By now every comic fan knows how big of hit Origin was for Marvel. It shouldn't have been a suprise, but somehow it still managed to sneak up on the comic world. Comic shop owners under ordered the book, every comic fan wanted to read it. Soon, e-bay was full of over priced copies of the "must read" origin of Wolverine. Now, one year later, Marvel promises us the same treatment and same "buzz" for Truth. Truth, they tell us, will do for Captain America what Origin did for Wolverine. Captain America is more popular now than he has been in a very long time, thanks to the wave of patriotism that continues to sweep our nation. So, based on the promises of Marvels management, Truth comes with a high degree of expectation. Marvel has already announced that the book has sold out and they are already planning a reprint in a new "Marvel Must Have" edition. Certainly this book has to be a "Can't miss" comic.
No, they missed by at least a mile.
Truth doesn't concert Steve Rogers, the Captain America that we are familiar with. Instead, it tells the story of a handful of African Americans who will be involved in the "Super Soldier" project. We don't learn any of this in the first issue. All we get is the most basic introduction to these characters. One we meet at "Negro Week" at the Worlds Fair. We see that he is a pleasant, happy go lucky type, but quick to anger when faced with prejudice. The next comes from a privileged family. We see him talking to his mother after getting into a fight with a bigot. Next we meet two men in a pool hall, one an army Sergeant, the other just released from prison. We see another in Cleveland just as Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, and then a final person is seen at a court hearing from demonstrating against the war effort. The one common tie in this disparate group is that each faces a great deal of prejudice and none of them take it peacefully. As is too often the case in comics these days, the first issue of Truth is only the barest of plots, giving us little details, only a hint of any story that is to follow. No longer can you pick up a comic and tell if you are going to like it's story. Now you have to follow at least two or three issues to have any idea if there is ever going to be a story.
This is made all the more difficult by the art. In last years Origin we had beautifully painted art by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove. Even if the plot was initially sketchy at best, you were inticed to read further by the pretty art. In the proper setting, Kyle Bakers art can be interesting, but it is not pretty. Bakers forte is alternative comics with a dark sense of humor. The Cowboy Wally Show or Why I Hate Saturn are excellent books and certainly the place to go to see Bakers work. For this book he is completely wrong. His cartoony, exaggerated style works at odds with the heavy handed tone of the narrative. His characters are very difficult to tell apart from each other. In a book that proports to address a difficult social issue, his zoot suited cartoons seem insulting to the subject they portray. He uses garish colors that often use purple or green, rather than natural skin colors. There are times when you simply do not know if you are meeting a new character or seeing one that has already been introduced.
You cannot say that this book is without any merit at all. It might turn into an interesting story. From this first issue there is no way to tell. There is so little in the way of set up that you have to wonder what the selling point of the book is. It certainly isn't the art. It makes no mention of the "Super Soldier" project. One two page spread of the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor is the only thing that ties it to World War II. Frankly, I imagine very many readers will feel terribly let down by Marvel. This is too lightweight to be an "alternative" or art comic. It is too far from the mainstream to be a commercial book. Whatever they were shooting for, they missed. A number of people will probably buy the first issue based on the advance hype that Marvel has given it. Very few of them will buy any of the remaining issues. While it is tempting to give Marvel a little credit for attempting a project about a sensitive issue like this one, they fail so miserably that I cannot. This could have made for an interesting story. But when you take poor pacing and add it to unattractive art, you simply have a book that no one is going to care about.
