Uncanny Avengers #2 to #4

(w) Rick Remender
(a) John Cassaday (line art) Laura Martin (colors)

I feel a little remiss at not having reviewed issues #2 and #3 of this series when I got them, but I guess I was just too busy at the time. In any event, with all four issues in my hands it was easy to read them and appreciate the story as a whole, and even the individual chapters on their own merit.

In issue #2, Avengers Captain America and Thor review the carnage wrought by the mutant Avalanche on a large portion of New York City, though their newest recruit, Alex Summers aka Havok was able to help save lives during the confusion. Part-time Avenger and X-Man Wolverine expresses displeasure with Captain America's decision to recruit Havok as the face of the mutant/superhero cooperative effort, but Havok then has a "hallmark" moment with a civilian who expresses gratitude for saving his life, and it becomes clear that Cap made the right call. Meanwhile, Rogue and the Scarlet Witch remain captives of the Red Skull and his crew of S-Men. Red Skull uses his newly-acquired telepathy to enthrall the Scarlet Witch, while Rogue attempts to escape.

In issue #3, the Red Skull's war on humanity, which he attempts to package as humanity's war on mutants, kicks into high gear as he, now wielding the power of the late Charles Xavier's brain, troops his S-Men into New York City, together with Rogue and the Scarlet Witch (neither of whom escaped, obviously). It is here that they find themselves doing battle with Captain America, Thor, Wolverine and Havok. Red Skull and his S-Men may prove too much for them to handle, especially considering Red Skull's new skill set.

In issue #4, the slugfest between Captain America and his Avengers on the one hand and the Red Skull and his S-Men on the other amid the telepathically-induced attempt at genocide in New York comes to a head, and though the battle may be over, it is clear that the war has only just begun.

In my review of the first issue of this series, I said that, not having read Avengers vs. X-Men I wasn't entirely sure where these characters were coming from, and I can the best praise I can give these issues is that four issues later, the merging of two distinct groups of Marvel characters is starting to make more sense. The intermingling, though, does not feel quite as organic as writer Rick Remender and the rest of Marvel would no doubt like it to be. I suppose it made perfect sense to them to put Captain America's archenemy in this book and give him an anti-mutant agenda so that he would become as terrifying to the X-Men as he is to the Avengers, but to me the connection still feels a tad forced (almost as forced as shoving Wolverine into the Avengers' roster nearly ten years ago just to propel sales upward did).

Speaking of Wolverine, apart from some face time in issues #1 and #2 and some brooding moments he actually takes the backseat as far as character moments go, with Havok being the lead mutant character in this particular story. Remender seems to enjoy playing Captain America off Havok in this series, whether it's in the more sedate moments or during the times when Cap finds himself subtly influenced by the Red Skull's telepathy, and even though Cap himself handpicked Havok to be on his team one wonders where Remender will take this potential rivalry down the line. It was gratifying to see the reasonably well-written storyline end in four issues contrary to the six-or-eight issue trend that seems to dominate lately, but apart from a few skirmishes, a major plot development or two, and one big throwdown at the end, it does not feel quite as significant as the events taking place in what has been billed as the flagship book of the Marvel NOW! era should. This feels like a waste of a golden opportunity to make a splash of a new series which merges two of the publisher's most popular properties.

What is not wasted at all, though, is artist John Cassaday's stunning art, which is well-complemented by Laura Martin's lush palette of colors. While some fans and reviewers have expressed displeasure with the redesign of Havok's head gear, I personally did not mind all that much, although his superhero tights appear to have been redesigned to accommodate a pair of baggy trousers. I'm not really sure. It was a delight, though, to see Cassaday work on Captain America for over four issues, which is the longest he's worked on the character since relaunching his solo title over 11 years ago with writer John Ney Reiber. The character has never looked better. Unfortunately, this book was fraught with delays, apparently to give Cassaday time to turn in his stellar work and so as not to delay publication further he will be spelled by artists Olivier Coipel and Daniel Acuna, assuming he even comes back to the book eventually. Now, I am a fan of both these artists, but I will most definitely miss Cassaday's work.

4/5