America Chavez gets a power boost in this America finale exclusive
America Chavez has been on a taxing journey to self-discovery in the pages of America, but she’ll get a chance to relax when her solo series ends with next week’s issue #12. America is part of a cancellation wave that includes Generation X, Hawkeye, Iceman, and Luke Cage (amongst others), titles that largely feature characters and creators who are not straight white men. (America is a queer woman of color, and her series is written by a queer woman of color.) Part of America’s solo struggle came from writer Gabby Rivera’s status as a newcomer to monthly comics, and the series’ first arc had a lot of promising ideas buried under sloppy execution. But through collaboration, Rivera quickly learned how to refine her storytelling and provide a more focused vision without sacrificing ambition.
America’s future at Marvel is a mystery, but given that she’s part of the upcoming Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors animated film, she’ll probably be sticking around for Marvel’s upcoming “Fresh Start,” the line-wide relaunch announced this week. Marvel and DC are constantly stealing each other’s ideas, and it would be wise for Marvel to look at the plans for the recently announced DC Ink and DC Zoom graphic novel imprints and create its own lines for middle grade and young adult readers. America would be a great character to star in her own graphic novel series, and that format would take advantage of Rivera’s background as a novelist.
Rivera’s run has revealed a lot about America’s past, and this exclusive preview of next week’s America #12 has the hero tapping into the power of her ancestral home to wipe out a threat that has terrorized her people for too long. This final chapters features art by Stacey Lee, Flaviano, and Annie Wu, ending with a jam issue that highlights the variety of artists who worked on this series. Joe Quinones did great work as the main artist, but almost half of the series was drawn by other creators, which could have been a problem if the visuals clashed. The editors picked artists with complementary styles to pitch in, and it introduced more perspectives on America’s world. America’s first year established an expansive landscape specific to this character, and hopefully Marvel won’t leave all this rich narrative territory unexplored.