Solid start.
Captain America is a great character he doesn’t have truly astonishing powers but he will but himself in front of a gun for anyone and is a true patriot and Hero. He’s had some great runs over the years and none more so than Ed Brubaker’s run which was one of my personal favourites so any writer taking over from him has a got to do something pretty spectacular to follow it but that writer is Rick Remender so it will obviously be good.
Plot
We start off in the depression with Steve’s parent who are immigrants from Ireland and are trying to find a job. In the present Cap is fighting the Green Skull who is trying to blow up Manhattan he defeats him he then meets up with Sharon Carter and after he goes on a mission he is taken to Dimension Z.
Review
The cover is bad while I like the Dimension Z background and Cap standing on all of the bodies of Zola’s experiments but his right arm looks really odd and his legs look to cylindrical.
I really like Rick Remender Uncanny X-force is probably my favourite Marvel series out at the minute and I have complete faith in what he is doing here and the direction he is taking it in. He has decided to give this series a Jack Kirby feel like when he was writing the book with it having rather creative ideas and Arnim Zola in it this really does feel very Jack Kirby like but there’s no problem with that he’s doing something different to what Brubaker was doing with Direction and the time periods it was set in from World War II to the Depression this really is a change and it could be good.
The depression is an interesting choice for parts of it to be set in as it is one of the more unexplored periods of Steve’s life and it could turn into a very interesting story arc through the series. We get the idea that Steve’s parents are having problems because they are Irish immigrants trying to find jobs in America and we get the idea his father’s not a nice man he’s having a rough time as he’s beating his wife we also get an idea of how helpless Steve is as he is hiding under the table covering his ears. I hope this story is expanded further in future issues as it’s an interesting plot and there’s a lot of potential in it.
There is also a short fight with a new villain called the Green Skull while fight is short it does show the tone of the issue pretty well with the villain being pretty far out there with him being an eco-fantasist which is a pretty wild idea and the weapon he uses are quite sci-fi ish with a gun that makes plants grow on people and a bomb that spreads plant spores over a large area this does set the feel of the series quite well and while the fight is a bit predictable it does show what the villains we will get in this series will be like.
We also get a little scene between Sharon and Steve which is probably the best part of this issue the rest is good it’s just this little scene stood out because of the dialogue the meeting starts off with Steve trying a more modern phrase to Sharon it’s a lot of fun to see them talk since Cap still is quite old fashioned with the way he talks and him to make an attempt at sexual innuendo is a lot of fun to see this and it was nice to see some more of their relationship since it was a great part of the last series and it’s nice to see it in this series.
This issue does set things up nicely for the next issue because Steve gets captures and is taken to Dimension Z when I heard this was going to happen I was interested since it was going in a different direction to the last series and it could make for some really creative stories and a lot of imagination. We do get him arriving in Dimension Z and its pretty good while it’s not fully explained why he’s been captured you do get a good idea why but not fully. (Spoilers) he has been creating genetic experiments trying to create the perfect child and he wants to get the super soldier serum to make them stronger. Rick Remender said he was going to try make Zola a better villain considering he’s always been a fairly silly villain but in this he seems a lot creepier with what he’s doing and he seems a more interesting villain. As expected though he does escape and what makes it interesting is he escapes with Zola’s son when he throws his shield through the tank where Zola’s son is being kept this is an interesting twist and I’m interested to see this develop.
The art I’ve never been a fan of John Romita Jr his art is better than in some of his stuff but it’s still not great and some of the art can be very inconsistent for example Sharon’s hair at some points just looks a bit rough and doesn’t look right and some of the anatomy looks a little chunky and the noses can be too big but Arnim Zola’s face does look pretty good and the action scenes are pretty nice it’s just looks a little rough a points the colours by Dean White are great I love the colours in the flashbacks they look different and really make it feel like a different era and the colours in Dimension Z are great.
Verdict
This is a solid start to the series and I think it could be really good the writing is perfect but the art has problems and holds the book back from being a five.
4 stars.
The next issue looks good but I still think the art will hold it back.
