Synapsis Webzine : Article 200 = Sound and Fury IV

Last time I looked at the Avengers (thumbs undecided) and Iron Man (thumbs down). Now I think it's time for the other two in the Return list, the FF and Cap.

I must admit upfront that I had higher hopes for Cap than the FF, as Scott Lobdell doesn't do much for me, but, as the FF was one of my top two Marvel titles in my teenage years (the mid-80s), and given that even though I'm too concerned over the art in my comics (must be functional, but I don't ask for perfection) I still like Davis and Farmer...

Oh no, Davis and Farmer left after three issues. Oh yes, Lobdell left after a couple more, to be replaced by Claremont, who I used to have a great deal of time for when the X-Men used to be interesting (c.110-190). Unfortunately, I absolutely detested his later X-Men stuff, and Sovereign Seven was just so completely dire that I had to approach his FF with trepidation...

First issue was a bit tedious, the situation seemed totally forced, as if the end-goal was produce this super-powered girl and this was worked towards, instead of the new girl coming out of the story naturally. The banter between the various members of the FF was nice, and there's a nice line in developing Reed's thoughtlessness towards the rest of the group, which they finally begin to protest about. Ok, so issue #1 is so-so.

Issue 2 gets worse. A new villain, the Iconoclast, shows up, fights the Invisible Woman for a bit, has a mysterious purpose, a matter of life and death, and vanishes after being defeated, with the heroes none the wiser as to who is was or what he wanted. Heard this one before?

Issue 3 features the return of the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes, with the twist being the Red Ghost is stupid and the Apes super-intelligent, with an amalgamation of their former powers. Nice touches include a bit of mystery as to why the FF's computers didn't pass Reed's location on when he summoned the rest of the FF to help him, Reed being the mentor for some students, and a bit more development of the Thoughtless Reed subplot, but generally an unremarkable issue.

Issue 4 is remarkable. Remarkably bad. This has a Lobdell plot with Claremont script - and you can tell it's a Claremont script straight away, with overblown dialogue between the characters, everyone telling everyone else their complete history when talking, and ridiculous lines such as these snippets:-

This crap persists for the whole issue and is generally very depressing. The art takes a downswing, with Larroca and Thibert doing their best, I suppose, but they're no Davis and Farmer (mind you, who is?).

It took me almost a week to drum up the courage to read issues 5 to 7, and, at first, things seemed to be looking up. Mr Fantastic has a one-on-one battle with a(nother) new villain, Crucible, who is NOT Doctor Doom, it is emphasised (so will probably turn out to be one of Doom's robots, or a clone, or his brother or mother or something). Crucible does something to Mr F during the battle, although we don't know what - the battle ends off- panel, one minute Mr F is punching Crucible around, the next we find the Thing and an old friend/flame of Mr F's looking over the battle site at Mr F's body and no sign of Crucible.

As usually happens with these things, nothing is explained in the next couple of issues. Instead, there's some gratuitous appearances by a few other super-powered beings (Power Man, Iron Fist, Submariner), the setting up of a subplot involving romantic entanglements between the Invisible Woman and the Submariner, and a plot revolving around some of the most irritating and useless creations in Marvel history - Gatecrasher's Technet.

The dialogue in issues 5 to 7 is every bit as bad as you expect Claremont's to be, but I find myself being able to tune most of the cliches out and concentrate on the stories underneath - there's something about his writing, though, that prevents me from completely slating this title. Perhaps it's the way he handles subplots much better than anyone else at Marvel?

Therefore, I think I'll stay with it a while longer, in the hope that Claremont actually starts to clear up some of his subplots, rather than just forget about them as in the past. Give it a try.

My least favourite of the bunch in the old days. Wasn't particularly impressed with the start of Waid's first run on Cap, and the first issue here seemed to be very by-the-numbers, usual fight scenes.

Cap returns from the Heroes Reborn universe to find himself, for no apparent reason, in Japan, in the middle of the film premiere of The Legend of Captain America. He runs into another patriotic group of people, who want to keep their country free of westernisation...ho hum, seen this all before. As it's Japan, must be time for an appearance by either the Silver Samurai or Lady Deathstrike - oh, here she comes, has a quick fight, and disappears in the fight aftermatch. Last couple of pages of the issue setup a few future subplots, very obviously, very a la Iron Man's first issue. Not an impressive debut.

The second issue didn't seem to be heading anywhere very much better, just even more fight scenes, this time underwater, this time featuring Hydra. However, the shock ending woke me right up, and even shook me. What on earth will he do now? Rereading the issue, the ending is telegraphed all the way through, even so, this has really piqued my interest now.

Issue 3 features yet another fight with Hydra, this time in the Smithsonian - and Cap gets shot! It must only be scratch, though, as by the time issue 4 comes around everyoe has forgotten about it. In the background, Cap is having problems adjusting to the enhanced levels of hero worship he is now experiencing. This flows into the fourth issue, with a substantial guest appearance from Hawkeye, neating sending up Cap's current situation, and, after another pointless battle - this time with Batroc - Cap decides to take matters into his own hands and go after Hydra.

Issue 5 opens with Cap and the rest of the Avengers busting into Hydra bases all over the world - closely followed by SHIELD. Cap says they are sweeping up every known Hydra base...one wonders why on earth SHIELD didn't sort them out years ago, since they've known where Hydra were hiding all this time.

An incredibly implausible sequence spoils the issue - the new Supreme Hydra, now called the Sensational Hydra, is disguised as a new SHIELD recruit, and no-one notices he isn't legit. In fact, his squad leader doesn't know his name - "Hey, new guy, gimme a hand with the cuffs here, willya" - how stupid are these people?

The issue concludes with Cap tied up and the true villain of the piece revealed - a Super Skrull, who shapechanges himself into Cap and walks out to be feted by the adoring masses. Next issue blurb ruins the suspense: "You won't believe how Cap gets out of this trap!". Well, thanks for telling me he escapes so soon, not much point in reading it now, is there?

But read it I did, along with issue 7, forming a sort of conclusion to this first story arc. And whilst the story does move along at a cracking pace, it feels very much like old episodes of Doctor Who - people just running around aimlessly, with not very much being achieved, until the final denouement. In the case, an unmasking of the Skrull-Cap in front of TV cameras, and Cap taking full responsibility.

The jury is out on the new Captain America. There were some nice sequences, but a lot of wasted space on battles which should've been condensed and some plot and story added. What happens next will be the judge, I think, of how worthwhile it is to keep up with this title. These situations usually go one of two ways - everyone still blames Cap for what his doppelganger did, so there's a backlash and he becomes unpopular; or everyone forgives him as it wasn't his fault, and he's now Mr. Popularity again. If Waid can guide this title into a more original avenue, I'll carry on reading.

Disclaimer - all of the above nonsense is purely my personal opinion. No doubt most people may well disagree with some or all of my comments, butplease feel free to e-mail me to discuss anything I write here.

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