We covered them, folks. All twelve issues of the original 1998-1999 series, “A-Next”, starting here. I thought I had left no stone unturned. It turns out, that there was a sequel series waiting in the wings all along! That’s right, dear readers, we will be skipping ahead from the late nineties to the *checks notes* glorious mid-aughties? Yes, dear readers, take my hand as we venture into the twilight years of Marvel’s MC2 timeline with the 2006 miniseries, “Avengers Next”. Will it hold a candle to the original? Let’s find out together!
Written by Tom DeFalco and Ron Lim
Illustrated by Ron Lim
Inked by Scott Koblish
Colored by Rob Ro
Lettered by Dave Sharpe
I have to give immediate props to the art team on the opening splash page. This shot is so arresting and iconic feeling in how it portrays a superhero battle. Lim and Koblish create a great sense of sequentially even without panel structure. The character positioning leads us from Thor’s hammer at one focal point, down to the action where we see Iron Man punching out Ultron, who’s then, in turn, blasting into the corner toward a defensive Captain America. Rob Ro’s colors are tinged with a classic blue/orange gradient that gives everything a sense of alarm while using early Photoshop coloring to make the energy beams on the page crackle with white-hot ferocity. Dave Sharpe’s lettering is also perfectly positioned to aid in leading the eye through the page and having the robotic rectangular-framed and all-caps of Ultron’s speak just adds to the immersion. I envy the naive comic reader who picked this up out of context at their local shop back in the day.
Then the focus zooms out and we’re back in the good old A-Next mansion. DeFalco comes in full force with the interpersonal drama in the section of the issue. It feels a little cramped like he had so many character development ideas he’d be used to letting play out in an ongoing series, but only got the real estate of a mini-series. We see some banter between American Dream and Sabreclaw, the former of whom seems to be regretting letting him onto the team. I do like that Sabreclaw is the polar opposite here, sowing chaos and uncertainty between the team members he seems to be here to help, but also just having an abundantly good time. DeFalco also establishes a somewhat forced love triangle between Thena, J2, and Bluestreak. J2 mentions how he likes her in the most naive manner, which checks for the character, and Bluestreak leaves the scene feeling scorned, to the former’s surprise. The moment feels out of character for the happy-go-lucky, mile-a-minute speedster, and feels like a romantic subplot was forced into what was a fun friendship.
Before we really get into the thick of things, there are a few more plot elements and shifts to touch on. We check in with the villains and the damsel-in-distress Thunderstrike. Similar to Sabreclaw, Warp seems to be here just for a good time and is way over his head, and while he still plays a minor role overall, this human quality that DeFalco imbues him with is a lot of fun. Thena gets small retribution as a replica of her hammer is presented by Jarvis, and Spider-Girl returns to her original costume after being in plain civilian clothes for the last two issues. These aren’t unwelcome changes, but it makes the plot points of Spider-Girl’s non-costume and Thena’s hammer breaking feel a little irrelevant and pointless when they are so immediately unwound. As the Avengers finally climb in the Quinjet to get going, Thena waxes poetic on her backstory and the destruction of Asgard. It’s a great little summary of the “Last Planet Standing” event and a great contrast moment for the art team. On one hand, we get the flashbacks, which show Lim and Koblish rendering Galactus wreaking big-time destruction on a crowd scene, with Ro supplying an extra-somber grey palette to show the mood and also convey the flashback nature of it all. Then we get some great close-up profiles of Thena as she expresses sadness turning into focus on finding Kevin Masterson for some unspoken reason, colored in a brighter modern palette.
The big battle scene of this issue is fun, with DeFalco giving us plenty of chances to see everyone in action. In particular, we get to see Warp really stretch his teleportin’ limbs, as he pops from panel to panel laying the smackdown on each hero. Lim and Koblish use smaller, quicker panels to convey the freneticism of his attacks. Ulik, Thena, and J2 get a big Kirby-style slugfest, as the two alternate laying beatdowns and lightning blasts on the bulky troll. DeFalco gives them more of a connection through battle here, which does make me intrigued to see that relationship develop, but I still don’t buy Bluestreak’s involvement in the triangle.
Ultron finally appears at the climax of the issue but uses his “extreme” drone to get involved for him. DeFalco has a great voice for the cackling silver-age robot villain, giving him hefty slander calling the heroes “children” and “Pathetic fools!”. But then the big reveal: Ultron hasn’t been revived, it’s merely the shell animated by Sylene via Thunderstrike’s magic? It’s still unclear why Kevin Masterson is involved in this plot and what he contributes to this overly-complex villain plan, but there are still issues to go for this mini-series so I’m happy to hold out hope for now. Sylene manages to infiltrate the Avengers disguised as Kevin, with Lim and Koblish rendering a terrifying facial transformation scene when the jig appears to be up. The colors in this scene convey the slow buildup of power and general macabre well, with the inks on Sylene’s face deepening and her eyes slowly lighting up with crackling green energy. The issue is left on a cliffhanger with the quinjet being – blown up!? Come back next week folks, and find out the fate of Marvel’s future great superhero team with me!
