The Avengers have been privatized.
So far Marvel is batting 0 for 2 when it comes to their new lineup of Avengers comics. The New Avengers #1 isn’t quite the disappointment Uncanny Avengers #1 was, but it suffers from many of the same problems. This is an Avengers comic with a fairly clear sense of purpose but lacking an engaging group dynamic. Of the two, I’d rather have the latter.
This series picks up one thread from Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers run by exploring Sunspot’s takeover of A.I.M. The organization has now gone legit and become “Avengers Idea Mechanics” – a privately funded super-team based on its own island and outside the jurisdiction of both Steve Rogers and S.H.I.E.L.D. In a way, that idea of this team being the renegade, underground version of the Avengers brings the New Avengers concept back to its roots. It’s also not a bad concept for a new series. The problem is mainly in the execution.
As with Uncanny Avengers, the “eight months later” approach doesn’t do much to start the series off on the right foot. The team roster is almost bizarrely random. It’s as if the series is trying to be New Avengers, Young Avengers, Secret Avengers and Thunderbolts all at once. Plus, Squirrel Girl is hanging around for some reason. At least Al Ewing attempts to provide some context for why these characters have been brought together, but it mainly comes in the form of clunky exposition. At times Ewing’s characterization shines. He really nails the dynamic between Wiccan and Hulking, and his Sunspot is every bit the overconfident braggart he was in Hickman’s Avengers. But as whole, this team fails to come together as a functional whole.
Nor is the conflict in this first issue particularly memorable. The idea that a whole city of people are being transformed into crystal-headed zombies seems like something more suited for an animated sitcom like The Venture Bros. or Rick and Morty than an Avengers comic. The fact that Ultimate Reed Richards is the central villain of the series is probably the strongest element in its favor. Sadly, Reed pretty much comes across like your average mad scientist in his brief page time. It’s tough not to compare his plot here to the villain’s dramatic rise to power in Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates a few years ago.
The art creates problems of its own. Gerardo Sandoval’s exaggerated, manga-influenced art style works for certain books (particularly the yet-to-be concluded Age of Apocalypse mini-series), but this isn’t one of them. Certain characters (especially Wiccan and Squirrel Girl) just look wrong with such muscular, distorted physiques. The muddy inking and coloring certainly don’t help. The storytelling frequently suffers from the lack of emotional expression in Sandoval’s characters. One panel features Sunspot playing the suave, cool leader, but his utterly blank, pupil-less expression tells a completely different story.
Of the many incarnations of New Avengers, this volume is the weakest right out of the gate. It’s not that the book lacks a sense of purpose. It even features some strong characterization. But neither the team as a whole nor the threat they face are particularly compelling. The muddy, over-exaggerated visuals certainly don’t help.
