“Who is America to you?” From page one to the letters page, “America” #1 is fists out, the most America Chavez book that could possibly exist. America has slowly been accumulating a cult fanbase since she first premiered in the 2011 miniseries “Vengeance,” and if you already consider yourself to be a die-hard, you’re getting exactly what you wanted. If this is your first time reading a comic about America Chavez, you’re in for a wild, inter-dimensional ride.
Written by Gabby Rivera
Illustrated by Joe Quinones
At last! Everyone’s favorite no-nonsense powerhouse, America Chavez, gets her own series! Written by critically-acclaimed YA novelist Gabby Rivera (Juliet Takes A Breath) and drawn by all-star artist Joe Quinones (HOWARD THE DUCK), Marvel Comics’ brand new AMERICA series shines a solo spotlight on the high-octane and hard-hitting adventures of the one and only America Chavez! America has always been uncontestably awesome, and as the newly appointed leader of the Ultimates, she’s now officially claimed her place as the preeminent butt-kicker of the Marvel Universe! But while leading a team of heroes and punching out big bads is great and all, it doesn’t really leave much time for self-discovery? So what’s a super-powered teenager do when she’s looking for a little fulfillment? She goes to college! She just has to stop an interdimensional monster or two first, plus shut down a pesky alien cult that’s begun worshipping her exploits!
Though she was created by Joe Casey and Nick Dragotta, America became the character we know and love in Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s “Young Avengers.” She’s a tough-as-adamantium lady-loving Latina from the Utopian Parallel. Lately, she’s been hanging out with Captain Marvel and Black Panther in Al Ewing’s “The Ultimates,” where she serves as a paramedic for the universe. She’s so strong, she can kick star-shaped holes through the barriers of the multiverse, and fly to alternate realities.
So yeah, an America Chavez comic was always going to be totally weird. This book delivers on that. The real question is if it could also be grounded. Gabby Rivera and Joe Quinones walk the thin line between the familiar and the mind-shatteringly weird.
In this, her first solo series, America is going to college. This has been a reliable premise for superhero comics, but Rivera and Quinones give it an America-flavored twist. Her new school is Sonia Sotomayor University on an alternate Earth. The cool sorority to pledge is called Leelumultipass Phi Theta Beta (yes, after the character from The Fifth Element). America’s first class is “Intergalactic Revolutionaries and You,” focusing on heroes from throughout the multiverse. It’s as weird as it sounds.
That’s where Rivera’s writing comes in. It’s up to her to make all of this feel familiar. Sure, America’s new school is like nothing we’ve ever seen, but we’ve all been to college. Her homework may involve time travel and holograms, but it’s still homework and she’d rather not be doing it. America’s drama with her girlfriend may be predicated on an intergalactic conflict, but it’s still relationship drama. America’s friendship with her bestie Kate Bishop is way cooler than any friendship I’ve ever had, but I recognize the truth at the core of it.
Quinones on the other hand, has the opposite goal. He’s making the familiar feel positively unhinged. That’s not new for him, he had a similar job with Chip Zdarsky on “Howard the Duck,” but here he may be doing the best work of his career. There’s just so much going on in terms of setting, in terms of action, in terms of fashion. Holy crap, the fashion! One thing that makes America unique is that she doesn’t have a superhero costume per se, but rather a series of awesome red, white, and blue outfits that hover between superhero and rad fashion. Quinones gets to draw her in three different outfits, and they are all killer. His sartorial eye is also turned towards other characters in the series, including the very basic fashion choices of a returning Young Avenger.
Because America is traveling through time and space, she finds herself in a lot of distinct settings, and Quinones reflects that in the art style. He does that thing where he and the rest of the art team render scenes in the style of classic comic book artists to capture a time or a place or a feeling. One scene in particular, has the four-color simplicity of an old fashioned “Captain America” comic from the 1940s. Quinones’s primary influence is clear though. The splash page that introduces Sotomayor University is done in the style of a college campus map, complete with numbers explaining the different places around the school. He overlays this with panels of America walking around for the first time. You’ve seen this technique before, in the pages of “Young Avengers” and “The Wicked + the Divine;” it’s a favorite of Jamie McKelvie. There are worse influences to have.
The mission statement of the book seems to be that America Chavez lives the coolest life, on this world or any other. Whether or not you buy into that depends on what kind of person you are. If you live at the intersection of super-strong lesbian Latina life and zany Grant Morrison-like weirdness, this is gonna be your new favorite. If that sounds awful to you, you were never going to like this book, regardless of quality. If you’re not sure yet, you can be assured that this is a rocking first issue from a solid creative team, ready to bring us a gonzo ongoing series.
Final Verdict: 8.3 – A fun first issue that promises to satisfy superfans, and maybe even do some recruiting for Team America.
