This November, Marvel NOW! is preparing to kick off strong by revamping MOST of their major titles. No one is safe, and that includes The Star-Spangled Sentinel himself, Captain America! After a historic run (2005 to current) Ed Brubaker will be handing the reigns over to Rick Remender (Uncanny X-force, Venom) who will be responsible for creating Cap’s role in this new post AvX world. Remender has taken the first step by recruiting legendary artist John Romita (Kick-Ass) to visually tell his story. Here’s our first look at issue #2, what is with Cap’s hair?! Is he taking grooming advice from Thor!?
Here’s some excerpts from an interview courtesy of Marvel.com with Remender, you can read it in its entirety here on the site.
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Marvel.com: When you were asked to do the series, how did it feel knowing you’d be following up Ed Brubaker’s acclaimed run?
Rick Remender: Well, you do that by not grabbing from the same influence box. I think what Ed did was make the perfect spy book with the involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D. and all those things that were such a big part of the character and his history. Ed came along and he really did it and made it perfect. There’s no reason for me to follow with that tone and so [my book is] a hostile takeover in that the tonal change; I’m drawing more from the Jack Kirby era [of the 1970’s]. The beginning of the Arnim Zola stuff and the Mad Bomb stuff and that very sort of wildly imaginative sci-fi era that Kirby had leaned into is kind of where I’m going with it.
Marvel.com: So what you’re saying is that you’ll be making his universe even more colorful? How would you describe that sort of tone?
Rick Remender: It’s almost like “Kirby Sci-Fi Indiana Jones.” High adventure dipped in sci-fi spy fantasy with heavy focus on the man under the suit. Steve’s fabric and his relationships drive our story and the action is the byproduct. Tonally it’s very serious. You want to make sure the characters go up against things that feel like real threats and [put] them into interesting situations. It’s a lot less of the connection with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the spy work and more big high adventure super hero stuff with sci-fi that I tend to lean into. It’s obviously a big challenge following a beloved run like Ed’s. I guess that’s what was also appealing because it was a challenge; it wasn’t safe. You’re working with new people. Part of the Marvel NOW! initiative is that it’s taking a ball-peen hammer and smashing the Marvel Universe up and shifting creative teams. Everybody is in an uncomfortable place and that’s where you get the most creative juice. It’s not just me, fortunately; it’s everyone taking up new things and living up to the standard being set.
Marvel.com: Cap’s long been the “Man Out of Time” and kind of a loner. What’s his supporting cast going to be like in the book?
Rick Remender: There will be familiar faces involved. There will be some zigs and zags coming up in the first 18 issues I have planned that will involve characters we’re used to seeing Steve with. There will also be a new cast. I want to work up some new characters for him. I have some new villains to add to his rogue’s gallery, real big threats, and then we’ll also be dealing with characters that come out of the Zola storyline moving forward. Quite a few actually. In the attempt to do the hostile takeover, I wanted to make sure that this has a unique feel and it’s a bold new direction. People are going to really love it or they won’t. It feels like the right decision to me right now and everyone seems excited about what’s going up.
Marvel NOW! Captain America #1 hits comic shops on November 21st, 2o12
Stay tooned 😛
~CynicNerd
