Marvel’s last volume of “Savage Avengers” ended with a wistful Conan locked in a big battle. The new volume of “Savage Avengers” looks to pick up on some of those threads and introduce current Marvel characters into this series. In fact, this new volume of “Savage Avengers” has quite the cast with heroes like Deathlock, (Elektra) Daredevil, and Anti-Venom joining the team. The next exciting part about this new title is the writer David Pepose. “Savage Avengers” is Pepose’s first ongoing Marvel series. Pepose previously worked on “Spencer & Locke” at Action Lab with artist Jorge Santiago, Jr.. Carlos Magno is drawing the series alongside Pepose. Magno has tons of credits at Marvel including the wonderful “Thunderbolts” series with Andy Diggle on issue #129 published in 2009. Without further ado, let’s dive deep into this brand new take on the “Savage Avengers!”
Written by David PeposeCover by Leinil Francis Yu and Sunny Gho
Illustrated by Carlos Magno
Colored by Espen Grundetjern
Lettered by VC’s Travis LanhamAN ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT, ALL-DANGEROUS TEAM ASSEMBLES! Since his exile from the Hyborian Age, Conan the Barbarian has conquered the most dangerous foes the modern Marvel Universe has to offer — but what happens when this hard-edged Cimmerian finds himself on the run from the cybernetic soldier of the future known as Deathlok? Outgunned and outmatched, Conan must turn to an unlikely group of loners, berserkers and killers if he hopes to survive the night — but can these Savage Avengers defy Deathlok’s murderous manhunt, or will they become the next targets in the crosshairs of tomorrow? Don’t miss out on a bold new beginning for Marvel’s most savage super heroes, as Ringo Award-winning writer David Pepose (Spencer & Locke, Scout’s Honor) and superstar artist Carlos Magno (KANG THE CONQUEROR, RoboCop: Dead or Alive) introduce a sensational new lineup that will resonate across every era of the House of Ideas!
Writer David Pepose delivers a detailed script that accomplishes so many items in a limited amount of time. Pepose appears to budget the time wisely as this issue is able to quickly draw this new team together. Pepose uses narration to bring readers into the narrative and reintroduce the new developments in the lives of returning characters. These moments checking in with where the heroes are at since the conclusion of the last volume of “Savage Avengers” was one of the single most entertaining parts of this script. Also, it is invigorating to see how connected to other Marvel titles this book is with the inclusion of characters from modern continuity like Elektra as Daredevil and the implementation of Deathlock here.
Carlos Magno delivers detailed, ambitious art throughout this issue. Readers are going to see Magno deliver a shocking sense of scale on the comic book page. The second page of the issue changes settings, features tons of characters, and still looks coherent. My biggest criticism of Magno is reserved for the odd page layouts in certain moments. Readers see the outline of a person on the first page of the issue and the visual is confusing. This mysterious character outline coupled with the narration on the page may leave newer readers really confused in these opening sections.
The art picks up in the second half of the issue nicely. Aside from a few muddled story pages, there’s a palpable sense of action here. I really loved the physicality Magno offered towards characters like Daredevil and Anti-Venom. Magno appears to have an affinity for drawing Cloak. There’s a beautiful page showing Cloak’s expansive cape flowing almost forever. Pepose and Magno are already using this character to evoke powerful visuals with the first issue alone. The battles have strong, coherent action as well that tap into the brutality of the moment with intense speed lines and strong body language from Deathlock. The cliffhanger for the issue misses out on the best angle of the visuals and calls upon a weaker emotional response as a result.
One of the most important aspects of this particular issue lies in the subtext here. Marvel is rumored to be losing some of the publishing rights with Conan the Barbarian. Marvel and Pepose are wise in using the lore from Conan’s comic books as the driving conflict for this series. Pepose has a lot to balance in terms of the tone for this particular issue. Pepose taps into Dr. Strange’s personality for the narration seen in Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo’s run on the comic book series. The relationship developments between Cloak and Dagger are the antidote to the sprawling narration which helps ground the series.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – Writer David Pepose and artist Carlos Magno utilize unique elements from their specialized cast to explore a new team of heroes.
