Recommended – a new creative team and direction results in an enjoyable tale.
Following Ed Brubaker is an unenviable task; countless have tried in books ranging from Daredevil to Catwoman, and most have come up short in their endeavours, whilst producing excellent comics. Over the course of eight years, Brubaker redefined Captain America and gave us some of his greatest stories.
Rick Remender attempts the seemingly impossible by taking a completely new direction – transporting Captain America to ‘Dimension Z’, with John Romita, Klaus Janson and Dean White. Gone is the political espionage for a return to the Cap of Kirby in the 1970’s.
Remender’s strength has often been multilayered storylines traversing time – here we glimpse Steve Rogers’ childhood, his ‘modern day’ life as an Avenger and his relationship with Sharon Carter, and then in Dimension Z with Arnim Zola, where he is likely to remain for the foreseeable.
Whilst we are reminded of Cap’s abilities, Remender is keen to impress upon the reader Cap’s real superpower – his morality.
Romita’s art is polarising – personally I think his action sequences are some of the best in modern comics, however his character posing is often unnatural and therefore jarring; the cover is one such example.
Whilst not as strong an opener as Mark’s ‘Comic of the Week’ Indestructible Hulk, and a significant departure from what has gone before, Remender’s Cap is an enjoyable tale worthy of my $$$ next month.
Mark Brassington 