America #1 Review and *SPOILERS* - Marvel Monday

Good Ol’ Red, White, and Blue

Written By: Gabby Rivera
Art By: Joe Quinones, Joe Rivera, Paolo Rivera, Jose Villarrubia
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 1, 2016
Publisher: Marvel

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

America Chavez has finally gotten her own comic, much to the delight of her fans. Now, I’m a bit late jumping onto this train but from what I’ve learned about this character leading up to this book, she’s a badass. Learning about her powers and her journey up to this point has really drawn me in and I’ve been looking forward to the release of this book for a while now. America is also a great example of how most comic book fans would prefer new diverse characters. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jane Foster’s Thor and Kamala Khan, as well as many other new characters, but I think a lot of fans fought back on those because they were losing the old characters that they loved. America is her own character that has been slowly building in popularity and she finally has her own comic now. She doesn’t replace anyone, she simply opens a new door. Let’s see if it pays off and jump right into this book.

We open the issue with other characters we know talking about and describing America Chavez and how much they like her before we jump right into this book with America coming in to save some civilians in some kind of an attack. She and part of the Ultimates team are fighting together in order to save a planet. After a couple of panels, America finally gets in close to the enemy and punches it, shattering it into a bunch of tiny star pieces that fall to the ground. It’s certainly a new one for her but she simply meets with some of the locals that she saved before flying off and joining the Ultimates on their way back to Earth.

We get back to Earth and America meets up with her girlfriend who she has recently missed a date with. However, her girlfriend understands the situation and things turn romantic vey quickly as America carries her girlfriend back to her room. We catch back up with the two after they have spent the night together and Lisa (America’s girlfriend) tells America that she is not going to be moving with her. The two discussed the move together but Lisa is backing out to follow her own path. America takes this as a break up and while Lisa may not have intended things to be that way, it would seem that for all intents and purposes, that’s the way things are.

America meets with her friend Kate Bishop once more before she drives off and teleports herself to her new home. America will be attending Sotomayor University. When she arrives she is immediately approached by what seems to be a social club much like a fraternity or sorority and is offered a chance to pledge. She turns them down for now and runs off to her first class. When she arrives she finds herself in some kind of ice cave instead and it is revealed that she is in a simulation with her fellow students. It is here that she finds a familiar face with the young man named Prodigy. He was a mutant that was in the Young Avengers with America but he no longer has his powers.

America is reprimanded for being late to class and is lectured by her teacher before she is given her homework. As she leaves though, she and Prodigy catch up a little before going off to work on their homework. Prodigy has created a new machine that will work with America’s abilities to jump across dimensions. With the help of the machine, she will also be able to travel through time now. She attempts to use the machine in order to be with her moms again but suddenly finds herself in World War II instead. She aids some soldiers before running into Captain America. She turns around to see that he is currently fighting Adolf Hitler and she takes the opportunity to punch Hitler in the face, a scene reminiscent of the famous panel of Captain America doing the same. This of course, creates a huge shift in reality and the issue leaves off here.

Unfortunately, I find myself very disappointed with this issue. America Chavez is such a rich and awesome character and this issue doesn’t really capitalize on any of that. The book is clearly aimed at a different audience than me and that may affect my own perception of the book but everything feels really safe for me. No real risks were taken. We started with a bunch of other established characters talking about America like she needed to be talked up. Her character is fully capable of standing on her own but instead she is given legitimacy through other characters rather than her own. Similarly, the “going to college” story has been done so many times that it might as well be a full blown cliché at this point. Honestly, this story is so safe that I feel like most any character could have been put into this issue and it would have changed only slightly to fit them. This creative team had better be cooking up some good stuff or readers like me will drop this book in a heartbeat.

Bits and Pieces

This has got to be one of the safest stories I have ever read. You have a character that is so different from any other that we have in comics right now and instead of embracing that this creative team has put her in the most basic and clichéd storyline possible. Granted, it would seem that this book is aimed at a different audience than myself but there are plenty of great books that do appeal to that audience so this book will really need to step up it’s game in order to stand out amongst the crowd. If they don’t, we may see readers drop this book very quickly.

4.5/10