American Dream: Beyond Courage collects American Dream nos. 1-5 written by Tom DeFalco with art by Todd Nauck, inks by Scott Koblish, and colors by Avalon’s Rob Ro. American Dream, alias Shannon Carter (the niece of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter), is part of the Marvel Comics 2 universe, which Tom DeFalco created as a possible alternate future for the Marvel Universe. The line of titles in that universe began with Spider-Girl, who is the daughter of Spider-Man and Mary Jane. Along with Spider-Girl’s series, A-Next featured a new team of Avengers and introduced American Dream in the fourth issue.

The story in this volume focuses on American Dream investigating the disappearance of illegal immigrants while Red Queen (alias Hope Pym, the daughter of Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne, who blames the Avengers for her parents’ death) and Ion Man target Dream for attack. Dream’s search leads her to mysterious crystal creatures, created and led by Sikikong, who teams up with Red Queen and Ion Man to attack American Dream. Along the way, Dream conflicts with Maria Hill and S.H.I.E.L.D., who want to investigate the silicone creatures without the interference of the Avengers. It does not require a reader to be familiar with other stories from the MC2 as DeFalco tells Shannon Carter’s story through flashbacks, but those who don’t realize this story is set in a possible future may find it disorienting.

This storyline and the five-issue Captain America Corps are the two series in which American Dream appears apart from the A-Next title. ( )