Captain America: Living Legend #1
Writer Andy Diggle Artist Adi Granov
Introduction
Captain America is a tough character to really appreciate. He was one of the first wave of superheroes in the 1940’s, since then the super soldier has not really changed all that much. The titular character may curse occasionally, but he is still star spangled red and blue boyscout we have all come to know. Outside of the Avengers many have struggled to tell good stories featuring the character. Brubaker’s original espionage run being the fat exception to the rule. Writer Andy Diggle seems to take a similar approach to the character with this mini-series. The title was initially announced and solicited for 2010 with a different name and penciller along with Adi Granov slated to draw all four issues. Granov is now only drawing the initial issue, which gives readers the impression that he could not take on a monthly scheduled series. This is a shame, but Agustin Alessio is taking over past this issue with the interiors. Hopefully, Marvel will learn the lesson on giving an artist like Granov over to a monthly schedule. It is refreshing to get writing by Diggle, who has been sorely lacking from the big two. In fact the writer has constantly been bogged down with editorial interfering in both cases. Shadowland took Daredevil somewhere he was not supposed to go, and DC swiped Action Comics before he got a chance to prove himself. Lets see what he can do with no limitations.
Writing
This issue is exactly what I expected from the creative team for better or worse. Diggle shells out a fairly standard tale with some flashbacks from 1945. The story gets some brownie points for being fairly well detailed as well as lining up into some of the older continuity.Dialogue is also a strong point for the writer, as it is not too cheesy, yet fitting of the time being reflected in this series. The audience for this comic book series, may well be nostalgic for an older generation that was fond of the original incarnation of the title. Unfortunately, these people could be pushing seventy years old and will not in any way hear of the title. The backstory set up in the issue is fairly substandard and just does not feature enough to interesting facets of the story to make me intrigued.
Art
Adi Granov’s interiors are very similar to the covers, this is in no way a bad thing. In fact, the work is quite beautiful selling some big moments from the script in a major way. Recently there has been a lot of heat on artists using a lot of photo reference, Granov is definitely guilty of all the accusations. Whether or not the art can be appreciated is still a matter of opinion, as it tells the story quite well in this context. There are clean backgrounds with limited space that keeps the flow of action fairly well. One aspect where the interiors may fall short that is not a matter of opinion, is the illusion of motion. These characters definitively look static, almost as if they are barely moving. In comics our minds fill in the blanks on movement of characters from panel to panel. The mind will be hard at work imagining those scenes while reading a comic, so stay in a quiet reserved place when reading this installment.
Conclusion
Captain America: Living Legend fell short of my lofty expectations of modern comic books. The series has adequate scripting, but does not present anything substantial. Unless there is some nostalgia for the character, or massive appreciation of the crazy art by Granov, there is not enough interesting material here for the average fan.
Introduction
Captain America is a tough character to really appreciate. He was one of the first wave of superheroes in the 1940’s, since then the super soldier has not really changed all that much. The titular character may curse occasionally, but he is still star spangled red and blue boyscout we have all come to know. Outside of the Avengers many have struggled to tell good stories featuring the character. Brubaker’s original espionage run being the fat exception to the rule. Writer Andy Diggle seems to take a similar approach to the character with this mini-series. The title was initially announced and solicited for 2010 with a different name and penciller along with Adi Granov slated to draw all four issues. Granov is now only drawing the initial issue, which gives readers the impression that he could not take on a monthly scheduled series. This is a shame, but Agustin Alessio is taking over past this issue with the interiors. Hopefully, Marvel will learn the lesson on giving an artist like Granov over to a monthly schedule. It is refreshing to get writing by Diggle, who has been sorely lacking from the big two. In fact the writer has constantly been bogged down with editorial interfering in both cases. Shadowland took Daredevil somewhere he was not supposed to go, and DC swiped Action Comics before he got a chance to prove himself. Lets see what he can do with no limitations.
Writing
This issue is exactly what I expected from the creative team for better or worse. Diggle shells out a fairly standard tale with some flashbacks from 1945. The story gets some brownie points for being fairly well detailed as well as lining up into some of the older continuity.Dialogue is also a strong point for the writer, as it is not too cheesy, yet fitting of the time being reflected in this series. The audience for this comic book series, may well be nostalgic for an older generation that was fond of the original incarnation of the title. Unfortunately, these people could be pushing seventy years old and will not in any way hear of the title. The backstory set up in the issue is fairly substandard and just does not feature enough to interesting facets of the story to make me intrigued.
Art
Adi Granov’s interiors are very similar to the covers, this is in no way a bad thing. In fact, the work is quite beautiful selling some big moments from the script in a major way. Recently there has been a lot of heat on artists using a lot of photo reference, Granov is definitely guilty of all the accusations. Whether or not the art can be appreciated is still a matter of opinion, as it tells the story quite well in this context. There are clean backgrounds with limited space that keeps the flow of action fairly well. One aspect where the interiors may fall short that is not a matter of opinion, is the illusion of motion. These characters definitively look static, almost as if they are barely moving. In comics our minds fill in the blanks on movement of characters from panel to panel. The mind will be hard at work imagining those scenes while reading a comic, so stay in a quiet reserved place when reading this installment.
Conclusion
Captain America: Living Legend fell short of my lofty expectations of modern comic books. The series has adequate scripting, but does not present anything substantial. Unless there is some nostalgia for the character, or massive appreciation of the crazy art by Granov, there is not enough interesting material here for the average fan.
A Look Inside
