Captain America #1 reminds us that heroes don’t need to wear costumes
Decades ago, Steve Rogers changed the world forever. Now powerful and insidious forces are assembling to ensure he never does it again. Past, present and future collide as the man out of time reckons with an existential threat determined to set the world on a darker path at any cost… Captain America #1 is an interesting start that takes the character into the future while exploring his past.
Written by J. Michael Straczynski Captain America #1 picks up after recent events with Steve enjoying a bit of a quieter life. But, drama isn’t far as he makes a major life decision… to become a landlord by buying his building! It feels like a plotline that’s been done before elsewhere but there’s something quaint about it all. Straczynski frames it, reminding us not all heroes wear capes.
Steve’s actions helps the rest in the building and there’s a focus on him taking on average tasks to improve the building and help his neighbors. It’s a focus on the charitable and neighborly heroes who brighten the real world and reminds us that we can do this too in our lives. Like the concept of Captain America itself, there’s something rather quaint and Pollyannish about it all and while there’s a bit of dark clouds in the background, overall, it’s a rather positive outlook full of optimism and hope.
At the same time, Straczynski reflects on why this apartment building is so important to Steve taking us back to the years between his mother’s death and his joining the army. It’s a time period that I don’t believe has been explored much and absolutely something I’ve wondered about, so it’s nice to see it be used as an additive to give us greater depth into the character. And Straczynski pulls no punches there taking us back to a time before the United States entered World War II and the Nazi party had a lot of supporters within our borders. While I get some traumatic reactions due to “Secret Empire,” overall, there’s a lot of potential to mine actual history and remind us that the US entry into the war was a bit murkier than many would admit.
The art by Jesús Saiz is solid. The comic jumps back and forth in time and transitions between the two nicely. There’s an emphasis on how things would be different between the two, cars and clothes being an example, and it all works really well. I’d have liked a bit more of a transition between the two like you might see in a film as the modern fades into the past and/or back, but that’s a bit more difficult with comics and static images. But, overall things look great. Matt Hollingsworth colors too help and works for both time periods.
Captain America #1 is a solid start overall. It looks to use a time period in Steve’s life to not just fill in gaps but also show us more as to what makes this character so fantastic. At the same time, it also reflects on our real past and looks towards the future and concept of being a hero. An entertaining new volume that delivers some sunshine after a previous gloomy run.
Story: J. Michael Straczynski Art: Jesús Saiz
Color: Matt Hollingsworth Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy
Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle
