Broken Frontier

Sterling Gates continues Dynamite Entertainment’s Kirby: Genesis.

With Captain Victory #1, writer Sterling Gates takes on the massive task of breathing new life into one of Jack Kirby’s most famous universes.  Paired with artist Wagner Reis, Gates sets the stage for the heroic Galactic Rangers to bring justice to the evil Shadow Empire.

Gates has an enormous and daunting future to tackle in Captain Victory.  Not only must it be a little unnerving to continue some of Kirby’s monumental work, but Gates must also introduce readers to the giant science fiction world that Captain Victory calls home.  With this in mind, the majority of issue #1 focuses on the development of the Captain’s world, with countless characters, worlds, empires, and weapons to build from the ground up.  Instead of guiding readers by the hand with typical and stale introductions, Gates employs a simple yet creative method of acquainting readers to Captain Victory and his comrades, one that is heavily steeped in sci-fi mind manipulation.

Captain Victory #1, however, is much grander in scale than simple character introductions.  With a familiar Kirby-esque tone, Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers' world is defined by their epic war against tyrannical galactic domination at the hands of the ultimate evil power, the Shadow Empire.  Captain Victory’s interactions with the Shadow Empire prove to be the book’s most interesting moments, especially the Captain’s training with his future archenemy, Batteron.  Gates could have easily lingered a little longer during these training sequences, especially the Captain’s character defining turn from the Shadow Empire, which gave the deepest insight into our hero’s mentality and strength.  

One of Captain Victory’s greatest strengths is the world that Sterling Gates is building for new readers.  Though only briefly spotlighted, the Captain’s painful origin is strong and defines the character as a whole, and will hopefully be returned to in subsequent issues.  With the first issue and necessary introductions completed, Gates can continue to explore the vast universe of Captain Victory.