Saturday, April 08, 2023

Scott's Take: Captain America: Symbol of Truth Vol. 1.: Homeland by Tochi Onyebuchi


Captain America: Symbol of Truth Vol. 1.: Homeland by Tochi Onyebuchi collects Captain America #0 (2022) and Captain America: Symbol of Truth #1-6. This series is about Sam Wilson. Currently both Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson are Captain America. They have separate titles that launch from the same zero issue that is included in this volume. They have separate creative teams, have separate supporting casts, and are facing separate conspiracies. The titles will crossover later in the year in Captain America: Cold War.

Sam Wilson is told that a train carrying a chemical used in the super soldier serum is going to be hijacked. Obviously bad guys with their own super soldier would be a bad thing. As listed in the synopsis, the train has ties to Wakanda. That puts him in conflict with the Wakandans who have not been depicted very positively in the comic lately.

After that, he is on to Latveria where Deadpool is running his own operation related to the conspiracy. Dr. Doom does not take well these covert operations being run in his country without his permission.

Much later Sam Wilson will take on Black Panther as the conspiracy involving Wakanda and America heats up.

The art is excellent and the writing is good even if the plot is fairly common for a Captain America book. You have your illegal immigrants being used as pawns, you have your corrupt senator, you have someone trying to tear down countries while turning the public against Captain America, you have your racial tensions between African Americans and whites. It is a good read but fairly usual fare for Captain America book for the last six years or so. Whether the title stars Sam or Steve, the writers have been playing with the same core elements for quite some time now.

The villain is introduced, but many readers who are new to the comics will not have heard of him since he was never used in the movies. Most adaptions choose to ignore this character and they don’t do much to explain who he is and how dangerous of a person he is. I feel like maybe someone should have dropped a bio or something other than just a throwaway line that will confused many new readers. I am deliberately not revealing his name in order to not create spoilers.

I like how they highlight one key difference between the Marvel Sam Wilson of the movies and the Sam Wilson in the comics. Sam Wilson’s, in the comics, father died trying to intervene between a fight between two men. After the death of his father, a very young Sam was raised by his single mother still seeks to honor the beliefs that cost his father his life.

I enjoyed this series despite the flaws regarding plot ideas and the noted issues with the villain. I am looking forward to the untitled second volume that currently also does not have a publication date.

A thing to note is that there is also an interesting beef being set up between Sam and the Black Panther. That could be a plot point in the upcoming new Avengers title by Jed MacKay. They will now be on the same Avengers team, after beating the crap out of each other, so that should be more than a little awkward.


 

My reading copy came from the Park Forest Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.


Scott A. Tipple ©2023

No comments: