Marvel Comics 2016
Written by Al Ewing
Penciled by Paco Medina & Carlo Barberi
Inked by Juan Vlasco & Carlo Barberi
Coloured by Jesus Aburtov & Andres Mossa
Lettered by VC’s Joe Caramagna
There’s a reason I give a new series six issues before making my final decision. While i’m not a fan of Marvel’s constant use of time/Earth displaced heroes constantly popping up in their mainstream universe the fact that it was only for a few issues and nothing long-term makes me feel a little better about it’s use. I’ll stick to my guns with the fact that I feel Al could’ve used someone else to showcase how the team operates for us as we get to see here.
Last issue the team entered the party to discover that all the guests had been replaced by killer robots. Outgunned and outmanned the team has to work together and show some real teamwork in order to get out of it. This is the kind of stuff places like the Danger Room are made for to practice, get used to one another and get a feel of how they can help each other out in battle and seeing them kind of inherently do those things in the midst of a fight is really nice to see play out.
Also I kind of like the way that this felt like a super powered James Bond style story. Not just because of everyone in a tuxedo but that did certainly help. The subterfuge and the villain hiding behind things he’s stolen and not being terribly bright it all had a nice tone and feel to the story that makes me want to see what else Al has in store for this team. Though Unite really that’s the rallying cry hmm I dunno do they really need one?
I’ve noticed that Marvel hasn’t made the best choices, for me and in my opinion, in hiring artists for their books. So it’s a huge bonus to see the work that these folks do here. The attention to detail, the use of page layouts through angles, perspective and backgrounds (which we still should see more of) are engaging and make this exciting. These guys really do some extremely nice work and and while it maintains that classic comic feel there’s also an elevation to it that’s super well done.
Well here’s hoping that this title sticks around for a while because I have this tendency to pick, read and follow the series that seem to end all too soon. Granted why this is an Avengers book instead of simply A.I.M. is beyond me but with a very eclectic cast that still rocks the lgbt characters and has some extremely good characterisation and plot/story advancement going on makes it worthwhile.