(w) Rick Remender (a) John Romita Jr.
**MILD SPOILERS THROUGHOUT**
It boggles my mind when people tell me they don't like Rick Remender's Captain America. I get that many Cap fans these days are so because of Ed Brubaker's phenomenal run, and I understand the reluctance to get behind a new volume of Captain America that takes the character in the complete opposite direction. What I can't understand is the complete dismissal of the title simply because it doesn't follow the spy thriller format Brubaker made so popular. For the first time in a long time, Captain America is confronting problems he doesn't know how to solve. Even when things looked hopeless, Steve Rogers could always count on his training, his tactical genius, and his overall sense of justice to see him to victory. In Dimension Z, none of these things matter.
Much like how the previous issue leapt a year into the future, Captain America #4 throws readers for a loop by leaping another 11. That full black page with the stark, white "Eleven Years Later" really packs a punch as an issue opener. I let out a rather fawning "Whoa!" to the surprise of my wife sitting beside me. She commented about how rare it was for me to get so into a comic book like that, to exclaim out of sheer excitement.
The revelation at the end of issue three saw Steve Rogers infected by some sort of techno-biological virus that produced Arnim Zola's visage on Steve's stomach, similar to Zola's real face on his own body. So not only has Cap been stuck in a dimension where none of his previous experience helps him in any way, but he's also had a evil consciousness of Arnim Zola chipping away at his soul for over ten years While it's a bit weird that Steve is able to hide a glowing blue face on his torso from his adopted son, Ian, for over a decade, it's more about the idea that hiding this horrible truth represents: Steve is dedicated to protecting Ian from his horrible past.
Remender fleshes out Steve and Ian's relationship this issue, mostly because Ian is finally old enough to have a personality of his own instead of being a precious weight for the Captain as he navigated Zolandia. Now, Cap is training Ian to use the shield, trying to instill good values in the boy, and always looking for a way back to Earth. An in-tact map of the land gives the boys some home in returning home, but that hope raises the bigger issue for Ian: what is home? Now firmly in his early teens, Ian wants to know more than Cap is telling him, and the idea of returning to Earth isn't as desirable to him as it is to Steve, who's actually been there.
Captain America #4 isn't what I expected, but it's everything I wanted. Rick Remender's trademark long-form approach to storytelling means Steve Roger's sojourn to Zolandia isn't going to end any time soon. The first four issues of this series have been a marathon of steadily building up the emotional investment, creating a psycho-weird (a term I just created because no other seemed to describe Dimension Z well enough) reality that tests Cap at every turn, and raises the stakes for Steve and Ian in terms of their relationship and their mission to escape the influence of Zola. Yes, this Captain America is completely different than anything Ed Brubaker wrote in his seminal run. But if you step away from the continuity and just read Remender's Cap as-is, it's one of the most exhilarating, powerful titles to come out of the 'Marvel NOW!' initiative.
GRADE
9/10
(w) Rick Remender
(a) John Romita Jr.
Alright.
I'm just going to say it.
I love Rick Remender and John Romita Jr's Captain America.
For the better part of the last decade, Ed Brubaker's stoic, dark, spy-y stories about the Sentinel of Liberty have kept me at arms-length from one of Marvel's top characters. Brubaker steeped his Cap stories in the world of espionage, and while that's awesome and cool, I always felt a disconnect between Rogers' personal ethics and his actions as an undercover spy working in the shadows.
With the 'Marvel NOW!' imperative, Rick Remender has been given the reigns of Captain America, and he's decided to take Steve Rogers in the complete opposite direction that Brubaker had been going. Dimension Z is more than just a weird new setting; it's a metaphor for Cap's life, et al. On Earth, Captain America is arguably the best superhero there is because he's got this amazing combination of tactical genius, physical superiority, genuine faith in his beliefs, and a determination that never quits. After last month's look into a year in the life of being stranded in Dimension Z, Captain America #3 thrusts Steve and his travelling companion Ian (Arnim Zola's son under Cap's protection) into more familiar territory.
This familiarity comes with Steve and Ian being attacked by the Phrox, a species native to Dimension Z who retreated to subterranean caves when Zola invaded and took control of their home. Cap gets to utilize some of his combat skills that have proved useless otherwise thus far, and it goes a long way in making this volume of Captain America feel more organic and natural. The Phrox are wary of Steve and Ian, as their land has been overrun by Zola's mutated experiments, so it makes sense that their first instinct is to kill the invaders. Fortunately, Steve and Ian gain an unlikely ally from a friendly Phrox who saw that Steve, too, was at odds with Zola. Remender also continues his look back at the life of young Steve Rogers in depression-era Manhattan, a story that relates to Cap's current feelings of overwhelming helplessness. As a weak child, Steve was at the mercy of the neighborhood bullies, and in Dimension Z, his skills are rendered all but useless in a place where the landscape shifts and mutant freaks roam the countryside.
John Romita Jr's art is an acquired taste. I've heard that you "either love it or hate it", but I'm more inclined to see it as a learning curve. Much like how it can take time to get used to different writing styles depending on what writer you're reading, the same can be said for artists and their various techniques. Romita has a very stylized look about his work that immerses you without distracting from the story (unlike, say, David Finch's art, which constantly forces me to decipher who's punching what on splash pages and/or fight scenes.)
It makes sense that many people are finding Remender and Romita's vision for Captain America a little off-putting. The most common complaint I've found has been the arguably unnecessary inclusion of the flashbacks to Steve's childhood. As I mentioned earlier, these flashbacks serve not only to shed some light onto a part of Steve Rogers' life that hasn't ever been delved into much, but also to show that even though the world and the circumstances may change, the pain and the struggle remains the same. Captain America #3 comes to an end with a pretty big shocker that's going to have lasting consequences (at least as far as Marvel's solicitations are concerned) that will affect not only the rest of Steve's time in Dimension Z, but also quite possibly for the rest of his life!
GRADE
8/10
(w) Rick Remender
(p) John Romita Jr.
(i) Klaus Janson
After the first issue received mixed reviews from critics, Rick Remender's Captain America #2 comes in to cement the series as a sci-fi epic to rival the adventures of the Fantastic Four. The difference is, Captain America isn't prepared for an alternate dimension where physics are suggestions more than rules and Arnim Zola has unleashed a legion of mutated experiments. Remender shines brightest when writing a team--he excels at playing various personalities against each other. Captain America sees Remender having to bounce Steve Rogers against himself.
Regular readers of "The Endless Reel" know that I don't much care for inner monologue. I'm putting that out there because I have a predisposed bias against that particular form of narrative, as more often than not, it doesn't effectively convey the ideas/emotions the writer is aiming to show. And while the inner monologue used throughout Captain America #2 isn't awful, it definitely isn't Remender's strongest work. As evidenced by his phenomenal run with Uncanny X-Force, Rick Remender has a knack for ornate diction. It works for Fantomex, Betsy Braddock, and Warren Worthington III, but not so much for Steve Rogers. And really, the monologue is quite toned down from Remender's normal style, yet still it's overly thought out at times. Captain America is utilitarian, and that's not a bad thing--it's a big part of what makes him who he is. Steve Rogers has a very logical, reason-based approach to life and his own behavior, which suggests his thought process is more streamlined, less superfluous. Remender does well to eliminate filler words, but overall, we still get an intimate glimpse at Steve Rogers' thoughts, and it's uncomfortable. But then again, maybe that's exactly what we need from a Captain America comic book--something that puts us out of our comfort zone.
It's difficult to say how Rick Remender's run with Captain America will pan out. With most other 'Marvel NOW!' titles, I've found myself either raucously sold or defiantly opposed. Remender's Captain America is different from most other titles Marvel is currently offering: it sits outside the general Marvel turn of events due to it's setting in Dimension Z, Captain America is completely out of his element (something we haven't seen in ages), yet the fate of a whole universe hangs in the balance.
GRADE
7/10
(w) Rick Remender (a) John Romita Jr.
