Uncanny Avengers Vol. 1: The Red Shadow (Marvel NOW!)
 |
| "So, who's the tall guy taking this photo?" "Shuddap, we're Avengers!" |
Writer: Rick
Remender
Artists: John Cassidy, Oliver Copiel, Laura Martin.
Collects: Uncanny Avengers #1-5
Background
Information:
Marvel NOW! really got kicked off by an event called Avengers Vs X-Men- it’s exactly what it
sounds like. The X-men, through contact with the phoenix force (remember in the
third X-Men movie how Jean Grey went
nuts? It’s the force that makes that happen), became a little more nasty than
usual and the Avengers, being the more popular franchise, save the day by
defeating them.
Uncanny Avengers is
the first official book of the Marvel NOW! line and focuses on the fallout of Avengers Vs X-Men. The world now hates
mutants even more than they used to and the man most dedicated to stopping
that, Charles Xavier, is dead.
Dead as a doornail.
A dead doornail.
Okay, I’m drifting off a bit. Back to the review!
Review
Much like Justice
League in DC’s New 52, Uncanny
Avengers is Marvel NOW!’s flagship title. And like Justice League Vol. 1: Origin was enjoyable, but less-than stellar,
The Red Shadow is entertaining, but
ultimately feels like it’s going nowhere.
 |
| No matter what powers other heroes may have, they'll NEVER be able to throw Optimus Prime at bad guys. |
So humans hate mutants. That’s bad, in case you were
wondering. And you know what? Captain America thinks it’s bad to. So he
assembles a group of Avengers made up of equal part mutants and superpowered
humans- a symbol of human/mutant unity. In the meantime, though, WWII baddie
the Red Skull has removed the brain of Charles Xavier and is forming his own
team to spread hatred and intolerance for mutants.
Call it a spanner in the works.
Okay, so the first thing to like about The Red Shadow is the choice for the cast of characters. Rather
than ride the wave of popularity that characters like Captain America and Thor,
Uncanny Avengers really makes this book
about the mutants; Cyclops’ brother, Havok takes centre stage as the leader of
the new team, while the most character drama happens between Rogue and Scarlet
Witch- two mutants who can’t trust each other as far as they can throw each
other. Even Wolverine- who has been in both the Avengers and X-Men camps- plays
a relatively small role. Don’t get me wrong, Captain America, Wolverine and
Thor all have major moments in the book, but this isn’t their book by a long
shot.
Choosing Havok as team leader was a really interesting
choice. There are a ton of more popular characters in the X-Men that could have
lead the team, Beast, Colossus, Storm, Iceman, Gambit, the list goes on,
really. It was great to see writer Rick Remender utilise such a left field
character and make him feel like he really mattered to the overall story. He goes
from not being sure about his ability to lead the group to being annoyed when
Captain America tries to lead the team behind his back. It’s a great amount of
character development for someone who was always considered to be the less
interesting of the Summers brothers.
However, the story feels like it doesn’t go anywhere. This
has to be the only Marvel story I’ve ever read where Thor can go mad and attack
the rest of the team, where Red Skull can drive the world’s population mad and
it still somehow feels like it doesn’t amount to anything. The main story arc
is over too soon, and for all of the character development, there’s nothing
here that really hooks you on to the second issue.
 |
| Hey, you guys remember that story that is much better than this one? |
The art is also a problem here. It’s not bad, but Marvel
NOW! has made its mark by letting each artist leaveHawkeye and All-New X-Men feels distinctive and looks fantastic. It seems
strange, therefore, that the art in The
Red Menace looks like typical comic book fare. This isn’t helped by the
fact that Red Skull’s team is composed of possibly the ugliest, most ridiculous-looking
supervillains that I have ever seen. Thankfully, some clever panel design
alleviates some of the otherwise unspectacular art. One of the best scenes involves Red Skull describing his plans
for mutant genocide against a scene that very closely resembles the classic
cover of X-Men: Days of Future Past. It’s
a nice touch that will resonate with older readers, even if new ones may be
confused.
their own distinct mark on
the series they work on really look distinctive. The art in books like
The Red Menace is
a book with plenty of potential, but it’s far from the best first outing that
Marvel NOW! could have had. It gets a four out of five dead doornails.
****
+ Nice to see an Avengers book that doesn’t focus on the
main Avengers.
+ Choice of characters is spot on.
+ Havok makes an interesting leader.
- Art looks too standard to be interesting
- Some awful bad-guy designs.
Alternate Option: New Avengers: Everyone Dies
Another Marvel NOW! Avengers book, if you want another one.
No comments:
Post a Comment