Marvel’s trinity of Captain America (Steve Rogers), Iron Man (Tony Stark) and Thor (Thor Odinson) are back on the team they formed with a new Avengers #1. Superstar writer Jason Aaron (Thor: God of Thunder) and artist Ed McGuinness (Spider-Man/Deadpool, Superman) are at the helm to relaunch Marvel’s iconic superhero team. This time around Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), She-Hulk, Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) and the Black Panther form the rest of the team.
The issue features Stark, Rogers and Odinson reuniting and forming a new team after they’ve been absent from the pages of The Avengers. A distress signal reaches Stark warning them of cosmic disturbances. The God of Thunder, Iron Man and Captain America go off to stop the disturbance: Celestials falling from a portal in the sky! Meanwhile, Black Panther and Doctor Strange are investigating mysterious holes that lead to the center of the Earth.
Aaron’s writing is action packed. It was interesting for him to make Stark, Odinson and Rogers debate if they are the right leaders for the Avengers, a little wink and nod to the fact that, for a few years, they were replaced by Riri Williams, Sam Wilson and Jane Foster in All-New All-Different Avengers. I personally wasn’t a fan of that run because without the original Captain America, Thor and Iron Man leading the team, it didn’t feel right.
New Avengers in 2004 was excellent because it had at least Cap and Iron Man (Thor’s book was put on hiatus and relaunched in 2007). But with the All-New All-Different Avengers it felt like something was missing.
The true star of the issue is the art by McGuinness considering every page is wonderfully drawn. The layout is easy to follow. I like his designs for Thor and She-Hulk. His version of a Celestial is clearly influenced by the legendary Jack Kirby.
My one complaint about this book is the story only gets interesting at the very end. We don’t actually get to see the heroes take action against the massive 2,000-foot threat until the last page. That’s a problem with almost all first issues in a story arc:Â the pacing is rather slow, and they have the trade paperback of the story in mind rather than the individual reader when publishing the issues.
Despite the story getting off to a slow start, I would definitely recommend picking up this series. Aaron and McGuinness are two of the most talented people working at Marvel today and I can guarantee you they’ll make The Avengers an entertaining series.
