Written by Kalinda Vazquez
Art by Carlos Gomez
Published by Marvel Comics
America Chavez is back for her first solo comic since April 2018 in America Chavez: Made in America. As her past bleeds into her present, America is headed for a reckoning that will demand not just physical strength, but emotional resilience, too.
We meet America at the same moment as the Santanas–as a small girl who’s fallen to earth after opening an interdimensional portal. Despite Mom’s initial reservations about keeping the mysterious child, the Santanas open their home and life to her, raising her as a relative from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Fast forward to the present, and America is on the West Coast, fighting monsters in Los Angeles alongside her girlfriend Ramone Watts and fellow West Coast Avenger Kate Bishop.
It should be just another ordinary day fighting the latest Hydra experiment gone wrong, but America isn’t herself. She brushes off concerns from both Kate and Ramone but the evidence is undeniable.
America’s powers are failing, inconsistent.
As Ramone tries to coax the truth of what’s going on from America, America gets word that her old neighborhood in Washington Heights is under attack. Not wasting a moment, she flies back to New York. The landing is a bit bumpy, as Spider-Man is more than happy to riff on when he finds her in a dumpster. Together, the pair rush off to rescue the neighborhood.
But it’s not time to dust off her hands and call it another success for America.
Not yet.
To her horror, she recognizes the apartment building that she grew up in on fire. The people who loved and raised her as their own are trapped in that building. America rushes into action, a hasty reunion as she rescues them from the collapsing inferno.
If America had any doubts that the attack and the fire were meant as a warning for her, they’re all erased when she reads a note slipped under the apartment door just before the fire. This? This is all about family.
Even if you’ve never read a single America Chavez comic before, this one is definitely worth getting into.
