Today's Captain America #10 concludes the Dimension Z storyline that launched the Marvel NOW! volume of Cap's title (volume 7 for those of you playing along at home). It points to a revised status quo for the Sentinel of Liberty--and one of his supporting characters--as he escapes Zola's dimension in which he has spent over a decade, during which less than an hour passed in his own world. Also, he spent this time raising a young boy, Ian, as his son, only to lose him when he was shot by Sharon Carter when she arrived to rescue Cap.
SPOILERS BELOW THE JUMP
The current run of Captain America began with Sharon proposing marriage to Steve--as he had back in 1967's Tales of Suspense #95, before he even knew her real name--so it was appropriate that Sharon could joke about it before she sacrifices herself to save the world:
Sharon died heroically, of course, destroying Zola's battle station before it could invade Cap and Sharon's Earth and enslave all of humanity. I have little doubt we'll see Sharon again--everybody say it with me, "there was no body"--but let's just hope it doesn't take another 16 years.
The deeper ramification of Steve's return home is the changed nature of his status as a "man out of time," as made clear by Rick Remender's text piece on the letters page of the comic. As opposed to his Avengers #4 origins, in which time moved ahead in the rest of the world while he was on ice, now Cap has spent over a decade isolated from humanity while time virtually stood still in the "real" world. This time he won't have to adjust to a changed world, but he will be a changed man within an identical world to the one he left (but may not remember perfectly).
As Markisan Naso noted in his review of Captain America #8 at Sequart, after a storyline that pushed Steve's perseverance to impossible extremes, he will be tested in a different way once he returns home:
Once Cap returns to the Marvel Universe I would not be surprised to see Remender flash back to Dimension Z, much like we saw Ed Brubaker’s espionage-fueled Cap stories continually flash to World War II. After being trapped in this nightmare realm for 12 years (which may be more time than Cap has spent in the modern world), the psychological effects of the events he experienced there will certainly test his resolve once more.
Add to this that he's recently lost a young son--incidentally, continuing the parallels to Batman's life that started with the return of Bucky Barnes and Jason Todd years ago--and the Steve Rogers that returns in Earth in 2013 may be a very different man. Perhaps we'll see some of the remorse and soul-searching that was a hallmark of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's original mid-1960s Cap stories, in which he emerged from the ice tortured over losing Bucky (and then nearly reliving the experience with Rick Jones). In any case, I hope that Remender retains the core virtues and qualities that define Captain America's character as he presents Cap with new challenges and burdens in the stories to come.
For my tastes, this storyline went on a bit too long, although I realize that may have been intended to give readers a more visceral impression of the length of time Cap spent in Dimension Z. (And compared to the 23 issues of "Wonder Woman and Her Wacky Family" we've endured, Cap's sojourn flew by.) But I'm eager for a change of pace, and to see how Remender pushes the limits of Cap's perseverance, heroism, and virtue now that he's back in the real world after his horrific ordeal (and prepares to face Nuke, remembered best from Frank Miller's Daredevil classic "Born Again," and from which a famous panel discussed here hails).
P.S. There's one more surprise at the end of the issue that ties back nicely to several pivotal Cap stories from the past, but I won't spoil that--suffice it to say that, as well as leaving a thread for future writers to pick up, it also provides a convenient way for Sharon to return. (Thank you, Mr. Remender.)
Comments