Finally, all this Dimension Z nonsense is coming to a close. Despite issue nine and maybe one other issue of ‘Captain America’ being pretty good, as a whole, I’ve found that this Marvel NOW series has been pretty outlandish, slow, and boring. But now it’s coming to an end and I couldn’t be happier to get back to a Cap that I’m more used to seeing.
When we last left off in this book from Rick Remender and John Romita Jr., Steve Rogers’ long-time foe Arnim Zola is dead, but his diabolical plan to spread his consciousness through an army of his mutates lives on. Now it’s up to Captain America and Agent 13 to stop the Zola experiments from passing from their dimension to ours. But one thing may stand in their way as the irrational daughter of Zola, Jet Black, might just carry on her father’s legacy yet.
So, after finishing this issue, I found myself hating it, but mostly because it made me sad. Sure, there were still things that I didn’t like about it, but the good outweighed the bad in most situations. But I’ll start with what I didn’t like first. In the preview for this issue, they mentioned something called GODZOLA. I get it. It’s like Godzilla. Clever. It could have been pretty cool, but when the character finally appeared on the page, it looked super lame. The first thing that came to mind when I saw it was one of those cheap Power Rangers Megazord knockoffs that you’d find in Chinatown. There are times when I really enjoy JRJR’s artwork, but right now is not one of them.
As corny as GODZOLA was, Remender’s writing saved the moment. The climax of the book was so suspenseful. There were some majorly epic things going on in those pages. Of course, as I’ve said, it didn’t really end like I would’ve wanted it to, but deaths usually have a way of not sticking in the Marvel Universe. Hopefully that rule holds true in this case.
Now, we’ll be going back to more familiar territory with Captain America with the next issue. Even though I was pleased with issues nine and ten, I can’t wait to see what they have in store next because as a whole, I was not feeling the first arc in this new chapter of Steve’s journey. However, I am curious to see how he handles things after the events of Dimension Z take a toll on him. Plus, with Jet now by his side, I wonder what else will blossom there. Finally, I have some things to say about the word “nomad”. I won’t go into details so that I don’t spoil anything, but I’ll just say that Marvel’s equivalent of Carrie Kelley from ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ is my favorite person to be connected to that word.
As I’ve constantly said since the start of this run, Captain America is my favorite superhero. Though I wasn’t exactly in his corner during the Dimension Z debacle, I’m hopeful for what’s to come next.
Final Score:
CAPTAIN AMERICA #10
Written by Rick Remender
Art by John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Scott Hanna, Tom Palmer, & Dean White
