J. Robinson (w) and Pugh (a) and Guru eFX (c)
Bucky was doing a job for the original Nick Fury, a job that went surprisingly well, when the Kree found him like they'd go on to find Human Torch. After evading the Kree and managing to interrogate one of them, Bucky called Steve to let him know what was happening and the two of them went together to Torch in the midwest. Back where the first issue left off, the Invaders manage to hold off the Kree and their leader Tanalth long enough that she gets called back by the Kree with the information that they seem to have all the pieces of the Gods' Whisper. After she leaves, Bucky and Torch exposit a bit about the scene that both Bucky and Torch were made to remember, explaining that it happened on a mission when Cap was busy elsewhere and that they defeated the Nazis and broke the Gods' Whisper into three parts with each of them tasked with burying a part and not revealing its location to the others. After they did that, they called on Aarkus, the original Vision, to wipe their memory of the device and its location. Now they all agree to go after the Kree in the hopes of both stopping them from using the Whisper and saving Namor.It's a good enough plot and one that justifies this once-upon-a-team getting back together (also, as Cap himself intimates, they're just about the only group aside from maybe Atlanteans who would care about rescuing Namor). The characters all play their roles this issue as Bucky gets to be the younger-seeming and more brash wetworks guy while Steve plays the morally definite inspirational leader and Torch plays Steve. That's one of the faults that a lot of people tend to fall into writing Invaders stories: Namor and Bucky are very much not Steve but Torch doesn't really get his own personality unless he's made somewhat angsty by the fact that he's an android and doesn't fit in (don't misread any tone in there, that sort of story is still compelling and the character changes it requires work well for Torch but it's not really one that can sustain all the time). Hopefully this series will last long enough and Robinson will be compelled enough to develop Torch into a character wholly his own. For now, though, the plot continues to suffice and the characters are ones we can pretty easily understand, so even if you're not brushed up on your Invaders, it's an easy enough book to jump into. Hopefully it stays a book worth having jumped into.
Captain America 16
Remender (w) and Alixe (a) and Delgado w/ Fabela and Silva (c)
With Steve across the globe on a mission taking down Nuke, readers may be wondering how Jet Black is faring in this new world. Turns out it's about as well as you would expect. She loathes the world and kind of loathes herself for helping to stop her father from taking it over when he so easily could have and, in her estimation, would have improved it. She's perplexed by the kindness and compassion she sees in the midst of all the horrible parts of the city and she can't quite guarantee it's a good thing. She finds herself doing her first very-nearly heroic thing when she intercedes on the behalf of a shopkeeper being beaten to death by a couple of men he threw out of his store. Of course, she waits until the shopkeeper is very badly beaten before scaring the assailants off. When asked by the man why she didn't help, she asks him why he didn't help himself and goes on to say that if he cannot defeat life, life will defeat him. She soon finds herself being addressed by a man who calls himself a friend and who reveals himself to be an S-Man. Anyone reading UNCANNY AVENGERS will know where this is heading, though we haven't been on that plot in quite some time. He brings her to none other than the Red Skull, who assures her that he is a friend of her father's and calls on her to join him and rule like a Zola over these people who are begging to be ruled. Overwhelmed by all the images he's showing her (such as the image of a Captain America on his knees, admitting that he's fighting for ideals he doesn't believe in and the image of her father), she panics a little and "escapes" only to find that the whole thing has been playing in her head as she stands over the beaten shopkeeper.Plenty of things happening here and Remender again shows elements of the long game he's playing in so many books right now. It's still fairly impossible to get a read on Jet Black, who has shown signs of compassion dating back to her Dimension Z days but who ultimately seems unconvinced by it. The last thing Steve needs is for her to be teamed with Red Skull, especially the Red Skull who has Charles Xavier's mind in his head. There are a lot of things in this issue that call back to UNCANNY AVENGERS but I don't think you have to be a reader of both books to understand exactly what's happening (though I'd hazard that there's a good crossover between readers of CAPTAIN AMERICA and readers of UNCANNY AVENGERS). Even going so far as showing the Captain America that Skull shows to Jet, which is obviously not the real Cap but is something that was hinted at by Skull when he dug around Cap's mind early in UNCANNY AVENGERS, is a nice touch. The art is solid here and works particularly well in the outdoor scenes as Alixe's art and Delgado's colors work well together to create the sort of miserable New York winter day. That said, I won't be upset if Pacheco's back next time out, really been liking his stuff in the book. Next time: more about Dr. Mindbubble. Dr. Mindbubble. Still can't really wrap my head around it.
No comments:
Post a Comment