It’s nice when a book takes a step back out of the normal storyline and allows a hero to be a hero. Captain America, like most of the Marvel Universe, has been battling through the Infinity beef involving Thanos. Captain America Living Legend #1, a new title from Andy Diggle with art by Adi Granov, is a story completely outside that reality. Spanning nearly seven decades, Living Legend uses all the phases of Cap’s career to unfold its tale.
Bavarian Alps, 1945. A Russian squad is hiding in the woods. Wounded with half their troops dead, the team is questioning their orders to raid a Nazi bunker. One Russian, a man named Volkov, says the troops owe it to Mother Russia. After a rather dramatic confrontation with the commanding officer, Volkov orders the Russians to attack. Almost instantly, a Panzer tank repels them, until Captain America and his elite U.S. troop team show up to aid in the Nazi ass-kicking.
Within the bunker, the Russian/America team find slave labor – souls existing only as lab rats for the Fuhrer. Volkov and Cap, who see the treatment of captured enemy combatants in very different terms, begin arguing. A Nazi soldier produces a handgun and shoots Volvkov. Jump to 1968, the Soviet Space Program. Volkov has survived and is about to man a Russian rocket. It’s implied that Cap saves Volkov, though never said outright. Jump to the modern age. A space station falls under a bizarre attack, dragged from its orbit by a mechanical beast of some kind.
Captain America and Sharon Carter are brought in to investigate the fallen station. Looking over the few clues left behind, the two discover a name being transmitted from the station once the event began. The final panel reveals the word, which is simply Volkov. Where has Volvkov been for the last forty-five years, and how is he wrapped up in the fallen station? Andy Diggle pushes those answers to the next issue. While my enjoyment of Diggle is extremely hit or miss, he does a great job with Living Legend. He understands the grandeur of these types of Captain America stories, and exploits it perfectly.
While some will rejoice, I find myself put off by Adi Granov’s art. The talent is there, and his ability to create fine-art landscapes rich with characters is undeniable. That being said, this Norman Rockwell approach to comic book art is stiff. Movement is so stifled that this book ultimately becomes a list of small paintings. These paintings are gorgeous, but they have no life. They elicit no excitement, so as comic book pages they fail.
(4 Story, 3 Art)
