Captain America: Castaway in Dimension Z Book Two (comics)

Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: John Romita Jr.
Collects: Captain America (Vol. 7) #6-10


So, I wasn't a big fan of the first volume. It had some good ideas, but most of the emotional beats hit with a resounding thud. It was a rare occasion where some extra decompression might have actually helped the story. Even an extra issue or two in the story might have made it easier to swallow.

I figured that I might as well finish out the story, so I'm back for round two.

The second book isn't so much improved as it suffers from fewer issues with selling its big moments. Things ramp up immediately as Cap sets out to recover his adopted son Ian and the volume doesn't really slow down until the end, so there's less to be concerned with. Still, there are some hiccups born of the structure choice - the big moment with Steves would-be rescuer don't work if someone decided to start with issue one of this Cap volume - and the rescue attempt hinges on whether the reader could buy the father-son dynamic the first volume tried to present. I've already gone over that particular problem the first time around, so I won't repeat myself, but it didn't work that well in my opinion, so the payoff we get here falls flat.

Again, this really felt like the kind of direction you apply to fifteen or more issues, not ten.

JR Jr.'s artwork hasn't changed much since the first volume. Same strengths, same weaknesses. The weaknesses are a bit less glaring though; we have no time skips as in the first part of the arc, so we are mercifully sparred jarring moments like Ians complete lack of growth. Still, it's not something I'm super into. Plenty of others disagree, so take it as you will.

The ending does leave us with some potentially interesting tidbits for the future, so the book could easily improve. If I decide to continue it will be because the library has it, which is fairly likely. I'd recommend you do the same. Castaway in Dimension Z is far from bad, but it's not something I'd recommend purchasing.

My Opinion: Try It

Captain America: Castaway in Dimension Z Book One (comics)

Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: John Romita Jr.
Collects: Captain America (2013) #1-5

Sad as it was to see him go, it's hard to argue it wasn't time for Ed Brubaker to take his leave. I've read most of his run and while I've enjoyed it consistently, it was clear he was running out of steam and wasn't necessarily writing the stories he felt passionate about anymore. You have to know when to step away and it seems clear Brubaker knew that. It was time for fresh blood.

Is this direction what the book needed? That I'm not so sure about.

Castaway in Dimension Z wastes no time in getting going. Cap is suckered into a train that blasts him to another dimension, one ruled by Arnim Zola, immediately finding himself in a bad way. He escapes, of course, managing to take Zolas artificially created son with him on the way out. Cap and his adopted son then fight for survival for over a decade in this harsh universe, the dream of making it home ever further with each year that passes.

There's something to be said for starting your run off with a bang, but I'm not sure how wise it was to lead off with this extended storyline. We're starting with a fresh volume not far removed from the end of one of the definitive Captain America runs. One has to assume that some people will be lapsed readers - Brubaker was on the book for eight or nine years, after all - and some may be coming in fresh. I don't think it's smart to throw the character out of his comfort zone immediately when you haven't even established that comfort zone at all in your run.

I think this has a detrimental effect on the story. It feels harder to explain than it probably is, but the simplest way I can put it is that Rick Remender never bothered to establish what it is that Cap is losing by finding himself stranded in another dimension for eleven years. If you're a long time reader, sure, you know, but for the purposes of the story, we never really met Caps friends in this run save Sharon, never got a bead on his life save one battle at the start and didn't get a feel for what he cared about back in the real world. It's like leading off with a "their personalities are different, they must be under mind control" story, which I've seen happen before; how are we supposed to have any idea they're acting off when the writer hasn't shown us what they're supposed to be like in normal circumstances? Same principle.

Worse than that, there's something about Dimension Z that doesn't strike me as particularly interesting. It's different, sure, but it feels uninspired. It's mostly a wasteland with a couple groups of weird looking creatures. It's clear we won't be there long enough to get a feel for the ecosystem or how it works - which are sort of hinted at here and there - and it's not visually dynamic enough to make you turn your brain off and forget to worry about the specifics. Dimension Z is just... there. It kind of failed to pull me in.

The timeskips aren't helping its case, either. There are two within the five issues collected. One right after the first issue, skipping a year, and another an issue or two later that skips ahead a whopping eleven years. Most of the trials and tribulations of surviving in this world aren't even touched upon. Same for any character growth for Caps adopted son Ian. Ian is kidnapped - or reclaimed, if you ask Zola - by the end of the fifth issue. He's only been twelve for maybe two and a half issues at that point. How are we supposed to care? We haven't had nearly enough time to get to know him.

It feels like this storyline is trying to pull the trick Cables series way back when did - where he hopped through time, raising Hope through the years - only skipping the character moments and compressing the hell out of it. This feels like the sort of status quo change you hinge upwards of thirty issues on, just to mine all the potential. Instead, we're halfway through, barely scratched the surface so far and only have five issues to go.

I have the distinct feeling that I'm just not getting it, but I genuinely don't know what there is here to get.

John Romita Jr.'s our regular artist. Very hit or miss artist, for me. This one lands somewhere in between. He does pretty capable work here, but at the same time, he shows a new weakness I wasn't aware of before. Apparently, JR Jr. has some difficulty with drawing varied age groups. At the start, Ian is a newborn baby; one year later, he looks like a four year old; eleven years later he still looks like a four year old. Pretty distracting and potentially confusing, especially considering this is a story that loves it some time skips.

I'm not overly impressed with the new direction. Truth be told, I was a bit bored with it. I may read book two to finish out the story, but if it doesn't do a better job of grabbing me, I may pass on following Remenders Cap run any further than that. Too many other books to spend time with.

My Opinion: Try It

Spider-Man: Spider-Island (comic)

Writers: Dan Slott, Rick Remender
Artist: Humberto Ramos, Stefano Caselli and Tom Fowler
Collects: Amazing Spider-Man #666-673, Amazing Spider-Man: Infested, Spider Island: Deadly Foes, Venom #6-9

You may have guessed by the lack of reviews over the past couple years, but I fell off the Spidey bandwagon a while back. It's not for utterly boring reasons like "oh my god I'm so mad Peter and MJ aren't together anymore", as you may recall that I was pleased with that development. It's not really an issue of quality either, though I have some issues I'll get to in a minute. No, there are a few reasons, but the biggest one is a pretty simple one; I just plain could not keep up with the Spider-Man release schedule.

It started with Brand New Day, where Amazing went thrice-monthly. I loved the first few volumes, warts and all. But the trade release schedule was just as hectic; seemed like a volume was releasing every other month thanks to the accelerated schedule of the floppy and Spider-Man was about mid-way on my list of purchase priorities. It was sort of inevitable that I was going to fall behind. It got to a point where I was so far behind I just gave up and figured I'd get back to it later. I didn't.

Spider-Island seemed enough of a self contained thing that I could pick it up and go from there. The premise is just ridiculous enough to scream "fun" at me in big bold letters. Basically, everyone in Manhattan suddenly has all of Spidey's powers, with none of his morals or - cliche as it is to say it - responsibility. Clearly, this is not going to end well.

Oh, also, Jackal's involved, which nearly caused me to drop the book on page one - to paraphrase Mary Jane in this story, "If we're doing the clone thing again I'm leaving" - but thankfully there's only a bit of his usual shenanigans.

If you want to look at the big picture, it's easy to see the reason for this story. By giving everyone his powers and thus making him one in a crowd, Slott can highlight what it is that actually makes Peter Parker stick out. A good trick to be sure. DC had a similar idea not that long ago; the entire New Krypton saga existed for many of the same reasons, though how much success they had with that one depends on who you ask*.

Spider-Island is far from the most cerebral read going, but there's something to be said for some dumb superhero fun mixed with your typical Spider-Man soap operatics. It also has the good sense not to overstay its welcome; think about how many past big Spider-Man stories seemed to never end. Overall, we get a decent portrait of what makes Peter Spidey, along with some choice developments to the ongoing narrative.

But then there's the other half of the coin. I actually read the first volume of Big Time a while ago in an attempt to get back on the Spider-Man bandwagon. Apparently, I didn't review it - a quick check of the Spider-Man tag seems to indicate as much - but there was one impression that stuck with me. I just flat out hated the artwork.

To my disappointment, the artist Marvel chose to accompany Slott on the Big Time venture was Humberto Ramos. He's still around for the main storyline of Spider-Island. I am not a fan of his work for numerous reasons, many of which can be seen in this book. The anatomy is always off, limbs are bigger than they should be, judicious use of impossible poses abound (at least one panel has Carlie swinging while she's bent so far back I'd expect to see a "snap" SFX somewhere near her midsection) and everything looks vaguely ugly.

Being harsh is not my intent. His style does have its fans. I simply do not see it. I have a similar problem with Kelley Jones; at some point, I just can't chalk things that bug me up to "it's just his style" anymore. I don't begrudge the man work and have nothing against him. His art is just a major turnoff for me. I try, but I can't look past the Popeye proportions. It's part of why I didn't stick with the book after reading the first Big Time trade.

Also included here are four issues of the Venom ongoing. A while back I actually wondered where the hell #6-9 ended up and this seems to answer that question. The first couple can stand apart from the main story well enough, initially making me wonder why they didn't have their own volume, but by the end I understood; the events of #8 are very important and lead right into the next issue of Spider-Island, making them inseperable. Clearly Marvel hates me.

All four issues are very good - and frankly, I'd rather Tom Fowler or Stefano Caselli had handled art duties for Spider-Island proper - with numerous developments building off the first volume of Venom. This is a joy and a curse; these issues are important to the ongoing events of the Venom series, yet are tied so strongly to Spider-Island they can't really stand alone. As such, this is likely to be the only place you're going to find these issues in trade. Dammit.

The Score: 7.5 out of 10

I'd score this higher, but the art really hurts it for me. If you can deal with Humberto Ramos artwork - or are a fan of his - bump this up half a point higher. It's far from an instant classic, but it's fun and it's memorable.

* Some people think it was an interesting experiment, but most were sick of it and it seems largely forgotten now. It certainly didn't help that Geoff Johns run on Action Comics was cut short at the time for reasons I can't recall. He essentially set the whole thing up and had to bail, leaving New Krypton to others. The whole saga seems to be regarded as a failure and I'd say losing its architect before the plot gained momentum had a large part in that.

Venom (comics)

Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Tony Moore, Tom Fowler
Collects: Venom (2011) #1-5

Symbiotes are very cool, but their popularity waned after overexposure and never had a big shot at an ongoing. In the 90's Venom had a bunch of miniseries come one after the other, which can essentially be considered an ongoing if you squint. They were of varying quality, however, some good, some bad. There actually was a Venom ongoing years back, but we won't discuss it.

Worse still, Venom in general has been floundering for years. Mark Millar removed the symbiote from Eddie Brock during his Marvel Knights run and things haven't been the same since. Millar decided Mac Gargan - the friggin Scorpion - would be good to shove into the suit and that iteration was essentially a chump for years after. Finally, when the Brand New Day era ended and Dan Slott took over Amazing Spider-Man full time, the symbiote was removed from Gargan in-story.

Marvel responded by giving Venom his own series, written by Rick Remender. Damn good call. Spoiler alert: I'm going to be open about the new Venoms identity, so if you somehow don't know, skip to the score.

Remender dodges expectations beautifully by taking on a new high concept for the character, giving him a new host from Spideys revitilized supporting cast and hitting the ground running. Essentially, Venom has become a tool of the government; a special operative tasked with secretly taking out various threats. The government, however, has it on a strict leash; the user cannot have the suit on for more than forty eight hours due to risk of the symbiote taking control and beginning to bond permanently. If Venom takes control, the government has a failsafe that means the hosts death.

The host? Flash Thompson.

This was a masterstroke. Flash is a long time Spidey supporting character that was really brought back into the fold with Brand New Day. Once a high school bully of Peter Parker, he later grew up, becoming Petes friend. Flash went on a tour of duty with the army during Brand New Day and ended up losing his legs. His personal problems piled up and he's struggled to keep it together. But now, the Venom symbiote gives him another chance to serve his country, powers like his hero Spider-Man and the ability to walk again while into the suit.

Flash has a perfect setup here, from a storytelling standpoint, while having many problems typical to the Spider-Man series. His are actually worse when you think about it; while Peter's the hard luck hero, he can at least pull himself out of the hole, while Flash is a disabled war veteran who doesn't exactly live the good life. It sets up a conflict of interest between his real life and his life on duty; it's quite clear that eventually it's going to reach a boiling point. Since Flash is likable, relatable and interesting that one's going to hit hard.

Remender eschews the whole "write for the trade" style with this series, it seems. Of the five issues here, the first and the fifth are done in ones, while the middle three issues form something of an arc. We seem to be trending back towards more of this and less "six issue arcs designed for collection", which is good. The best writers seem to realize a great story does not necessarily need to be a six issue epic. Within those five issues, you get a great introduction to the status quo, insight into Flashs life that the glimpses in Amazing do not give us and a compelling read.

Remender is helped along by Tony Moore. Moore is definitely suited to the proceedings, having a knack for fun and over the top ridiculousness. There's this one panel that really illustrates it; Venom is running towards his destination, civilian in tow, the symbiote keeping a live grenade from blowing, three tendrils controlling assault rifles firing behind him while he fires a pistol forward. Bullets rain down all over, bodies everywhere. It's completely over the top while managing not to feel out of place in what's written as a very serious mission. Artists with less skill might have made such a panel humorous; and while the comedic approach is a valid one, it's pretty clear such a moment isn't supposed to be played for laughs.

Moore doesn't do everything, but I have to say the fill in for issue three and most of five isn't bad either. His style's a bit cleaner than Moores, but it's not jarring enough to feel out of place. Usually fill-in art is a dirty phrase in comic fandom, but done right it can fit right in. I won't be too upset if Tom Fowler is Marvels regular pinch hitter for this series.

The Score: 8.5 out of 10

A new approach and mission statement does wonders for the Venom symbiote. This is a great read and an excellent introduction. Definitely pick it up, it's well worth the change. Who knew Marvels next must-read series would star Venom?