All-New, All-Different Marvel (Part 3 of 5) - Avengers

Marvel has been announcing their post-Secret Wars plans.  I'll be posting them up over the next few days with some commentary.  I tried to break them up by theme.  Today, we’re talking Avengers.  I will admit that I should probably have included , SCARLET WITCH, CAPTAIN MARVEL and VISION as “Avengers” books, especially over ANT-MAN, but we had a lot of titles to cover and I needed to break them down as best I can.

ALL-NEW ALL-DIFFERENT AVENGERS #1 by Mark Waid and Adam Kubert

Excitement Level: 5 out of 5 – This is going to be Marvel’s flagship title moving forward.  The preview from Free Comic Book Day was terrific.  Love the creative team.  Love the lineup, especially since it contains a lot of characters I wasn’t sure were going to survive SECRET WARS.  It would have been real easy for Marvel to just use Secret Wars to restore the status quo, but looks like we still have the “controversial” new versions of Ms Marvel, Spider-Man, Nova, Thor, and Captain America.  Too many people called these characters gimmicks or a cheap attempt to appease to Social Justice Warriors (whatever that means).  But Marvel seems to stand behind them for the long haul, and I am real glad about that.

NEW AVENGERS #1 by Al Ewing and Geraldo Sandoval

Excitement Level: 4.5 out of 5 – I have no idea how this book can possibly exist.  It’s truly like someone stole ideas from my diary.  Sunspot leading a team of Avengers…which consists of Songbird, members of the Young Avengers, Hawkeye, and Squirrel Girl?   Definitely sign me up for this one!

Al Ewing did some great work on MIGHTY AVENGERS (vol. 1), so I think he is a solid choice.  Though if it was me, I probably would have preferred to see Nick Spencer here.  I loved what he did with AVENGERS WORLD and this book seems more in that vein.

A-FORCE #1 by G. Willow Wilson and Victor Ibanez

Excitement Level: 3.5 out of 5 – I am real torn on this one.  I like the idea of an all-female team.  In fact, I was a huge fan of FEARLESS DEFENDERS.   And A-FORCE had a great first issue (I am writing this column with the second issue sitting on my desk, but I have not had a chance to read it yet).

BUT, G. Willow Wilson is sort of unproven on team books.  I really did not like her work on X-MEN (another all female team, which was a mostly terrible series).  I think it’s great that we’re getting a lot more diversity in our comics, BUT the quality needs to be there.  I will definitely give A-FORCE a fair chance, but I am going to keep my expectations in check here.

UNCANNY AVENGERS #1 by Gerry Duggan and Ryan Stegman

Excitement Level: 2.5 out of 5 – The concept of a joint Avengers/X-Men team has always been kind of brilliant, but the execution has always been real lacking.  Maybe Rick Remender was just not the right guy for the job, but I actually like quite a bit of Remender’s work, so I am not sure that was the problem.

The art on this book is definitely not helping my excitement.  What the hell is Quicksilver wearing??  And there isn’t all that much an “X-Man” presence here.  Honestly, I think Marvel might want to just let the Uncanny Avengers concept rest entirely for a while.  Revisit it down the road with some fresh eyes. 

ULTIMATES #1 by Al Ewing and Kenneth Rocafort

Excitement Level: 3.5 out of 5 – This is our fifth team book that falls under the Avengers umbrella.  Remember when one…two at the most…Avengers books was enough?  In a lot of ways, this book is the successor of MIGHTY AVENGERS. 

Wait? Is that Galactus?? 

Where was I?  Oh yeah, Mighty Avengers. Al Ewing is writing it, and the book seems to feature a strong cast with quite a few minority characters.  I especially like Blue Marvel, so I’m glad to see he will continue to be featured here.  And I’ve always liked Monica “what is my code name this week” Rambeau.

My one question with this book is, “Why are they calling it ULTIMATES?”  

That is definitely Galactus, right?   Uhm. Sorry.  I keep getting distracted by that.  How unprofessional of me. 

But yeah, this book seems to have no connection to the Ultimate Universe, and I always thought ULIMATES was a terrible name.  They really should have just gone with The Mighty or something like that.

And if anyone needs another reason to buy this book.  IT FEATURES GALACTUS ON A SUPERTEAM!!  HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!

ANT-MAN #1 by Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas

Excitement Level: 4.5 out of 5 – Like I said earlier, this probably does not belong under Avengers, but I put it that in my first sort through, and I never got around to moving it, so here it is.  Nick Spencer is probably my favorite underappreciated talent.  THUNDER AGENTS, SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN, AVENGERS WORLD, and ANT-MAN were all awesome books that basically flew under the radar. 

In ANT-MAN, Scott Lang has set up a security firm, hiring some former supervillains to help him out.  It has been an incredibly fun read, with a lot of heart and a real quirky sense of humor.  I also really like that Spencer is bringing Beetle over from Superior Foes.

SAM WILSON, CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 by Nick Spencer and Daniel Acuna

Excitement Level: 3.5 out of 5 – I don’t really like the title of this one, but I think I am just being pedantic.   I can’t image that the name Sam Wilson, is going to bring in any readers, so I would have just gone with CAPTAIN AMERICA. 

I’ve had a little trouble getting a feel for Sam Wilson as Captain America because of the rapid fire events that happened right after he took the title over, but for the most part, I’ve thought this was a great change, and I think Spencer is the right guy to be able to help give the character the focus he deserves.  

I also really like the idea of him having a bit of a split with Steve Rogers, BUT, at the same time, I think Marvel needs to have Steve Rogers step off panel for a while.  Even since AVENGERS VS X-MEN…actually…maybe ever since CIVIL WAR…Steve Rogers has become a little overbearing and obnoxious at times.  It’s his way or take a shield to the face. 

MIGHTY THOR #1 by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5 – Now that the mystery of “Who is the new Thor?” is out of the way, Jason Aaron can get to giving the new Thor a little more time to stand on her own.   I don’t have a lot to say about this one.  It’s pretty cut and dry:  I love Jason Aaron on THOR, and I’m glad he’s continuing his run.  And I’m annoyed we had to go without it for like 6 months before of SECRET WARS.    I usually shy away from THOR, but Aaron has managed to make it a very engaging and entertaining book.

HAWKEYE #1 by Jeff Lemire and Ramon Perez

Excitement Level: 2.5 out of 5 – This is pretty much the only Avengers title that doesn’t hold any real appeal to me.  Which is strange because I’ve always been a Hawkeye fan (Clint and Kate). But, I thought Fraction’s “Hawkguy” run was really overrated.  And ALL-NEW HAWKEYE has been all right, but nothing particularly exciting either.  

There are a lot of real great comics that I want to read, so unless a comic has something to make it really stand out for me, it’s going to fall to the bottom of the list, and that is exactly what is happening with HAWKEYE for me.