Uncanny Avengers (Vol 1 - 3), Rick Remender

"The Marvel Universe's greatest era starts here! In the wake of Professor X's funeral, Captain America creates a new Avengers unit comprised of Avengers and X-Men, humans and mutants working together. But the Red Skull has returned - straight out of the 1940s - and he wants to destroy all mutants! What gruesome weapon has given him dangerous new powers? Rogue and Scarlet Witch face off against the Red Skull's S-Men, Wolverine and Captain America investi gate the worldwide mutant assassination epidemic, and Havok and Thor battle the spreading infl uence of Honest John, the Living Propaganda! And when an Avenger defects, the rest must face the terrible might of the Omega Skull! Plus: Wonder Man, Wasp and Sunfire join the team - just in time for the Grim Reaper's revenge! Uncanny Avengers Assemble!"

"The future begins in the past! It's an 11th century clash of the titans as Thor batt les Apocalypse! The Avengers' ancestors are being hunted, with Rama-Tut and Kang pulling the strings, and only a young Thor can save his future companions! And in the present, the beginning of the end looms as the Apocalypse Twins debut! Why are they targeting the Celestials? What is their connection to Kang? And how is Thor responsible for their mighty power? Apocalypse's Ship attacks S.W.O.R.D., a Celestial meets a shocking fate, and the Four Horsemen of Death are' unleashed! And as the Twins' new henchmen shatter the Uncanny Avengers, Wolverine discovers the Midnight City - and immediately wishes he hadn't! When all hope dies, Ragnarok begins! Plus: Kang and the Apocalypse Twins enter the Age of Ultron!"

"It's the dark origin of the Apocalypse Twins, as Kang's true motives are revealed! A secret pact between Ahab and the Red Skull will bring horror to all mutants. But against his masters' orders, a deranged and vengeful Sentry kills an Uncanny Avenger! It's no hoax, no dream...and only the first casualty of many! To allow reinforcements from other eras, the Wasp must find and destroy the Twins' tachyon transmitter, but first she'll have to defeat the Grim Reaper. Meanwhile, the Scarlet Witch makes an impossible choice that will define her forever. And Sunfire and Rogue, without backup, must defeat the combined might of both Apocalypse Twins - or watch the end of our world! Bring on the bad guys, because Ragnarök is now!'




Uncanny Avengers is the Avengers at its very worst, a joke line up that competes with West Coast Avengers for how much of the barrel it's prepared to scrape. The idea behind it is that following the events of AvX, and the fact that people now hate and fear mutants and ever before, the Avengers have suddenly realised that maybe if they stopped punching the X-Men for more than a week people might learn to trust them. So Captain America looks to create a 'unity' team of all the X-Men and Avengers no other writer wanted; Wonder Man! Wasp! Havok! Scarlet Witch!

If those aren't names to inspire confidence, they also have Thor and Wolverine thrown in. So, just to go over that: Wonderman (was a villain in last appearance), Wolverine (unsanctioned murder squad leader), Havok (Brother to 'Terrorist' leader) and Scarlet Witch (only Avenger to ever actually commit Genocide). Fortunately, they also have Rogue ... who's a former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. So I can't see how that plan can possibly go wrong.

It's hard for me to express how much hate I feel for some of these characters. Not in a detatched, 'oh they're so annoying, but they're fictional' way, but in a very real, very visceral 'I wish they had never ever been written' way.

Scarlet Witch is a great example of that. Daughter of Magneto, chaos magic wielder and reality warper, Scarlet Witch's most famous action in the last two decades was to kill half of her own Avengers team, rewrite reality into a mutant-lead parallel universe, then destroy all but 200 mutants. She then came back and tried to hand wave it all away as being Doctor Doom's fault.

If you're looking for a reason why people hate mutant, that right there is it. She single handedly fought every superhero in the world to a standstill, then when she lost she almost destroyed a species. Wow, guys. I can't at all understand why someone might be afraid of that. You should probably put her up on stage as the face of mutant rehabilitation.

Or Havok, a guy whose very first defining action in the book is to renounce Cyclops, a flawed, but great, leader who successfully reignited mutantkind, saving his species. Then, he follows it up, by deciding he doesn't want to be called a mutant because Havok is a whinge. I hate Havok. When I say he's the third best Summers brother, you know that it's low.

You know what. There are better X-books, and better Avengers books. This is just a hot mess that nobody will remember in 5 years time. Art is lovely though.

Also Try:
Any X-Men book
Any Avengers book
Avengers Assimilate: Identity Politics in Uncanny Avengers, http://comicsalliance.com/uncanny-avengers-5-rick-remender-identity-politics-mutants/ (and Remender's response: http://www.newsarama.com/17328-remender-responds-to-uncanny-avengers-m-word-controversy.html)

Avengers: Prelude to Infinity, Jonathan Hickman

"It’s the buildup to the biggest event of 2013! First, Hyperion and Captain Universe begin the godlike education of the transformed Savage Land children. But when the High Evolutionary stakes his claim on the Children of the Sun, Hyperion learns the true cost of the decisions he’s made — as the techno-titan Terminus returns! Then, the prelude to INFINITY begins as all of Earth’s Origin Sites go active — and the planet begins communicating with something much more ancient than humans. And when alien races fleeing an intergalactic terror crash to Earth, Captain Universe and Manifold must take a trip across the universe. Whatever happened to Ex Nihilo, Abyss, Starbrand and Nightmask? As the Avengers recruit more members to deal with the mounting threat, the Builders enter the Marvel Universe — and INFINITY is upon us.  Collecting AVENGERS (2012) #12-17."



I think that it's probably fair to say at this point that I am unashamedly pro-Hickman's run on Avengers, even if there is a hard-core contingent of fans who believe his style of long-play, character presence heavy stories. Just as there were people who said that Bendis 'ruined' Avengers (he didn't), or Johns 'ruined' Avengers (still no), there are now some who seem convinced that any Avengers story that wasn't written, drawn and inked in either the 1960s or by Kurt Busiek doesn't count. So, Jonathan Hickman has 'ruined' Avengers, in the sense that he has expanded the cast, introduced interesting new characters, and crafted an ongoing series of arcs that require attention and comprehension skills beyond recognising who punched who.

Complicated doesn't always mean cerebral - it's a mistake that Doctor Who has suffered from over the last few years - but in this case it often works. It's certainly true that the huge number of characters who are now Avengers means that not everyone gets the spotlight every issue, but in creating new characters who all feel like they could hold their own for years to come Hickman reinvigorates the franchise, and has set it in a bold new direction. This isn't Bendis's street level team, but a cosmic crowd. Any team that can boast Hulk, Thor, Hyperion, Captain Marvel, Starbrand, Captain Universe as just the most over-powered of their membership is going to be powerhouse, so throwing in what would have been the New Avengers in years past, as well as the more classic line ups, allows for a greater rang of stories - note the difference between the battle with Terminus, the assault on the origin site in Canada, and Shang Chi vs. ninja's in a Chinese casino.

It's certainly true that character development in the overly monologuey style beloved of Bendis, the kind that requires you to pick up comic after comic to see the seeds sown in one chat play out, but reading this in trade makes it a better proposition. I can only imagine how unejoyable it may feel to get so little out of one issue, but that's, sadly, modern comics.

Also Try:
Jonathan Hickman, The Manhattan Projects
Jonathan Hickman, Secret Warriors
Brian Michael Bendis, New Avengers

The Korvac Saga, Jim Shooter

"He hails from an unimaginable era: the 31st century. Fleeing through the timestream from the pursuing team of futuristic defenders known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, Korvac the Machine Man has established a secret presence on present-day Earth in the self-created persona of the mysterious Michael. Through such an unassuming guise, Korvac contemplates the elements of a universe he thirsts to command. Yet despite the subtlety of Michael's machinations, the world's greatest super-team - the mighty Avengers - catches wind of his cosmos-conquering scheme, thus drawing the two titanic forces into inevitable conflict."








I picked this up rather randomly in a little second hand Sci-Fi bookshop at the top of the street I work on, a shop notable more for it's devoted attempt to replicate the Black Books experience. To say that its proprietors are disinterested is to do them a grave disservice, they have elevated the idea of apathy to a laconic art form, barely shifting from their amply cushioned positions to extend an ungrateful hand for the cash that disturbs them from the daily routine of opening up, reading and closing time.

That having been said, they always have a weird array of old comics and an excellent back catalogue of trade paperbacks and pulp fiction. Having never read the Korvac saga before, or indeed much early Avengers, it was worth picking up a cheap pocketbook version just to get to grips with a character who is bigger in impact than in actual appearances.

In fact, the only real reference I've ever seen to him was a two part story in Avengers Academy where Korvac reappeared to fight almost every Avenger and trashed them with ease.

What's surprising about the Korvac saga is how little of it is actually related to Korvac. His appearance is scattered through multiple comics before he actually meets the Avengers - battles against the Collector, team-ups with the Guardians of the Galaxy, even Ultron shows up before we actually see Korvac. So whilst the actual fight sequence is amazing, an excellent demonstration of how overpowered the Avengers are by the cosmically fuelled being, it's a little bit of a let down.

In fact, the majority of the book is pretty dull really, which is definitely not what I expected. It doesn't help that the original Guardians of the Galaxy are one of the most dull teams to ever appear in comics, certainly if you have only the experience of seeing them appear alongside the far more interesting (and, importantly, starring) Avengers.

Ultimately, despite its status as a 'classic' this is an unsatisfying and laboured read, one which is hampered by an all over the place cast and a slow burn narrative that drags rather than exciting. Try other stuff first.

Also Try:
Christos Gage, Avengers Academy
Jonathan Hickman, Avengers
Stan Lee, Fantastic Four
Dan Abnett, Annihilation 

Avengers: The Last White Event, Jonathan Hickman

"The Avengers must scramble to deal with the threat of another Universal SYSTEM. The New Adam is transformed, and his true self revealed. And the most dangerous hero on Earth is created. The Avengers face off against the World Breaker. Discover the imminent threat to the Avengers World. Watch the first hints of the hidden connections between the events of Avengers and New Avengers. COLLECTING: Avengers 7-12."












These are incredibly handsome books - I commented about that on the last one of these, but they are just incredibly beautiful. Hickman has such a talent for the creation of spectacular designs, and nowhere is this clearer than here, where he can cut loose with stuff and Marvel seem content to build their branding around him. Even his creator owned work like Manhattan Projects, East of West and God is Dead don't have the same cohesive structure of Avengers.

The actual story is somewhat less stellar. It's a quick read, that boils down to a lot of punching. Hickman is more concerned with giant actions affecting the Universe at large than giant consequences for the characters. To quote Andrew Wheeler's review of Infinity over at comicsalliance:

"Hickman doesn’t seem to enjoy writing character moments. It’s not where he takes the action. He’s an odd contrast to Brian Michael Bendis, whose character moments are typically so strong that he sometimes spends issue after issue building on them before he remembers to tell a story."

Considering that outside of the last 18 months or so BMB has written nearly every Avengers story for the past decade, that is a HUGE transition.

I still find myself terribly enjoying the book though, for all its lack of focus and love of action set pieces over anything like development. And I enjoy the large scale of cast, something which seemingly everyone else hates. I just wish we could get more Smasher, so luckily for me the next volume sets up Infinity, a space based event where the Shi'ar, and thus Smasher, are prominent.

Also Try:
Jonathan Hickman, The Manhattan Projects
Brian Michael Bendis, New Avengers vol. 1

Avengers: World Trust, Geoff Johns

"They are Earth's Mightiest Heroes, banded together from across the globe, united in their vow to protect the Earth from those enemies against whom no single super hero can stand alone... and this may be their greatest challenge. The capital cities of every nation on Earth have mysteriously vanished, throwing the planet into anarchy. In this time of extraordinary crisis, the nations of the world turn to the only organization capable of leading them through this time of strife and restoring political, economic and social order; the Avengers. They can defeat any super-villain, but can they govern the entire world?"









This is a totally different sort of Avengers book to the Jonathan Hickman one I read before it, and it's one that I have no real taste for. There's an interesting divergence in how Avengers fans feel about what makes a good Avengers book, and cast based controversy is hardly a new thing. Ever since Cap's kooky quartet replaced the classic Avengers line-up arguments have raged about who is and isn't an Avenger, and what the focus should be.

For my money I want an Avengers team that feels more grounded than the Justice League. Whilst any team that features a literal God as one of its founders is unlikely to be a picture of normality the Avengers have always been a team of every-men, certainly compared to the big hitters of the Justice League that features Superman (superstrong alien), Martian Manhunter (psychic, shape shifting Superman), Wonder Woman (Amazon and sometimes Demi-God) and Aquaman (Atlantean fish king).

The Marvel Universe as a whole has often been seen as a more flawed, realistic world compared to Dc. With that in mind I find Johns a bit hard to enjoy on Avengers. Sandwiched between the hugely popular Perez run at its height and the start of Bendis's decade long tenure at the helm it stands as a forgettable slice of filler. Of the four books I've read in his run I can only remember two (the Red Skull attacks Mt Rushmore with chemical weapons, and Thor fights the Avengers for the right to kill a Slavic dictator - with Iron Man's argument against intervention undermined somewhat by the way the Avengers happily use their UN backing here to remove a host of real life 'dictators' including the leaders of India).

If you want a good Avengers book, this isn't it. Johns has done better elsewhere, most notably on Green Lantern and Aquaman for DC. Those are both recommended highly. There's little of this to recommend. It's a wholly forgettable book, not helped by some truly third rate art that makes it look like they ran out of time and put it out half finished.

Also Try:
Brian Michael Bendis, New Avengers
Jonathan Hickman, Avengers
Kurt Busiek, Avengers
Mark Millar, The Ultimates