon Carter as she faces down a giant Arnim Zola, giving her a moment for her to shine in this arc, but not so much for Jet Black. For this character who has been introduced quite well in this series, the sudden turn she does seems a bit too quick. She had been so eager to live to her new found principles and to forsake those taught to her by her father, yet when she thinks he’s dead and that his plan is about to succeed, she turn around and try to make it work? It is explicitly said, in a way that does sound a bit credible, that it is he grief talking, yet the way she acts seems a tad excessive considering what little we know about the character and her evolution throughout the Dimension Z arc.

Captain America #9 – Review

Rick Remender (Writer), John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Scott Hanna, Tom Palmer (Artists), Dean White (Colorist)

The Story: Sharon Carter enters the stage, explaining what has happened all this time as Steve Rogers bring the fight to Arnim Zola.

The Review: Camp isn’t exactly an easy thing to do. To retrieve the nostalgic factor or to simulate it in a way that feels respectful is a hard task, as a writer need to satisfy both the readers that can remember such times without leaving those that didn’t behind. It’s a balancing act that need to be efficient in order to keep the momentum and the tone floating around at all time.

I have to say that I do not envy the task that Remender had set upon himself when writing Captain America, a character that is, without the shadow of a doubt, very campy when analyzed. A character that represents the goodness of America, a leader that has indomitable courage and will and that will never wield during fights, despite how outclassed he might be sometime. This creation of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, a superhero, one of the genre most attached to nostalgia at times, is always attached to the past in many ways. To see Remender use him in a sci-fi setting, especially one that looks like a twisted B-movie version straight from the 70’s and 80’s, is something that is colossal in its connection to the past. It is quite something to see Remender deciding to use this kind of story to decide the future of the character, as to use the past and nostalgia to propel a character forward seems like a great challenge.

In many ways, he does succeed in no only creating a connection to past materials, most of them being unrelated to the stories featuring the Sentinel of Liberty, working with subjects that the character wasn’t associated with. One of the notable strength of this huge storyline, which is still very present here, is the sci-fi vibe that is present everywhere. With monsters, robots, big flying buildings, dimensions, time-alternance and the like, Remender plays with a lot of concepts worthy of pristine movies that would pale a bit with the audience of today. Revelling in the past in terms of narrative tropes, he brings excitation and a lot of big moments to the story as the climax of the story arrive.

Captain America #7 – Review

Rick Remender (Writer), John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson (Artists), Dean White (Colorist)

The Story: Steve Rogers tries to find Ian, his son, yet Jet Black stands in his way toward his goal as he advance in Zola’s domain.

The Review: Intent is something that can be difficult to properly gauge. Sometimes, an author tries to give a certain tone or a certain mood to a story he is telling, yet does so in a way that is perhaps too subtle or ambiguous. This might lead to people not seeing the actual meaning behind some key scenes or the works that clearly influenced the take on a certain subject.

I am telling this right now because I am afraid that I might be confused as to the intent behind Rick Remender and his take on the sentinel of liberty. In some way, this seems to be a rather touching story about a man discovering how to be a father and doing what is right to save his son, yet in other ways this seems like a take on good old science-fiction stories from the 20’s and 30’s, like Buck Rogers. It seems to be both sometimes, yet at the same time it struggles between the cheesier aspect of the dialogue and the more touching and serious aspects of its script.

One of the key areas where this can be seen would be in the dialogue, which goes from touching and heartfelt to sometimes really clichéd. In the opening pages of the issue, we get a really great scene with Steve and Ian, who talks to the boy he had adopted as his son about the fact that he is happy right now that he can be with him, yet there is another place where we get one of the most overused dialogue trope ever conceived: the ‘’listen to your heart’’ speech. To summarize what this is, it’s a moment where someone on the evil side of the equation is convinced to join the good side not by arguments or with any actual proof, but rather by the good guy telling that person that it would be the right thing to do. I’m not saying that this specific trope cannot ever be used in smart ways, yet here in this issue it is used in a way that feels very corny, close to an unbelievable way. It removes a bit of the actual conflict and the character building that has been show, or rather it precipitates the development to full speed on the character of Jet Black, which seems a bit jarring and forced.

However, even if a lot of what I said about this issue seems to be on the negative, allow me to balance things out by talking about the better aspects of the book. First of all, the action here is very well done, with Steve Rogers fighting great odds one after another, which does give a lot of tension and adds drama to the whole story. Whether it’s when he’s fighting one of the captains of Zolandia, Jet Black or some of the guards, it can be seen he could be easily outmatched, yet he never backs down or despair when coming to face with such challenges.

Captain America #6 – Review

By: Rick Remender (Writer), John Romita Jr., Tom Palmer, Klaus Janson, Scott Hanna (Artists), Dean White (Colorist)

The Story: Captain America assaults the stronghold of Arnim Zola, as Ian is being held by the mad scientist himself.

The Review: There is nothing more fearful than a man scorned, it seems, as the very presentation of the whole conflict shown in this newer volume of Captain America so far has been turned upside down, for the better it seems, as we get to see Captain America being much more proactive than reactive here. This kind of event and direction leads to several developments that builds on what the series had shown so far, adding to the building blocks while respecting a whole more about Steve Rogers.

Captain America #5 – Review

By: Rick Remender (Writer), John Romita Jr., Tom Palmer, Scott Hanna (Artists), Dean White, Lee Loughridge (Colorists)

The Story: Zola invades the Phrox ground and kills the tribe while his daughter tries to kill Steve Rogers during the attack.

The Review: Is it already the time for more science-fiction goodness from Rick Remender? It seems so, as another issue from this definitely different take on the adventures of Steve Rogers is upon us and this one is decidedly great in many ways, but suffers in other parts.

What is pretty great here would be the story, as many of the points developed by Remender during the first four issues of the series meet here. Jet Black, Zola’s daughter, along with her dad comes head to head with Steve, Ian meets his father, Steve manages to find a way to remove the Zola virus and the fate of the Phrox tribe is all shown here, to great dramatic effect. Although it had been kind of chaotic at times, many of the threads introduced by Remender manages to get even bigger and weirder in this issue, showing us that we cannot even begin to see what is ahead for the series.

Captain America #4 – Review

By: Rick Remender (Writer), John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson (Artist), Dean White (Colorist)

The Story: Eleven years later, Steve Rogers goes on a hunt with Ian and makes some key discoveries about the boy and how to get out of Zolandia.

The Review: Some people may have already got accustomed to it, but it is still a little bit weird for me to consider this title a sci-fi one. It is quite a jump from a genre to another, but the tone is so different from the previous volume that it is hard to not feel a little bizarre about all this.
I mean that in the most positive of ways.

A strange thing to say, I admit, but this feeling of utter strangeness from the shift of genre and tone is actually also felt in the book in itself, just like us readers. Remender throws dozens of concepts at once during the issue, not explaining most of it, yet the majority of these ideas are simple enough for us to understand. From the very first page of the book, Remender takes us unaware and just continues like this, creating something completely surprising in many ways.

Captain America #3 – Review

Rick Remender (Writer), John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson (Artists), Dean White (Colorist)

The Story: Steve Rogers manage to live a little bit among a tribe of strange creatures inhabiting Dimension Z.

The Review: Science-fiction can be hard properly write, as sometimes some of the concepts can become too wild or unfocused as it quickly turns into something alien to the readers. A single element out of place can destroy a whole setting if used profusely during the story set in the fictional world created by the author.

Thankfully, Rick Remender did not commit that mistake so far, as Dimension Z seems interesting so far, yet there could be much more development added to it and the characters living there. There are still many questions that are unanswered about the tribes, monsters and Zola’s role in all of this. In this issue, we get some small teases as for the answers to these questions, but it is not enough to fully know the answer. Considering the manner in which Steve Rogers was introduced to this world and how we readers perceive this in the various pages, Remender has made a right decision in playing the ‘’mystery’’ card here, revealing layers of this setting without telling us too much that would spoil everything. It’s a smart move and makes the eventual discovery of all the various elements that much tantalizing.

While Dimension Z works very well, there is however a whole scene that does not work quite as well: the 1930’s. While it is a good thing to show us that even when he was small, Steve Rogers had a lot of integrity and guts, some of the elements of this scene seems a little bit sloppy, a little bit forced. It sure serves its purpose in creating a parallel with a scene further in the book, but the 1930’s scene is just not as interesting as the sci-fi goodness from Dimension Z. It helps us get Steve Rogers as a character, but truly such a scene could have been a little bit shorter, since there is so much to discover and so much potential in Dimension Z for original storytelling.

Speaking of characters, I really did like what Remender managed to show on his portrayal and version of Steve Rogers, invoking the Gruenwald, Brubaker and Waid version of the character effortlessly. We see the artist in him, the tactician, idealist and relentless fighter that makes him such an interesting character in the first place. Another character that Remender managed to make so much more interesting would be Arnim Zola, who receives a chilling scene in the beginning of the issue and a great final page, cementing the facts that we know about him: he is sinister, manipulative and dedicated to his twisted science. I cannot wait to see what Remender has in store for this old Jack Kirby creation.

Captain America #1 – Review

By: Rick Remender (story), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Dean White (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story:  Steve Rogers unwittingly escapes the prospect of marriage by hopping onto a train to…..DIMENSION Z!!!!!

The Review:  “Bold new direction” is sort of a buzz-line that is a dime a dozen in comics solicitations and promotion and, more often than not, it’s a gross exaggeration, if not an outright lie.  Frankly, of all the Marvel NOW relaunches thus far, Thor: God of Thunder has been the only one to live up to that phrase thus far.  Well, you can now add Captain America to that list.

Ed Brubaker, having been on Cap for 8 years, basically established what felt like “the Captain America story.”  It was all too easy to see Cap fall to the same pattern that Daredevil did pre-Waid, with new writers working within a particular mold with ever diminishing returns.  I’m glad we were able to skip all that creative quicksand this time around, jumping headfirst into the paradigm shifting run that reshapes the property’s landscape entirely.