Remender and Immomen push the All-New Cap to breaking point at the end of his first arc.
Written by Rick Remender
Illustrated by Stuart ImmomenBaron Blood vs Captain America, Hydra’s war is won, and Zemo’s atrocities continue. Sam Wilson will earn his strips–the single greatest sacrifice in a lifetime of them–and he will never be the same again. The end of the first story arc that sets the stage for the coming Age of Hydra.
Sam Wilson has been through a lot in his first six issues of being Captain America. Coming to terms with the rapid aging of his friend and icon Steve Rogers, taking up the mantle of America’s most-loved hero, facing unprecedented racial and social pressure (from both the pro and anti Wilson public camps) and all the while foiling a Hydra plan to sterilise all but the fascistic minority across the world. Safe to say that it’s been a stressful few months.
So it’s understandable that, in the opening pages of issue #6, the close of his first arc wearing the suit, he’s considering the importance of the legacy he’s leaving. This issue ties up the first arc nicely, picking up from the last issue with Wilson chasing a weaponized Baron Blood through a densely packed city as he attempts to stop Hydra’s Hail Mary play for global domination. Running alongside this is a battle between Roger’s recently revived son Nomad and Batroc, while Zemo prepares to trigger Baron Blood’s bioweapon.
It’s a truly action packed finale and there’s scarcely a page that isn’t packed with life-or-death duelling panels. It’s a testament to Immomen’s crisp, detailed artwork that none of the 20-something pages feel repetitive, and that every fight looks dynamic and deadly. Throughout this series he’s managed to tread a razor-thin line between garish, golden era comic-book iconography and weighty, paramilitary physicality. Immomen’s slick costumes are as bright and bawdy as they come – reminiscent of his recent redesigns for the All-New X-Men – but he uses bulkier body types and brawling panels to constantly remind us of how dangerous these military men and women are. Inker Wade Von Grawbadger and colorist Marte Gracia’s contributions go a long way to helping this comic look as good as it does.
This entire arc has been about warring ideologies, Opposed concepts fighting for dominance. In this final issue Immomen has captured this feeling with great visual aplomb, pairing up sparring partners and then focussing on their close-quarters battling, dropping away from complex backgrounds in favour of simple shapes and dynamic linework to give the whole issue a sense of kineticism and movement. While many of the earlier issues were pitted with cutaways to TV anchors and ‘man-on-the-street’ vox pops to keep track of how Sam Wilson’s time as Cap was being perceived by the public, this issue strips away all unnecessary distractions for the most streamlined read yet. This allows Immomen so much more scope in terms of big, cinematic panels and, in terms of pacing, allows the story to roll out at a breakneck speed that feels almost as if it’s reading in real time.
Remender’s whole arc has felt like a throwback to a bygone era. A Baron Zemo plot to sterilise the liberal masses using a Nazi vampire as a blood bomb sounds like something straight out of Steve Rogers’ most ridiculous 40’s and 50’s adventures. But, Remender has managed to root this ludicrous story both in the modern time and in the modern Marvel period. By weaving in elements of the Inhuman storyline that’s rearing its head across the Marvel Universe and by playing out the Hydra moles in SHIELD and the constant, questioning, double-agentry that has been a recurring theme both in the comics and in the MCU of late, Wilson’s first foray into the world as Captain America feels both familiar and fresh.
In terms of scripting, Wilson has been a more contemplative Cap than I initially thought he might be. The constant reflection on whether or not he’ll be able to live up to his friend’s legacy was an almost crippling monologue during the first few issues but, as his story reaches its peak, Remender has stripped back any external worries and focussed on the soldier in Sam.
Continued belowBy giving Wilson an unquestionably evil villain, Remender freed himself up to focus on Wilson’s internal conflict. He knows he must defeat Hydra, even if it costs him his own future, nothing is more important that the mission. Remender has a lightness of touch during this final issue that is definitely necessary. What with all the ridiculousness of the set-up this arc could’ve fallen into pantomime levels of earnestness, but Remender holds it steady throughout, keeping the personal, human element at the core of the nationalism and fighting for freedom.
Some of the bantering between Nomad and Zemo does start to feel a little expositional but it’s the fate of the crazed Nazi scientist to give up his most guarded secrets once he feels he has the upper hand. Some of Remender’s ideology regarding this issue is flagged up pretty clearly here, but if that’s not the kind of writing you enjoy then you probably shouldn’t be reading a tentpole Captain America comic-book.
Casting an existing member of the Marvel Universe as a replacement for Captain America was always going to be an interesting choice and, while Wilson is, in many ways, the natural successor for Rogers, bringing a character who carries years of his own baggage into the position does bring its own set of unique challenges. Luckily, Remender embraced Wilson’s history, without being beholden to it.
But, most importantly, the very existence of this arc hints at Marvel’s willingness to move their universe forwards in more ways than one. This simple fact that Wilson is the Third person to bear the mantle of Captain America for any great length of time means that Marvel might be starting to understand that the mantle of a character can be moved forward without having to stagnate in terms of character development and story arcs.
Sam comes into this gig as an older hero and he’s fixated upon his legacy. Thinking about getting older, having children, leaving something behind. This is a superhero who knows he might not be around forever, this is someone with a finite amount of stories to tell who wants to make sure they’re the best he can give. That’s something I can get behind. The result of this knowledge of his own mortality makes for a far more existential comic book than I was originally expecting going into this arc, and hopefully he signals the fact that Marvel are getting less precious about preserving their heroes in amber and more open to the idea of giving characters their day in the sun and moving forward.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – Worthy of carrying the legacy of Steve Rogers. This is star-spangled storytelling at its finest.
