America was the first comic that Gabby Rivera ever wrote.
It shows.
The main problem is that Rivera values inspirational pep talks and individual cool moments above a plot that makes sense.
Basic premise: America goes to Sonya Sotomayor U—a college in the space between dimensions. Sotomayor Us is very poorly introduced to us. The writing treats it as if it were already an established part of the Marvel Universe, a part that the rest of the people living in the Marvel Universe just never ever happened to mention. I finished the entire six-issue collection, and I still have no clue if it's a college that's famous among Earth's regular population, or only super-types, or whatever.
I said that Rivera focuses too much on individual meme-able moments. One example is when America goes back in time to WWII. She’s face to face with Hitler, and punches him. "I just saved everyone from Hitler," she brags. She doesn't even finish him off—one punch, and then after a brief, pointless talk with Peggy Carter, she returns to her own time. That multi-page sequence was only there for the one Hitler-panel.
Later, America goes back in time to meet Storm, who shares some deep, mystical knowledge with America. That's not really Storm's forte—Doctor Strange would have made more sense. So while that time-travel trip does have a purpose plot-wise, it’s still wonky.
Inconsistencies abound. In one panel, a sorority beats up a bunch of cyborgs by dancing. On the previous page, one of these cyborgs hit America Chavez with a lamppost that he was holding in his bare hands. The sorority fighters have no superpowers. Them defeating cyborgs makes no sense.
Rivera doesn't explain enough. At the end of the book, we still have no clue about what the relationship is between Sotomayor Uni and the regular world. Or why, when an energy being attacks, it's possible for side character Zu to stop it with destabilized radio waves, or how Zu knew to do that. Deus ex machina.
America has inner monologues that are supposed to be Powerful And Inspirational but aren’t relevant to the scene they’re in. They're too general and vague. If you said these pep talks were originally written for a different project, and re-used in this series unaltered, I'd believe you.
Also: America isn't actually Latina. She's from another dimension. To call her "Latina" is to call Lando Calrissian "African-American." It's awkward, the way Rivera tries to imply that America’s Latina just because she's brown-skinned. Sure, she hung out with lots of Latin people once she came to Earth, but you can't be "Latina in general." You can be Cuban, Puerto Rican, etc. America Chavez isn't.
The dialogue has so much youth slang in it that it feels like it's trying too hard; the characters keep switching between calling America by her first name and by her last for no reason...
So there you have it. Meaningless side plots, bad representation, poor world-building, and lots of out-of-character moments. Enjoy.
Amateurish and poorly thought-out.
America was the first comic that Gabby Rivera ever wrote. It shows.
The main problem is that Rivera values inspirational pep talks and individual cool moments above a plot that makes sense.
Basic premise: America goes to Sonya Sotomayor U—a college in the space between dimensions. Sotomayor Us is very poorly introduced to us. The writing treats it as if it were already an established part of the Marvel Universe, a part that the rest of the people living in the Marvel Universe just never ever happened to mention. I finished the entire six-issue collection, and I still have no clue if it's a college that's famous among Earth's regular population, or only super-types, or whatever.
I said that Rivera focuses too much on individual meme-able moments. One example is when America goes back in time to WWII. She’s face to face with Hitler, and punches him. "I just saved everyone from Hitler," she brags. She doesn't even finish him off—one punch, and then after a brief, pointless talk with Peggy Carter, she returns to her own time. That multi-page sequence was only there for the one Hitler-panel.
Later, America goes back in time to meet Storm, who shares some deep, mystical knowledge with America. That's not really Storm's forte—Doctor Strange would have made more sense. So while that time-travel trip does have a purpose plot-wise, it’s still wonky.
Inconsistencies abound. In one panel, a sorority beats up a bunch of cyborgs by dancing. On the previous page, one of these cyborgs hit America Chavez with a lamppost that he was holding in his bare hands. The sorority fighters have no superpowers. Them defeating cyborgs makes no sense.
Rivera doesn't explain enough. At the end of the book, we still have no clue about what the relationship is between Sotomayor Uni and the regular world. Or why, when an energy being attacks, it's possible for side character Zu to stop it with destabilized radio waves, or how Zu knew to do that. Deus ex machina.
America has inner monologues that are supposed to be Powerful And Inspirational but aren’t relevant to the scene they’re in. They're too general and vague. If you said these pep talks were originally written for a different project, and re-used in this series unaltered, I'd believe you.
Also: America isn't actually Latina. She's from another dimension. To call her "Latina" is to call Lando Calrissian "African-American." It's awkward, the way Rivera tries to imply that America’s Latina just because she's brown-skinned. Sure, she hung out with lots of Latin people once she came to Earth, but you can't be "Latina in general." You can be Cuban, Puerto Rican, etc. America Chavez isn't.
The dialogue has so much youth slang in it that it feels like it's trying too hard; the characters keep switching between calling America by her first name and by her last for no reason...
So there you have it. Meaningless side plots, bad representation, poor world-building, and lots of out-of-character moments. Enjoy.