Review: Captain America: Fear Him #1 (Marvel Comics)
With Steve Rogers passing the mantle of ‘Captain America’ to his longtime partner and friend Sam Wilson a.k.a. The Falcon, the ‘flying Cap’ is coming to Marvel’s Infinite Comics in Captain America: Fear Him #1. Can this be an opening salvo success, or will ‘flying Cap’ fall straight into a tailspin?
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Dennis Hopeless/Rick Remender
Artist: Mast & Geoffo (artists), Szymon Krudanski (inker), Andres Mossa (Colourist), VC’s Joe Caramanga (letterer)
Price: £2.49/$3.99 from ComiXology
Captain America: Fear Him #1 tells the story of Sam Wilson, the newly announced Captain America, adjusting to his new role as the Sentinel of Liberty as well as his new partnership with the son of Steve Rogers, Ian. They get involved in stopping a bank robbery by two zip-line escaping crooks, while receiving Intel from a now Oracle-like, older Steve, however, while combating these robbers and going against orders, Ian encounters the Scarecrow, an old villain who lives off of the fear of others. Unfortunately for this new foe, the new Nomad has no fear, resulting in him taking drastic actions to acquire some.
This all new Captain America story is very entertaining throughout with strong dialogue and interaction between the characters being the base for which the book is structured around. Although, as an opening issue it is somewhat basic, Hopeless and Remender (who writes the main series, giving this title a form of connection) use the conversations between the characters to sow the seeds of tension early. This is helped as the writers also imbue characters, Scarecrow, and Ian specifically, with captivating personalities which, upon their meeting, is really where the books sparks fly.
The artwork, from the excellent Geoffo and Mast make Captain America: Fear Him #1 into a beautiful title from start to finish, especially with extra detail provided on some of the very heroic panels. However the style feels rather formulaic at times, especially in comparison to some of the more diverse styles of motion books like Amazing Spider-man: Who Am I? or Daredevil: Road Warrior, although that may just be a personal preference.
Overall, Captain America: Fear Him #1 comes across very well having utilised the motion comics tech nicely a lot of times throughout, giving the story some fluidity which helps it read well.
