Mutants Assemble!

Uncanny Avengers #1

So this was the one everyone was kinda excited about — the comic that kicks off “Marvel Now,” Marvel’s soft reboot/renumbering scheme. Was it worth it?

Basically, we get a bunch of introductions to the folks who’ll be starring in this book. We get Wolverine giving a eulogy at Charles Xavier’s funeral. We get Havok paying a visit to his incarcerated (and unrepentant) brother, Cyclops. We get Captain America and Thor recruiting Havok for the Avengers, and then all three of them dealing with a repowered and mind-controlled Avalanche. We get Rogue and the Scarlet Witch angrily confronting each other and then getting attacked by a new group of villains.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Can I say, first of all, that this is a team that’s much too overdue? One of the things that’s long bugged me about the Marvel Universe has been the seemingly impenetrable wall between the X-books and the rest of Marvel’s comics. Sure, there’s the occasional team-up or miniseries, but for decades, the only X-Men who became Avengers were Beast and Wolverine. It really seemed ridiculous that Captain America never said, “Hey, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, and a bunch of these other X-Men are pretty darned good. We should recruit them into the Avengers, ’cause they’re badasses — and it’d help the cause of mutant rights, too!” So, like I said, a long overdue move here, and I hope this isn’t just an experiment that’ll be forgotten in another couple of years.

As for the comic itself, John Cassaday’s art is, as always, outstanding. Rick Remender’s writing is fine, too. The story is probably a bit gorier than some of y’all would rather, with a lot of emphasis on the bad guys pulling people’s brains out of their heads. But I still enjoyed it, and I reckon I’ll pick up future issues of it, too.

Arrow #1

It’s a preview for the comic based on the new TV series that’s going to be airing soon, about spoiled rotten rich boy Oliver Queen and how he becomes an archery superhero.

Verdict: Well, it’s free, and you get what you pay for.