Captain America No. 9 review: Who or what is the Dryad?
By Alex Widen
Can Steve Rogers win a war from prison? And who is Dryad, his mysterious new ally in Captain America No. 9?
Captain America No. 9
Writer: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Artist: Adam Kubert
Colorist: Frank Martin
Cover Artist: Alex Ross
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Captain America has been fighting fascism since he became a super soldier in the 1940s. But what happens when he’s so focused on autocracies without that he’s trapped within an autocracy within? This is the tale that Ta-Nehisi Coates has woven around the sentinel of liberty. And while it is still fully immersed in the fantastic and over-the-top Marvel Universe — where a Nazi war criminal can become a profitable super villain prison owner — it is also a story which attempts to take the pulse of where this nation is at this time.
Image by Marvel Comics
Alexa Lukin has set about to fulfill her husband’s dream to destroy America, but she isn’t going about it in the usual ways. While she has organized an alliance of villains, from the Kingpin to Taskmaster, her direct efforts are far more subtle. While the first amendment is one of the founding principles of America, the corporations who are in charge of dispensing with “the news” are privy to the winds of the economy. As such, Lukin goads the head of Fact Channel News (the mirror of Fox News) towards accepting her version of events, lest she offer a scoop to a competitor.
Image by Marvel Comics
Hardly an Average “Ladies Night” at the Club!
This isn’t the first time the country has been turned against Captain America by entrenched villains, nor even the first time Steve was framed. This time around, he chose to surrender and entrust his allies to fight for the truth. Thanks to time spent in “Dimension Z,” his lover Sharon Carter has reached middle age. Yet that doesn’t stop her from wearing a belly shirt to blend in at a nightclub so she can meet with Misty Knight. Their “Daughters of Liberty” meeting is in the back!
Image by Marvel Comics
The Daughters of Liberty is a coalition of heroines from across the Marvel Universe who are working undercover to dig up dirt on Lukin’s plot. Sue Richards/Invisible Woman is arguably the biggest heroine aboard, which makes sense considering she’d sided with Cap (and against her husband) during 2006’s Civil War. Others include White Tiger, Mockingbird, Spider-Woman and Echo, alongside some lower tier heroines like Gladiatrix (another Civil War ally) and Toni Ho, granddaughter of the man who helped Tony Stark become Iron Man!
Image by Marvel Comics
Yet it’s a new and mysterious figure who is holding court. Dubbed “the Dryad,” she is named after Greek tree nymphs. Dryad wears a sleek hoodie with gear which appears inspired by Black Widow. She oversees a digital summary of the Myrmidon, Wolfgang Strucker’s super-prison where Rogers is currently being held. Toni may have been able to hack the full blueprint of the place, yet can’t find a magic bullet to stage an extraction. But wait, wouldn’t escaping from prison make Steve look worse?
Image by Marvel Comics
She Clearly Doesn’t Know What Love Is!
The Dryad isn’t phased about the inability to easily liberate Rogers, with or without a “mole” within. Instead, Dryad focuses on the lead that Sharon wriggled from Kingpin last issue. The international assassin (and D-list Spider-Man villain who’s named after a rock group), the Foreigner, has been named as responsible for killing Thaddeus Ross and pinning it on Rogers. He’s returned to running “the 1400 club,” a gang of professional assassins. Dryad starts from there!
Image by Marvel Comics
Much like the Sphinx from the 1999 film Mystery Men, (or other characters like the Witness or Judas Traveler) one of her powers is being “terribly mysterious.” This gives Dryad a bit of cover as she decides to send the Foreigner a message through his club of hit-men. She blows up one of their headquarters in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and jolly stomps the slick looking thug in charge of running it. It is all part of Dryad’s plan to coax the Foreigner out of hiding, or into making a mistake.
Image by Marvel Comics
Meanwhile, within prison, Steve Rogers can’t help but become embroiled in counterproductive actions. Word that his “Supreme Hydra” double from Secret Empire has met his end has reached the prison; Strucker always makes sure anti-Cap news hits the bars. This, along with the pummeling of Wrecker, encourages the rest of his crew towards taking action. In this case, it’s Thunderball — the brains of the group — provoking a fight with some armored Guardsmen.
Image by Marvel Comics
It Isn’t a Prison or High School Story without a Cafeteria Fight!
For better or worse, Steve Rogers is a man of principle. While he knows Thunderball is a remorseless criminal, he balks at the sight of the Guardsmen pummeling him more than is necessary, and joking about it. Unfortunately, a hero able to match wits with the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror seems unable to figure out he’s being duped into staging a prison riot! His simple act to defend Thunderball leads to an all-out brawl within the mess hall, all caught on camera!
Image by Marvel Comics
Not only does it lead to Steve Rogers being put in “the hole” — no prison story would be complete without one — but it leads to another gloating session from warden Strucker. Having long battled Cap, he knows that Rogers won’t break under physical or psychological torture targeting him. Instead, he and Lukin are in cahoots to break his image in the eyes of the public, and his allies. The sight of Steve Rogers provoking a prison fight while awaiting trial hardly does his reputation any good! Can even Sharon or the Dryad save him now?
Image by Marvel Comics
Ta-Nehisi Coates continues to straddle a fine line between being contemporary and being preachy. Some writers with “a message” almost apologize for some of the absurdities of superhero comics; Coates clearly seems to have a ball with them. Yet he doesn’t ignore them either. This story is an at times clever cautionary tale about the danger of when a corrupt political conspiracy and corporate multimedia empires coordinate efforts, along with some prison advocacy to boot!
Image by Marvel Comics
Is the Dryad Anyone We Know?
The only flaws come not from the story’s themes or politics, but some of the plot mechanics. The very idea that Sharon and her allies are even planning a prison break seems very counter-productive. Steve deliberately wanted to avoid becoming a fugitive or provoking a fight with legitimate authorities under his current frame job. Yet breaking into a prison, or escaping a prison, is itself a crime! The daughters should be focused on clearing him, not giving Steve a genuine rap sheet! Dr. Kimble’s actions clearing himself of murder in The Fugitive still would have made him a con, after all! While Strucker may be trying to kill him, a jailbreak is hardly a unique strategy.
Image by Marvel Comics
While a jailbreak in a frame-up plot is about as predictable as gravity, there is more mystery behind the Dryad. Just who is she, and why is she commanding a room in which Invisible Woman and Agent 13 are in? The only official Marvel character who bears that name is Callie Betto, one of the many expendable mutants during Chris Yost and Craig Kyle’s run on New X-Men. This new Dryad has the same complexion and hair color as Betto. Is there a connection? Betto was killed by William Stryker, a televangelist-turned-terrorist. A scheme like Lukin’s is very similar!
Image by Marvel Comics
A Fine Red, White, and Blue Line!
Adam Kubert is true to form with his artwork in this series. Between he and Leinil Francis Yu, this run on Captain America has featured some notable artists whose names still command attention. While Kubert excels more at action than quiet drama, his pacing for these issues helps move Coates’ plot along. As generic as a jailbreak plot will be, the boon will be that it will provide a lot of delightful chaos for Kubert to draw. The cafeteria scene and Dryad’s showdown are highlights.
Image by Marvel Comics
Next. Cap's Branded, yet He Knows He's a Man, in No. 8!. dark
Coates is doing a great job building up a formidable conspiracy of smart villains, much as Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction did during their legendary run on this title. The only dilemma with their tenure was making their conspiracy too good (or the heroes almost too dumb) to the point that the villains only lost when the story demanded not, not out of a sense of anything organic. It is a new decade and a new time for a look at entrenched power, and hopefully Coates continues to ride that balance not just between comics and politics, but the unique with the predictable.