America #1 Review

Writer: Gabby Rivera / Artist: Joe Quinones / Marvel Comics “And I got slang from every region, I be speakin’ stars and stripes and I be dreamin’ pledge allegiance”- Lupe Fiasco Just so we are all clear, the soundtrack to reading this review is Lupe Fiasco’s “Made In The U.S.A.” as it’s the only song to capture the magnitude of the excitement of America Chavez’s solo title debut. We’ve been waiting for Gabby Rivera and Joe Quinones to take the reigns for America Chavez and they get the world building jumping from page one. Ya girl Chavez got an updated outfit but still rocking the same “try me” attitude we’ve come to love about her. We got hints that this series would be exploring Chavez discovering more about her powers and let’s just say punching a mofo so hard they turn into billions of stars is a great place to start.

Rivera touches on the loss of America’s mothers as well (which I wasn’t expecting) and I knew I was invested as I experienced a similar loss. Looking at the panel of Chavez reflecting back to what she had lost made me think of a line that Catalina Ferro once said, “I am bad loser, worse mourner”, we haven’t delved into America’s loss of her parents that deeply in earlier appearances and it becomes evident how that loss affected her personality since a young age. This becomes incredibly blatant when Chavez is with her girlfriend and finds out her partner no longer wants to go with their [America’s] plans for their future. It may seem a bit out of character w…