Review: Uncanny Avengers #1

Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: John Cassaday

(Warning: The following review contains spoilers of events that took place in the recently-concluded Avengers vs. X-Men miniseries.)

There's something distinctly, almost deliberately schlocky about a comic-book that starts and ends with a lobotomy. It's the sort of thing one would expect to see in the old EC Comics of the fifties, but not in a 21st-century Marvel title starring some of the most popular superheroes on the planet.

Still, it is with this image that Rick Remender and John Cassaday begin and end Uncanny Avengers #1, arguably the flagship title of the new Marvel NOW! line of comic books, and the first of several books that follows the cataclysmic events of the Avengers vs. X-Men miniseries, which left Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men, dead, and Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, one of the pillars of the X-Men, in jail. The issue begins with Professor X's funeral, and with Wolverine, of all people, delivering the eulogy.

Anti-mutant sentiment, as a result of the events of AvX, is at a high, and, recognizing this, as well as the fact that in the past the Avengers have done very little to help the mutant community, Steve Rogers aka Captain America wants to assemble a team of Avengers consisting mainly of mutants. Cap wants Alex Summers, aka Havok, the brother of the now-incarcerated Cyclops, to lead the team because of his credentials and long-standing government service with the X-Factor team. The invitation is not a moment too soon as the lobotomized character at the beginning of the story starts wreaking havoc (no pun intended) in the city.

Meanwhile, Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch, longtime Avenger and mutant by birth tries to pay her respects to the late Professor X, when she is interrupted by X-Man Rogue. The two engage in a verbal tussle which quickly degenerates into something physical when they in turn are interrupted by a band of mysterious super-powered individuals who take the both of them out and who then steal something that leads directly to the rather gruesome image at the end of the issue.

Not having followed AvX, I couldn't quite connect with some of the emotions on display here, such as the mutants' resentment, or the Avengers' guilt, but it's to Remender's credit that, knowing the baggage that inevitably comes in the wake of Marvel's biggest "event" since 2008's Secret Invasion, he is quickly able to bring the reader up to speed on what has just happened without too much exposition. This issue is mostly talking heads and in terms of pacing could use a bit more zing, but if nothing else Remender sets up the next issues pretty well.

For me, though the star of the show, here, is John Cassaday, and I was delighted to see him back at work on his first monthly book since his run with Joss Whedon on Astonishing X-Men concluded some years back. Whether it's illustrating the book's more tense moments, like Havok's conversation with a jailed Cyclops, or the fairly impressive albeit brief action sequence that sees the first members of the new Avengers team in action, Cassaday is definitely firing on all cylinders here and I am definitely looking forward to the issues to come.

4/5