Uncanny Avengers #23 – Review

By: Rick Remender (Writer), Sanford Greene (Penciller), Dean White (Color Artist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (Letterer), Agustin Alessio (Cover Artist)

The Story: Whaddya know? Sometimes stories that say they were an event that “changes everything” actually do change pretty much everything.

The Review: The previous run on Uncanny Avengers could rightly be described as “epic,” and as I opened this issue, I was consciously hoping that we could get a more “downtime” story, as characters felt their way around its fallout and their new status quo. Thankfully, this issue was exactly what we needed.

Interestingly, the story begins a few weeks past the denouement of last issue, in case fans needed to reconcile whatever jumbled continuity got created by that a year-long story. What follows for 95% of the issue is really just characters talking to one another, but they treat each other as comrades-in-arms, as fellow veterans, as friends (or even more) as appropriate. The events of their time-traveling epic may have been erased, but that doesn’t mean they never happened, and these people have to deal with that.

Immortus, whose role in the previous arc was somewhat tenuous and thus relatively a weak link in an otherwise dense plot, shows up to offer, of all things, encouragement and promise, as long as they deal with the Red Skull, a teaser for the upcoming storyline and segue into an ominous Skull-focused cutscene. It’s an effective scene, taking the heinous Skull and matching him to the equally-heinous Ahab, throwing them both into Genosha. This is “high concept” that works, since there’s an immediate tension and horror-tinged atmosphere to lead into next issue.

Uncanny Avengers #22 – Review

By: Rick Remender (Writer), Daniel Acuña (Artist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

The Story: If you punch Kang in the face enough times, he’ll go away.

The Review: This is the final chapter in the “Avenge the Earth” arc, one that culminates all the set-pieces of characters past, present, and future in a titanic battle to save the universe from Kang. Also culminating is the epic tone created by the high stakes and personal sacrifices from various members. It all makes for a satisfying read that feels more like an “event” then any of the tentpole series that actually market themselves as such.

The plot is not necessarily surprising. We knew from the beginning (and from its reveal last issue) that Kang was orchestrating a plan that spanned decades, and of course we know our heroes will win. The focus on this issue is the knuckles-to-face brawl that will make it happen. Largely this all falls on Havok, who goes toe-to-toe with Kang and does not survive unscathed. There’s a personal stake in this because of his daughter, which is lost to him accordingly, along with some significant battle scars. Other heroes will be affected by the battle, too, namely Wasp, Rogue/Wonder Man, and Sunfire.

The pacing of this ultimate fight is done well, a pacing reinforced by the art. Havok often takes several panels to work through his progression of thought, and also the progression of throw-down. What’s a little more ineffective is the sizing of the panels; for example, in one panel Havok looms large as he rears back to deliver a blast of energy, but the actual release of energy is shown in a panel barely one eighth of the page, in a landscape view that must be the shoulder of the Celestial but doesn’t register well. For such a momentous blow both literally and plot-wise, it’s an underwhelming choice of layout. Similarly, when Sunfire destroys the villains’ spaceship, it’s sequence is interrupted by two panels of villains’ dialogue as well as a page turn, disconnecting the event visually, and the final explosion is in the background of a panel on the lower sixth of a page.

Uncanny Avengers Annual #1 – Review

By: Rick Remender (Writer), Paul Renaud (Artist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (Letterer), Arthur Adams (Cover Artist)

The Story:
Martian Transylvania Super Hero Mutant Monster Hunter High School, now filmed before a live Mojo audience. 8pm Eastern, 7 Central, or check local listings for showtimes. Only on Marvel.

The Review:
Well, this will be interesting to review. The last line of the comic reads: “Call in the critics … we’ll leave it to them to decipher.” Okay, then. Challenge… accepted?

What also makes this interesting is that the story essentially wears its themes on its sleeves, which is to be expected when the adversary is Mojo and other, thinly-veiled caricatures of the media executives the story is meant to comment on. Heck, there is no thin veil here at all. It’s pure caricature, as well as pure parody, allegory, pun, and any number of thematic figurative language. We get it! Media executives are as vile a creature as any spineless, extradimensional monster. Or lawyers.

So it’s difficult to critique something that the story itself critiques– Mojo uses the Avengers and some mystical heroes to create a TV show. The problem is that the story doesn’t quite flow like that. Mojo creates the Avengers of the Supernatural to… make a different show with the Avengers in a high school teen drama? Then they break out, but then they actually have to fight Ghost Rider’s Spirit of Vengeance before being returned to Earth without even confronting Mojo a second time? I’ll use the book’s own words “At least Mojo’s new show doesn’t feel unoriginal. … Not on the surface, perhaps.”

Uncanny Avengers #19 – Review

By: Rick Remender (Writer), Daniel Acuña (Artist/Cover Artist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

The Story:
Somebody told me that you had an ally that looked like an enemy that I had last story arc.

The Review:
We all know about “flow,” that psychological state where everything else slips away and all you are aware of is the object of your focus. The best movies, shows, video games, etc., all have this state as their ever-elusive goal, and one of the best things I can say about Uncanny Avengers is that it consistently brings the flow. Whether it’s the villain Eimin guiding the discussion of the alternate X-Council, Havok and Kang coming to terms with their objectives as “heroes,” and how it all blends together in an extended fight sequence, I find myself gripped by the worlds and characters being explored here, and surprised when the final panel appears. In this case, it’s Thor about to throw down against the Big Bad, a cliffhanger to keep me baited until the next issue.

This flow is partly achieved by the ethical dilemma and high stakes that have been established for the characters and their world. On one hand, there is absurdly high stakes that risks the lives of millions and the very nature of time/space itself. On the other hand, you have the very personal stakes of a man, a woman, and the potential loss of their love and their child. Both extremes are completely melodramatic and over-the-top. I’m usually one to rail against “threat escalation” as it’s become a tired trope, but in this case it works. There’s something about a 4-color cape-and-tights world that embraces the absurdity of extreme situations, and it makes me curious to see how it plays out.

In the same way, the comic offers layers of ethical dilemma here. Havok and his team have to contend with accepting villains as allies, consider the costs of keeping a false world, and the limits of personal responsibility in regards to a community, the price of leadership, and more. They can all be summarized with the biggest one of all, the cornerstone of any superhero story, really: will you make things right, even if it might cost you everything? There are some pretty big, postmodern implications to this, of course: “who’s to say what’s right?” That last part, unfortunately, is a bit more implicitly handled, as Havok has no time to pursue that one too far.

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.

Uncanny Avengers #16 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Steve McNiven, John Dell, Jay Leisten (Artists), Laura Martin (Colorist)

The Story: Thor and Captain America bring the pain to the Apocalypse twins as the world reacts to the apparition of a celestial here to execute them all.

The Review: While Rick Remender, like every single writer there is, has his share of strengths and weaknesses in terms of plotting, there is a certain something in which he excels: action. Considering the fact that super hero stories are massively known for being action-driven more than anything, it is a nice thing to know about a specific writer. However, plot should never take a back-seat in a book, which means a certain balance must be maintained in order for any capes comic to work well. Does Remender provides what is necessary for his tale of grand proportion to continue in a way that is satisfactory?

In many ways, the writer does advance the story in ways that count, providing many excitement and upping the ante for the characters. Knowing very well that super heroes are beings that usually faces high threats and confronts situations that are far larger than them, Remender gives an emphasis on action without sacrificing much in terms of the scope of the tale. While the overall action focus heavily on Thor and Captain America, the story does allow readers to understand how big it is, involving other characters from the Marvel universe in the cataclysm that is yet to come. It is event-worthy storytelling dedicated to a single issue, which does allow for a good level of excitement and entertainment on the page.

Still, despite the fact that everything feels big, it’s really the action that sells the whole issue. The fight between Thor and Uriel is something that is decidedly fast-paced, yet not so that the impacts of their words and blows comes off as secondary in importance. It’s the son of Archangel against the god of thunder and those two powerful beings duke it out in a most satisfactory way. With snippets of characterization thrown in for good measure, it doesn’t simply devolve to mindless fisticuff anywhere in the issue, with the motivations being inserted for good measures in the dialogue. Let’s just say that, in a way, the dialogue of Thor does get to the point rather quickly.

While the issue is mostly dedicated to Thor and Uriel, there are still scenes given to Captain America and Wasp, with some good developments done by these characters. While not everything they do or participate in tend to result in payoff straight away, their scenes do add to the general rising of tension, building up to the general whole that is about to blow up in the coming issues. The conflict escalate and their part in the action does not detract from the rather amazing events on display here.

Uncanny Avengers #15 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Steve McNiven, John Dell, Dexter Vines, Jay Leisten (Artists), Laura Martin (Colorist)

The Story: As Wasp fights the revived Sentry, the plan of the Apocalypse twins takes a rather sinister turn.

The Review: With the way the previous issue went down, I suppose it’s fair to assume that Rick Remender is not kidding around with this storyline. While I did enjoy this series in a general way, there was always something holding it back a bit. Either it was too much buildup for not enough payoff or the fact that the cast was so divided it provided for too many subplots at the same time, the book had its problems. However, with the arrival of Steve McNiven and the rather explosive last issue, does Remender actually succeed in upping the ante for this title?

It finally seems that yes, Remender actually did end up giving the gravitas and the high energy this title needed in some of its previous issues. Due to many elements handled very well, he is able to give the fans that were following the book quite a lot of great moments as he continues to make the conflict bigger with each issues.

Where he goes right, in a way, is in how he switch the focus on other characters instead of those that were in the conflict where those who died were situated. Putting Captain America, Wasp and Thor on the spotlight, he is able to not only rotate the focus a bit more on some characters that did not receive that much focus to begin with, but get in their head as well. We get to know how Captain America perceives this team and how he thinks he failed them, how Wasp sees her super heroic side and how some characters reacts to some unseemly news. It seems a bit of a waste to put characters like Sunfire, Havok and Wolverine on the side, yet he does quite a lot with this trio of characters in order to advance his plot.

Uncanny Avengers #14 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Steve McNiven, John Dell (Artists), Laura Martin (Colorist)

The Story: As Wanda and Simon prepares to betray the Apocalypse Twins, it seems that Rogue and Sunfire have other ideas about what they should do. Hilarity ensues.

The Review: Well, I can’t properly review this one without actually spoiling a lot of what happens here. so here’s the regulatory warning.

*Spoiler Alert*

Now that this is dealt with, let’s get into the heart of the matter. Death in comic books have become gradually cheaper as years went on, with many issues actually presenting them in their solicits as points of sale. Their importance and impact now being significantly lower, they have become gimmicks that have lost quite of their charms, since most of them are then retconned or repaired sooner or later. It’s easy to become jaded now when a character dies in the end of an issue or when an issue promises to be important because someone will die. It’s a simple fact.

Rick Remender goes forth here and actually goes on to ”kill” three of our protagonists here. With the word kill used in this way, some of these deaths are either too big or simply dubious, as some of these characters are either too big to simply go away ( I sincerely do not believe that Scarlet Witch will actually die, considering she’s supposed to star in the next big Avengers movie by Joss Whedon).

Despite the overall negativity of the previous statement, credits should be given to Rick Remender for not pointing death as a big finality of his storyline as he actually does not give character cheap deaths or simply waves them away in a nonchalant way. The way Rogue, Wonder Man and Scarlet Witch are mortally wounded is done in a way that adds drama and gravitas to the story, with their deaths having a direct impact on the story and the relationship between those characters. Despite the fact that it could be perhaps seen as overkill, this issue does actually use these deaths rather well by putting them in a much better context than what could be normally seen.

Uncanny Avengers #13 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Daniel Acuña (Artist/Colorist)

The Story: The members of the Unity squad are trying in their own way to solve the problems posed by the Apocalypse Twins. Meanwhile, the twins are themselves plotting for the fulfilment of their plan.

The Review: Even though I rather like the creative team, the themes and most of the characters featured in this series, something didn’t seem to click for me with Uncanny Avengers. This lead to me being rather harsh (though fair) in my review of the previous issue of this series, which seemed to represent many of the problems I had with the series to begin with, putting them to the forefront in a way that lead to an unsatisfying read for me. I, however, believe in the fact that not all issues in a series can be great, that missteps can be made. Was the previous issue simply a fluke or would this issue provide another assessment of a lot of the problem I had with the series so far?

In a lot of ways, this issue corrects a lot of what annoyed me a bit with this series as it tweaks some elements and move at a faster rate with its many plot points and characters. It’s not a complete reversal in terms of quality, with some of the problems I have still being present, yet it is definitely a step in the right direction, with all things considered.

Uncanny Avengers #12 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Salvador Larroca (Artist), Frank Martin (Colorist)

The Story: As Havok and the others try to infiltrate the lair of the Apocalypse Twins, Wanda and Simon needs to make a decision concerning the future relations between humans and mutants.

The Review: We all have an author or an artist that we’ll follow wherever he goes. As the careers of those in the industry continues, they may produce a piece of work that gathers them fans for whatever they may do next, which is how the whole thing functions. When Rick Remender made his excellent run on Uncanny X-Force and the superb independent series Fear Agent, it would be safe to say that he gathered a particularly strong following. I can definitely say that I was particularly pleased with those two runs, as I had decided that I’d give a shot to a lot of things he would write from now on.

It’s a bit sad to say, but considering this series, I am getting a bit uncertain about the wisdom behind my choice, as Uncanny Avengers never did meet the same quality level that some of his previous work had once reached (although there are some moments where it did came close to that level), with this issues providing plenty of examples as to why. While it clearly isn’t supposed to be the same type of book that Remender did previously at Marvel, there are simply some elements that he isn’t handling in the best of ways.

One of the best example is the main dilemma that fuel the series itself, the human vs. mutant debate. While the main plot do tend to gravitate toward a new take on the whole thing, bringing along Kang, Red Skull and other elements in order to make things more interesting, it seems that Remender is spinning its wheels a bit before actually moving things into place. While the debate and the arguments that are said by the characters are pretty faithful to the characters speaking them, most of them either are ill-placed in the story or slows it down to a crawl as the other elements suffers because of it.

Uncanny Avengers #11 – Review

Rick Remender (Writer), Daniel Acuña (Artist, Colorist)

The Story: Quite a lot of the members of the Avengers unity squad gets explanation about what is happening and what might just happen if things continue the way they are.

The Review: Exposition is always useful. It can bring people up to speed on the status of certain events or characters quickly, reinstate the gravity of a situation and throw new concepts to the readers to appreciate. It’s the perfect tool to bring in new readers to make sure they won’t be lost and to make sure that the regular reader don’t forget the important information in the wait between each issues.

However, it is also something that can severely hinder an issue if it indulge too much in it, which this issue unfortunately does. There are a good number of things to explain, of course, as the connection between some of the horsemen and what made it so has to be explained and certainly put on spotlight for it to be effective, yet there is simply not a lot going on in this issue because of the heavy emphasis on the dialogue and exposition.

It’s not an issue-breaking problem, fortunately, as there are some good concepts brought up front which does advance some of the themes of this series forward, however slightly it does. The scene with Scarlet Witch and the Apocalypse twins does bring some interesting ideas as it mixes some of the older ones like Magneto’s brotherhood of evil and Archangel to the newer ones like what Red Skull is trying to do and what he might achieve if he succeeds. It creates an ominous conflict that plays well with the ambiguous antagonism of the Apocalypse twins, who seems to possess larger plans and a certain nobility despite their methods. It does make those characters a bit more interesting as villains.

Uncanny Avengers #10 – Review

Rick Remender (Writer), Daniel Acuña (Artist/Colorist)

The Story: With the teams divided and searching in their own ways for what is going on with the children of Archangel, the horsemen of death each gather their own specific target.

The Review: There will always be a gap between generations when it comes to appreciation of a particular title. Every fans of a certain franchise always will look up to a certain era or a certain writer when it comes to the very best representation of what they like. Some people prefer the Chris Claremont era of Uncanny X-Men, while others loved when Grant Morrison went in with his New X-Men, as the future may see the construction of a generation that will praise the Bendis era with All-New X-Men. Each team, characters and general franchise in superhero comics have been handed down throughout the years to others, with some resonating with their audience and their time. However, does Rick Remender, with his dual X-men and Avengers team make something that caters more to one group or the other?

In ways, it is admirable to see him try to combine two of the biggest franchise that Marvel has the right to. In a purely conceptual level, this is a book that could work in a big way, as some of the biggest characters comes together to fight threats that are new to some of its member, creating a melting pot of the best that Marvel could offer. In theory, the fact that Captain America, Wolverine, Thor, Havok and others need to fight the Red Skull, Kang, the children of Archangel and other likely foes to create a better reputation for mutants is sound as it should be exciting.

However, while the concept is grand, there are some problems in its execution, which can be seen in this issue. One of the bigger one, so far, is the narration and some of the bizarre throwbacks Remender use in its dialogue and explanation of events. In a way, this title tries to emulate both the old Avengers and Uncanny X-Men comics, providing us readers with narration enhancing the visual effects as well as somewhat melodramatic dialogue that makes things somewhat akin to a soap opera, a practice that was very popular in the 70’s and 80’s in comics. While it is an efficient and sometime well-handled throwback to those comics, it can be sometime a bit too much, even used in ways that slow down the pace and effect some scenes have. While the way some of the characters talk gives the readers a touch of mystery and a good showcase of their personality, it is also rife with tons of exposition and an over-abundance of melodrama, creating something that may be a bit goofy at times. It is, I suppose, the very point of such a practice, yet it does its job a bit too well as it just slows down or dumb down some of the better elements of the issue.

Uncanny Avengers #9 – Review

By: Rick Remender (Writer) Daniel Acuña (Artist/Colorist)

The Story: The Apocalypse twin tries to plan for what they want to make happen to the world as the Avengers deals with dissension in their ranks.

The Review: Rick Remender is not a man that is afraid to go big. As he tried and succeeded in creating a big stories with lasting effect with his memorable run on Uncanny X-Force, he tries to go even bigger with this run as he incorporate many elements from the Marvel universe, including some from his own tenure on his previous title. However, does he succeed in this attempt? Is he able to give us something bigger?

In ways, the short time he had on this title seems to indicate that he might just be able to do that, as he almost effortlessly incorporates his own ideas into the larger Marvel universe without making them too weird or even out of place amongst the many strange things that are included in this superhero universe. It is, after all, a book that tries to connect the mutant world of the X-Men with the rest of the Marvel imprint. Now, I am no expert on the X-Men, but from what I read, I had always perceived the mutants characters to be almost in a little universe of their own, as they had their own threats, their own saviors, their own events and their own spinoffs, with most of them completely unrelated to what was happening in the rest of the universe they were supposed to be sharing. It seemed to me that those characters were almost better off being literally given their own universe after all, yet Remender makes for a really good case in the more open connection he gives here.

Uncanny Avengers #3 – Review

By: Rick Remender (story), John Cassaday (art), Laura Martin (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story:  The Red Skull whips NYC into a mutant hunting frenzy with the Uncanny Avengers caught in the middle.

The Review:  I imagine that this is going to be an incredibly divisive issue.  Remender takes some big stylistic risks that leave this one firmly entrenched in “love it or hate it” grounds.  The difficulty for me reviewing this is that, while I myself fell into the positive side of the equation, I can very much understand the argument from the other side.

The reason for all of this is that Remender has chosen to write this issue in a thoroughly retro, nostalgia-driven manner, filled with expository narration and a LOT of words on the page.  While I’m often put off by that sort of thing, I actually found myself enjoying it this time around.  I had a lot of fun visiting the past, if you will, with Remender seemingly bringing a writing style from decades past, polishing it off, and putting it in a thoroughly modern setting with slick, polished art to match.  Sure, that style is verbose, melodramatic, and maybe even a little bit cheesy, but that’s all part of the fun!  That melodramatic narration lends the book an escapist, soap opera feel, making the book’s universe feel especially comic booky and its characters iconic and larger than life.  It also elevates the stakes and the story into something grander and more timeless.

Cable and X-Force #1–Review

By: Dennis Hopeless (writer), Salvador Larroca (Art), and Frank D’Armata (colors)

The Story: Cable is back, and the first thing he does is make himself and his teammates fugitives. Way to go, Nate.

The Review: Vibrant art, vibrant writing. That’s the best way to describe Cable and X-Force. There is a lot of dynamic here that Larroca, Hopeless, and D’Armata bring to the comic, but this doesn’t mean that it’s a perfect book. The best comparison is the new Thunderbolts. Both books are about how the team comes together, but the difference is in the execution. This incarnation of X-Force is partly chance and partly planned. Cable  needs Forge and Dr. Nemesis, so he recruits them. But Domino and Hope arrive by other means…and Colossus’s role is not yet defined. This works well. It shows a team becoming something rather than Cable sipping tea in France watching Domino kill mimes (or whatever the hell that scene was in Thunderbolts with Deadpool). There’s a progression and a purpose. The problem is, the first issue doesn’t give us an idea of what that purpose is. We see them all on the run, not able to explain a lot of dead bodies to Havok and the rest of the Uncanny X-Force, and they have matching uniforms. They become a team–but why? This could be just a casualty of “writing for the trade.” But it didn’t leave me anxious for the next issue.Hopeless is good with the individual characters, developing them and letting us get to know them, but the plot is weak.

Uncanny Avengers #1 – Review

By: Rick Remender (story), John Cassaday (art), Laura Martin (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story:  Cap tries to form a new team embodying Xavier’s dream of co-habitation as Havok pays a visit to his brother, Wanda and Rogue come to blows, and the Red Skull gets up to some really grotesque stuff.

The Review:  For those familiar with Rick Remender’s work, this title is very different from anything we’ve seen from him prior.  With John Cassaday’s slick, polished artwork, this is the big, flagship Marvel Comic sort of book.  Rest assured, however, that Remender nonetheless nails it, giving us an issue that almost feels like an issue from an event.  That said, while Remender’s usual weirdness takes a backseat, it’s still very much there, giving the book a real edge to it.

Avengers vs. X-Men #12 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction & Jonathan Hickman (story), Jason Aaron (story & script), Adam Kubert (pencils & inks), John Dell & Mark Morales (inks), Laura Martin & Justin Ponsor (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story:  The Scarlet Witch and Hope take on Dark Phoenix Scott Summers for all the marbles.

The Review:  No one will ever accuse AvX of being subtle, nuanced, or even particularly smart writing.  That being said, it never really aspired to be more than it is.  So really, how much you enjoy it, and how much you’ll enjoy this issue, is really largely dependent upon your feelings about big event comics in general.  For myself, I honestly had fun reading this issue.  It wasn’t anything exceptional, but I enjoyed myself.  It was a solid, cathartic conclusion to the story and, yeah, AvX winds up being about a hundred times better than Fear Itself.