The “Mighty Avengers” get a relaunch in the midst of “Axis”. With some of our most known ‘good guys’ inverted, does the team stand a chance at staying together?
Written by Al Ewing
Illustrated Luke Ross
AXIS TIE-IN!
Spinning directly out of AVENGERS & X-MEN: AXIS! Sam Wilson has become Captain America, and when he assembles the Mighty Avengers, he has a whole new mission statement in mind for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. But how do the events of AXIS already spell doom for the team’s new direction? And what is Luke Cage doing meeting with the head of the notorious Cortex corporation? And why is Spider-Man trying to rejoin the team–doesn’t he know Luke and Jessica have been itching for payback ever since he tried to take their daughter to Child Services back when he was “Superior”?! They’re the Avengers for the people, of the people – helping whoever needs it, however they need it.And together with Sam Wilson – the all-new Captain America – they are Mighty. But in the wake of the earth-shattering events of AXIS, are they truly together? Or about to fall apart?
Guest-starring the apologetic arachnid – Spider-Man!
“Mighty Avengers” has easily been one of the most underrated series coming out of the ‘Big Two’. This series has been a little offbeat and very funny making it very different from its parent book, “Avengers”. Smack dab in the middle of Marvel’s massive “Axis” event we get a relaunch with Al Ewing and Luke Ross at the helm.
“Captain America and the Mighty Avengers” #1 starts with some television screenshots showing the city’s reaction to the team. We’re then taken high above New York City as Sam Wilson, the new Captain America patrols the skies. Almost immediately the effects of “Axis” are felt as Sam Wilson’s inner monologue is nothing like what you’d expect from Captain America. This is taken a step further when he springs into action against some small time, but dangerous criminals and takes them out with a startling level of violence. The rest of the issue focuses time on setting up what this first arc will be with most of the attention on the fact that the heroes are inverted. No spoilers here, but this relaunch is going to start off with more drama than the previous volume ever had.
The biggest positive of this first issue in the relaunch is that much of the previous run is picked up. In the last volume, Spider-Man was taken over by Doc Ock and caused havok. He threatened Danielle Cage and generally was a pain in the butt doing everything he could to sabotage the team. That’s all picked up here, as is the idea of anyone being able to be an Avenger. You’d think that by doing this, the issue wouldn’t be new reader friendly but it’s very accessible thanks to the press around the “Axis” event and the always helpful recap page before the story starts. Even without reading “Axis,” you’ll be able to follow what’s happening.
Spider-Man is really the star of this issue despite only being in a couple of pages. Al Ewing is great at writing comedy and I wouldn’t be totally against him writing a full Spider-Man issue. He gets the character and the way he confronts Luke Cage is pretty much perfect. Ewing nails Spider-Man’s voice and mannerisms making these pages the best thing about the whole issue. On the flip side of this however is the bigger storyline of what Luke Cage is up to. It’s not so much that it’s out of character (keep “Axis” in mind) but it just is not as compelling as it could be given how the issue ends. That twist will be what keeps people coming back because it adds a deeper layer to the bigger story here.
The rest of the team was completely M.I.A. in “Captain America & the Mighty Avengers” #1. The issue almost came off as “Sam Wilson is a jerk now and here’s how horrible we can make him”. I have warmed up to what “Axis” is doing and what it has done to the characters but almost too much time was spent showing how terrible both he and Luke Cage are now. It sets up some potentially great stuff down the road but it just doesn’t work for the debut issue of a new series.
Continued belowLike I said, I’ve warmed up to “Axis;” the problem is that this was probably the worst week to launch this title. Or it may have been the worst week to launch “All New Captain America”. There is such a stark difference in the way Sam Wilson is characterized in both. The problem with that is that this is supposed to be the first we see of him as Captain America on his own – it probably isn’t the best idea to have one of those books involve him being a complete jerk. While for the most part I enjoyed this issue, I would have rather seen this get back up to after the ending of “Axis”. I cringe at the thought of this being someone’s first exposure to Sam Wilson as Captain America. Of course, this more than likely isn’t the fault of Al Ewing or Luke Ross but it needs to be mentioned.
Luke Ross is a boss, and his art here is stellar. This team is not the main “Avengers” squad, so they aren’t out in the deepest parts of space or alien planets. They are here, right in the middle of New York City. Ross’s art brings in the superheroics perfectly but also keeps the tone more grounded and “street level”. Despite how he’s acting, Sam Wilson looks graceful in the air flying over the city and during his extended fight scenes, Ross draws his moves with such precision and detail. Nothing is overlooked. Luke Cage is not in this issue a ton but even when he’s in the background you can visibly see the change in him. He’s much more businessman like and there’s a visible cockiness to him. He’s got swagger and even without him speaking it all comes through.
“Captain America and the Mighty Avengers” #1 is a solid comic book but does have some major drawbacks. Starting off as a tie in doesn’t do it any favors. Things will no doubt settle down when “Axis” ends, but if you read the previous volume then you should have no problem getting right back into things with this issue.
Final Verdict: 7.4 – If you haven’t read “Mighty Avengers” before, you might be better off waiting until “Axis” is over.
