In 1776 #1, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes go back in time to the dawn of the United States to save it from never existing in the first place.
1776 is a classic Marvel time travel plot involving mysticism, discussions of quantum theory, and “What If?” navel gazing. When Benjamin Franklin astrally reaches out to Doctor Strange from beyond the grave, he decides it’s up to the Avengers to foil a dastardly plot that will not only ensure Earth’s Mightiest Heroes ever formed, but that Earth never had a United States of America for them to be created in.
I’ll just start by saying the quiet part out loud: it’s weird to come up with a concept like 1776 and —at least judging by this first issue— featuring an entirely white cast of characters. An uncharitable person may even argue that writer J. Michael Straczynski thought of this concept as an excuse to do just that. I don’t think that’s true, but it is notable. Why Steve instead of Sam? Tony instead of Rhodey? Peter instead of Miles? Straczynski does approach some novelty by having Clea serve as the Strange stand-in for plot reasons, and cover art suggests the Invisible Woman will show up eventually, but in the year 2025 you sort of have to expect that people will point such things out. Tony being Iron Man here is especially egregious because the present-day scenes in 1776 seem to be set sometime in the 80s or 90s, and Rhodey briefly took his friend’s mantle during that window of time so he could have very easily filled that slot. I just feel like if you’re going to approach material encroaching on boosting American nationalism, you should at least remind readers that American history is littered with racism, genocide and bigotry. Involving any of the above black characters could have been one way to do it. Perhaps Straczynski is saving that for later, but this issue acknowledges slavery and sort of breezes past it to proceed with the narrative. Who knows!
More than anything, 1776 feels like an old elseworld story unearthed from Amber, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not exactly fresh either. Similarly, the expanded art team of Rom Lim, Sean Damien Hill, Jay Leisten, Roberto Poggi, and Alex Sinclair put in work that is reminiscent of the time I believe this story is meant to be set in, but that only accentuates the feeling of (for lack of a better term) dustiness. Throwbacks can be fun every now and then, but I feel like Marvel has done a lot of that lately, and at some point it gets a little stale. Normally I’m a mark for time travel stories like 1776, but the execution isn’t there for me to find it especially interesting or worth the expense.
1776 #1
4.99
Credits
- Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
- Artists: Rom Lim, Sean Damien Hill (pencillers) & Jay Leisten, Roberto Poggi (inkers)
- Color Artist: Alex Sinclair
- Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
- Cover Artist: Pete Woods
Credits (cont)
- Editor: Devin Lewis
- Publisher: Marvel Comics
