Not as Uncanny as they used to be.
We’ve now reached the point where a superhero comic can be relaunched multiple times within the same year. The previous volume of Uncanny Avengers barely had the opportunity to introduce the revamped Avengers Unity Squad before Secret Wars swooped in and writer Rick Remender ended his tenure at Marvel. Now writer Gerry Duggan and artist Ryan Stegman are introducing the third incarnation of the Unity Squad for a post-Secret Wars Marvel Universe. Unfortunately, the book’s core appeal hasn’t weathered all these changes.
Uncanny Avengers has always been a series with a very specific purpose. It’s meant to feature a roster of both X-Men and Avengers, proving to the world that the two groups can work together for the betterment of all. This series adds the Inhumans as a third faction, but the conceit is the same. The problem is that the new team doesn’t click in the way Remender’s previous two groups did. There’s only one actual mutant in the group (Rogue), two classic Avengers (Steve Rogers and Quicksilver), and one Inhuman (new character Synapse). As a result, this team feels very random and disjointed. It’s also disappointing that so few characters from past volumes have made the jump. No Scarlet Witch. No Sabretooth. No Vision. No Wasp or Havok. Even Rogue’s previous status quo (with her powers raging out of control and dealing with Wonder Man being trapped in her body) is downplayed in favor of something completely different. The book doesn’t feel like an extension of Remender’s work in any way that really matters, and it’s disappointing to think that saga may never receive a proper conclusion.
The new series could at least make up for these flaws by building compelling new conflicts to replace the old ones. Unfortunately, the only real hook this first issue has is the fact that Deadpool is now an Avenger. The new villain is a far cry from the likes of Red Skull and the Apocalypse Twins.
The eight-month time jump really does this series a disservice in a lot of ways. There’s no sense of why Steve selected the members he did. This issue asks readers to care about Synapse without bothering to properly introduce her. It doesn’t even offer a clear indication of whether the team’s Spider-Man is Peter Parker or Hobie Brown. The characterization suggests the latter, but his interaction with Human Torch argues for the former. The overall team dynamic is pretty bland, and their mission just doesn’t seem as grand or urgent any longer. The humor is the only element that serves to distinguish this issue at all.
Visually, this series also struggles to keep pace with its predecessors. Ryan Stegman’s art is certainly very different from the likes of John Cassaday and Daniel Acuna, which isn’t in itself a bad thing. And to his credit, Stegman shows a greater willingness than most to push and evolve his style. The Stegman we saw on Scarlet Spider and Superior Spider-Man isn’t the same one we saw on Wolverine. Nor is the Stegman from Wolverine the one we’re seeing here. But so far, Stegman’s new style isn’t paying off. Rather than injecting the book with a sense of style or energy, the comically exaggerated figure work is simply distracting. Stegman’s figures somehow manage to look both emaciated and bloated at the same time, as if each individual muscle is in a constant state of motion. Worse, his facial work is too heavily exaggerated and sometimes completely wrong in the context of a given panel. There’s potential with this new, more cartoonish approach, but it needs a lot of refinement first.
Marvel had a good thing going with Uncanny Avengers these past couple years. And while there’s plenty of room for this new volume to grow and improve, right now it’s a significant step down from what’s come before. The scope is smaller, the art is less engaging and the team is far less interesting.
