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TRUTH RED, WHITE & BLACK #1
"Part One: The Future"
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Robert Morales
Artist: Kyle Baker
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Axel Alonso
Price: $3.50 US/$5.75 CAN |
Truth is a controversial project, but it seems an artificial controversy, built up by the same hype and much of the same tactics as those used to make Origin such a big hit. While Origin dealt with a character I have little interest in, though, Truth is based on Captain America, a character I really like, and the notion that a racist 1940s U.S. military might have tested the super serum on black people first, which is a notion I find intriguing. Throw in a creative team consisting of Kyle Baker, most of whose graphic novels sit in the "must have" category for me and Robert Morales, a writer from the mainstream dipping his foot in the comics waters, and it should have been right up my alley. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way.
Honestly, I was wishing for a bit more time with each of these characters. That speaks well of Morales's writing in that he serves up an interesting cast, but it also means that I felt he gave all of them short shrift in terms of characterization. It seemed at times as if he was so focused on making each of them an embodiment of a certain aspect of Captain America that he spent too much time hammering that aspect home.
Morales does bring the readers right into the time frame of the story, though. The casual and accepted racism is appalling to someone with a 21st century viewpoint, and it's clear that this story is less about "What If Captain America were black?" and more about how racism affected the military and America during World War II and how that might affect a more realistic look at the origin of Captain America. The stories in this issue show a variety of racism in different places, including the World's Fair, an economic meeting and the military. The variety of experiences and viewpoints can only help to make the story entertaining as it goes on.
I keep comparing Baker's newer work to classics like Cowboy Wally, Why I Hate Saturn and I Die At Midnight, and it keeps falling just a little short of those heights. Don't get me wrong, the work is terrific, and I'd read this book for his artwork alone, but it seems like it's not quite as polished and refined as it used to be. The cartoonish exaggeration of the characters' expressions give the book a comical feel that doesn't really fit the tone, and a lot of the work looks either lightly inked or just finished off with color instead of defined a little more in ink. The colors remind me of the somewhat garish tones of King David or Dark Knight Strikes Again, leading me to believe it's an intentional choice that doesn't fit my tastes rather than some kind of print error.
Much like Origin, Truth throws a curveball at fan expectations. There's very little action in this issue, and the whole thing seems like a period drama rather than a super-hero story. That's all well and good, but it doesn't even hint at the real story yet, taking a long time to set up characters and setting, and not really delivering a lot in the way of laughs, action or the more engaging elements of a comic. The talent involved can make even such a slow build interesting, but I can't help but think how much more involved I'd be in the story if there had been at least one splashy or really memorable scene in the issue, rather than a lot of subtle and strong character-building.
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