Issue #1 – New Avengers (2015)
Title: New Avengers #1
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Gerardo Sandoval
The Buzz: Let’s be clear here, I’m only reading this because Wiccan and Hulkling are in it.
All You Need To Know: Roberto DaCosta, former New Mutant, has purchased a formerly evil organisation full of Science! And also an island. Some of the Marvel Universe’s young uns are on the AIM team, and also Hawkeye as the official SHIELD traitor spy. No, not the Hawkeye anyone actually wants on a team with Wiccan and Hulkling (sorry, Clint).
Secret Wars is over, the Marvel Universe is more confused than ever, and that’s all I’ve got.
Story: The team of the New Avengers includes my darling sweeties, Wiccan & Hulkling (most adorable teen gay couple in the Marvel Universe, not that you could really tell that from this issue), the usually hilarious Squirrel Girl, and classic Clint Barton Hawkeye. (The team also includes the next gen versions of White Tiger and Power Man, who previously appeared in the Mighty Avengers, but I didn’t stick with that title long enough to get the hang of them. And someone called Songbird) Apparently they’re going to do science and save the world from an exotic island base and that sort of thing, but this issue mostly consists of some erratic plane flying, shooting and a lot of earnest conversations, plus an attempt at banter.
HAWKEYE: SHIELD Agent Clint Barton reporting for Duty. I’m the super-secret traitor on your team. Sorry.
SUNSPOT: … could we get the other Hawkeye? I really wanted the other Hawkeye.
Any title which puts Wiccan and Hulkling in a ‘grown up’ Avengers team without them spending the entire issue geeking out massively and/or cuddling really doesn’t get those characters. I want to like this, as it has a diverse cast with a lot of potential for storytelling but I’m not sold so far, mostly because there’s nothing in this first issue to tell me who any of these people are – including the ones I already know.
Art: the characters come across as spiky and stylised in a way I find really jarring.
But What Did I Miss?: Apparently this makes more sense if you’ve read Avengers World #18, the Secret Wars edition. If you’ve read Hawkeye, Squirrel Girl, Mighty Avengers or Young Avengers ever, you probably care a lot more about many of the characters in this particular title than it has genuinely earned.
Would Read Issue 2?: I will, because I want this to be good and I miss Young Avengers so much, but this is no Young Avengers. That’s probably not its fault.
Read it if you Like: ugh, I don’t even know.
Previously reviewed this year:
Thor #1 (2014)
Spider-Woman #1 (2014)
All-New Captain America #1 (2014)
Captain America & the Mighty Avengers #1 (2014)
S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (2014)
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 (2015)
Bitch Planet #1 (2014)
Secret Six #1 (2014)
Operation: S.I.N. #1
Spider-Gwen #1
Curb Stomp #1
Jem & the Holograms #1
Silk #1
Issue #1 – Convergence Special – Oracle, JLI, Batgirl
Issue #1 – Battleworld Special: Lady Kate, Ms America & Inferno
X-Men ’92 #1
Giant-Sized Little Marvels: AvX #1 (2015)
Runaways #1 (2015)
Loki, Agent of Asgard #1 (2014)
Fresh Romance #1
All-New Hawkeye #1
Black Canary #1
The Wicked and the Divine #1 (2014)
Bombshells #1
Captain Marvel & the Carol Corps #1
50 Years of SHIELD: Mockingbird #1
50 Years of SHIELD: (Don’t Call Her…) The Cavalry #1
50 Years of SHIELD: Quake #1
50 Years of SHIELD: Fury #1
50 Years of SHIELD: Agent Carter #1
