CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL. 1: CASTAWAY IN DIMENSION Z BOOK 1 (Marvel, 2013; Hardcover)
Collects
Captain
America
Nos.
1-5 (cover dates January- May, 2013)
Writer:
Rick Remender
Artists:
John Romita, Jr. (Penciler) and Klaus Janson (Inker, 1-4) and Scott
Hanna with Tom Palmer (Inkers, 5)
Colorists:
Leo Loughridge and Dean White with Dan Brown
How
do you follow one of the most celebrated runs of a character, in this
case Ed Brubaker's stint on the title? If you are Rick Remender, you
go full speed in the completely opposite direction. While Brubaker
mostly stuck to more realistic, Earthbound threats, Remender takes
Cap not only off world, but out of this dimension altogether! Arnim
Zola has to be one of the goofiest looking villains ever created,
though.
The
story starts with a flashback from Steve Rogers' childhood in the
1920s and then moves forward to the present day. It is Rogers' 90th
birthday. He ages slower due to the Super Soldier serum which courses
through his veins, and the fact that he was “on ice” for 20 years
in suspended animation hasn't hurt his cause, either. According to Bleeding Cool, that has changed, though. Marvel has recently slid
their timeline, a necessity to keep the characters from being...well,
90 years old. The Marvel Universe's continuity since Fantastic
Four #1 in 1961 is supposedly around 10 years. That means that
they have slid things from the Commie hating '60s to starting in a
post-9/11 world. Like it or not it's something that had to be done.
Now, Cap gets sticky because his origin is rooted in a specific era,
namely World War II. They can change what war Tony Stark or Reed
Richards served in with minimal impact to the overall continuity of
the title, but Captain America must be from that era in order to make
sense.
Cap
stays in Dimension Z for at least 11 years, and that's just in this
book. Godzilla only knows how long it will appear to be on Earth when
he gets back sometime in the next hardcover. Probably seconds.
John Romita, Jr. and Klaus Janson are attached at the hip, and have been for years. Romita's artwork has entered what I call his “third phase”. His first phase was Bronze Age Marvel house style, which makes sense considering his father was the art director for Marvel back then. Then his art became somewhat scratchier and more blocky. Lately he seems to be rounding things and dropping lines. None of these critiques are putdowns, by the way. The man has earned his keep and remains a great artist. It should also be noted that, like his father, he has remained a company man through all of the ups and downs and management shake-ups at Marvel.
Remender
states in the Afterward that he was aiming for the zaniness of
Kirby's '70s run on the title. I am currently 60% through the Captain
America By Jack Kirby Omnibus which collects said run, and this
is worlds better. Reading past-his-prime Kirby is like chewing chalk,
while reading this is like drinking a Diet Mountain Dew; it goes down
smooth but with the right amount of bite and kick to make it worth
your while. Your mileage, as always, may vary.
Junk
Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.
The
OCD zone- Marvel has been cutting corners by not resizing the
double page spreads so as to not have any gutter loss. All of the
Marvel Now Premiere Hardcovers have been suffering from terrible
gutter loss. Please stop the madness! Also, some of the
caption/internal monologue boxes get sucked into the gutter, making
it a bit tough to read at times.
Paper
rating: 4.25 out of 5. Glossy coated stock paper.
Binding
rating: 4 out of 5. Glued binding. That stupid free digital copy
code card glued into the end of the book makes it unpleasant to read.
It's downright annoying, truth be told. These books come factory
shrinkwrapped, so why not just wrap the card in with the book instead
of gluing into the casing?
Hardback
cover coating rating: 4.5 out of 5. These Marvel Now Premiere
Hardcovers are dustjacket free. The image is printed on the hardback
itself. I didn't think that I'd like it, but I like it quite a bit.
The coating is of sufficient thickness so as to withstand handling
and reasonable shelfwear.
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