Uncanny Avengers #17 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Steve McNiven, Jay Leisten (Artists), Laura Martin, Justin Ponsor, Matt Milla, Larry Molinar (Colorists)

The Story: The fate of the Earth is decided as the heroes fight for the survival of everyone.

The Review (with spoilers): Rick Remender can be a bit dark at times. With his penchant to throw several hardship and put his characters through many severe miseries, the writer knows that it’s through adversity and conflicts that actions actually hold a lot more weight. Through his work on Uncanny X-Force, his Fear Agent and many other of his books, there is a tendency to make the life of everyone there as hard and painful as possible.

With this in mind, it seems that Remender took this particular quirk of his to a whole new level. In this very book, which is the finale of a long story-arc that got started in issue five of this series, the heroes lose. Despite all the effort of everyone on Earth and aboard the ark, Exitar manages to destroy the Earth, shattering it to multiple small pieces as the attempts of everyone to save it fail.

In a genre where the usual good versus evil fight is painted in a low amount of grey, this kind of ending is something that is decidedly unusual, something that defies the norms established. Using the traditional non-ending to make things continuous for the next issue, the conclusion to this saga is something that is a bit disconcerting, yet in a good way.

Still, the ending isn’t the only thing of matter in this issue, with plenty of the strengths of Remender being on display here. With a penchant for merging dramatics with plenty of action, this issue is able to switch the focus from one character or set of characters very well, enhancing the scope of things as they escalate to their paroxysm. The way Remender switch from Thor, Wasp, Captain America to the heroes left on Earth makes for a very exciting narrative that makes the buildup to the conclusion that much more effective.

First Born: Aftermath – Review

Ron Marz, Phil Hester, (Writers) Stjepan Sejic, Lee Moder, Ryan Sook, (Artists) Larry Molinar, and Dave McCaig (Colors)

The Top Cow event known as First Born was one of the more exciting events in recent memory. A classic story of good and evil that was really cast in all shades of gray, First Born impressed with some incredible artwork by Stjepan Sejic and an epic feel. With Sara Pezzini’s child at stake, the forces of light and darkness brought the eternal war to our world in an attempt to gain control the Witchblade wielder’s daughter. The trade is definitely worth the pick up if you are a fan of the characters and it also serves as a decent, action-packed jumping on point for those curious about the Top Cow Universe. With First Born: Aftermath, a one-shot consisting of three short stories, fans can get some idea of where the characters are headed in the future. Since each story really is a stand alone tale, I will give each a short review before giving my overall thoughts.

The first story, “Stragglers,” is quite short but effective thanks to the artwork by Stjepan Sejic. Basically, the gist of the story is that some teens head down into the hole where the main battle of the First Born event took place and are being watched by some of Jackie Estacado’s Darklings. There really isn’t a lot to say about such a simple story, but Ron Marz has some fun with the dialogue and Sejic creates a couple of really impressive looking scenes.

The second story, “Armies of the Night,” is written by the Darkness’ Phil Hester and tells of some Darklings that stumble upon a statue of an ancient ruler who holds a bit of a grudge against the Darkness. We get a brief history lesson on who the ruler was and how his encounter with the Darkness changed his life forever. The writing is both darkly humorous at times, but has a nice dramatic weight overall. A good outing by Phil Hester with this story. The artwork by Lee Moder is serviceable, but I wish it had a more serious look that reflects the story being told. Everything looked too much like a cartoon. Still a fun read though and, again, the art does the job well enough.

The final story, “Faith,” is also by Ron Marz and tells about the Magdalena. She faces off with an “angel” of light and finds herself struggling with her place in the world. The writing is strong and it also gives some nice direction for a character that shows up from time to time throughout the Top Cow universe. Ryan Sook’s artwork is solid, especially some of the facial expressions, and the color work is very well done. A good closing story for this one-shot.

First Born: Aftermath is really for those that follow the Top Cow Universe. While the stories could be enjoyed on their own well enough, it helps to have some experience with the characters and story elements. If you recently came aboard with Witchblade or The Darkness, two series that recently developed new jump-on points, check this out for some idea as to what direction those particular stories will be taking. A fun, solid read all around that hints at future plot elements for those interested.

Grade: C+

-Kyle Posluszny