Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness are ushering in a new era of Avengers. Between the Free Comic Book Day issue and Avengers #1, the table is set. Avengers #2 gets the ball rolling and the team more assembled.
***SPOILERS LIE AHEAD***
The big three (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor) are back together and waste no time facing off against a planetary threat. They put the call out to the rest of those willing to assemble once Celestials began falling out of the sky. This promising new roster of Earth’s mightiest inches closer to coming together.
Superhero teams always need a reason to come together. There’s an art to assembling the right team and justifying their collaboration. Jason Aaron is taking his time getting this handful of heroes completely together, and it’s appreciated. This time, Loki’s Celestial-revenge plot against the entire planet will bring Marvel’s biggest and baddest together, eventually.
It’s important that we spend some alone time with Steve, Tony, and Thor. They’re the “holy trinity” of Avengers comics and they haven’t been together (or themselves) in a while. While the first issue of this series felt more like a #0 issue, it clearly gave us a chance to recognize that we’re getting back to business and that it all starts with these three fellas.
The rest of the team is slowly coming into focus in our peripheral vision. This seems like Robbie Reyes’ last chance to be a household name; he gets plenty of panel-time that successfully buys goodwill from the reader. It looks like he’ll be the closest to comic relief on the team which will either really help or hurt his character with fans.
We’re seeing Aaron flex another writing muscle this time around in dialogue. We’re used to him being so dramatic and serious in tone on books like The Mighty Thor and Southern Bastards. This time around he’s playing with one-liners and dialogue “zingers” like a big 80’s action flick.
The lighter tone and more playful dialogue shows us another side to Jason Aaron. It sounds like Jason Aaron is having fun, being able to let a little more loose than usual on a Marvel title. All the character interactions thrive from this, which is a promising sign given how big the roster is eventually going to be.
Establishing this early on, and with Aaron’s superb writing talent, he’ll be able to deliver memorable character moments without falling into the word balloon pollution that plagues certain Bendis books. This script is nowhere near as grand or complex as we’ve come to expect from Jason Aaron, but it’s like a successful popcorn flick and that’s perfectly fine.
Loki and his Celestial homies pick-up where they left off in Marvel Legacy #1, finally. Not only is it satisfying to see our heroes back together, but to see Loki in the role of villain again is just as pleasing.
There’s plenty more action in this issue, Ed McGuinness doesn’t disappoint with the scale and power of the Celestials. David Curiel, Mark Morales, and Jay Leisten do wonderful work coloring and inking. The art team does a spectacular job making this feel both familiar and fresh. This is the most Avengers-like the main Avengers comic has looked in a while.
Avengers is off to a promising start, we’re still not totally at the potential suggested by the hype, but we’ll get there. The slower pace may be too slow for some, but those patient among us will see that there is plenty to keep us interested already.
