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CAPTAIN AMERICA: DEAD MEN RUNNING #1
Recommended (7/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Darko Macan
Artist: Daniel Zezelj
Colors: Matt Madden
Letters: Todd Klein
Editor: Andrew Lis
Price: $2.99 US/$4.50 CAN |
Macan is the first creator to take on the mandate of making Captain America more relevant, less of a boy scout who is more made fun of than admired by a lot of comic fans these days. The book definitely looks and reads less like a Captain America title and more like a Vertigo title, which makes sense given that Zezelj is best known for his work on Congorilla, El Diablo and Sandman Presents: The Corinthian. The work here hearkens back to Congorilla, as it centers around a group of morally questionable soldiers in a jungle environment, but Macan throws the element of an idealistic Captain America into the mix. There's an impressive balance between Captain America's tendency toward super-heroic mentality and a soldier's mindset, but he still feels slightly out of place in this story, and the inclusion of a strange card-reading narrator and a plot twist that is visible from early on are definite weaknesses, as is the inevitable comparison to the Captain America story released this week in The Ultimates #1. Still, this is an intriguing portrayal of Captain America, and
a potentially interesting story.
Ever since Aliens, I've been a sucker for the story of a bunch of
soldiers on a special operation. Macan delivers an interesting group of soldiers
here, and I found their dark humor and obvious camaraderie quite easy to
believe. Introducing Captain America into this group is also one of the most
impressive scenes in the book, as we see that despite his idealistic leanings
running against the soldiers, these soldiers still greatly respect and admire
the man. Captain America is a super-hero and a soldier, two roles whose moral
codes don't really gel, but Macan manages to make the blend work.
Of course, the focus of the
story seems to be examining one of those things that writers tend to quietly
ignore: Captain America doesn't really fit in with soldiers in his modern
incarnation. Seeing some soldiers who have taken a morally gray turn in their
mission interact with the straight arrow Cap, and regret their misdeeds even as
they continue to perform them, was an interesting read. I do wish that Macan had
played his cards a little closer to the vest, as it was too easy to guess what
the soldiers were up to from the scant clues we were given early on, and as a
result the ending is unsurprising and winds up making Cap look a little dim for
not picking up on it.
I've generally not been a
huge fan of Daniel Zezelj's work, but I thought his work here was some of the
best he's done. He has always been great with atmosphere and darkness, and he is
aided this issue with some really great coloring from Matt Madden. Madden's
colors manage to get across the darkness of the setting, while conveying the
bright colors of Captain America and without muddying the artwork any further.
Zezelj's work still doesn't lend itself to much in the way of facial
expressions, but a strong script from Macan helps to overcome that weakness, and
the artwork really works for setting the atmosphere.
In general, it would have
been easy for this sort of storytelling to seem out of place for Captain
America. In fact, the narration by Bob Solo, and his fascination with cards, is
a little too strange for the rest of the story. But in general, Macan and Zezelj
have captured the character of Captain America, all the while setting him in the
backdrop of more modern warfare, and I'm interested to see where they take the
story from here.
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