Mighty Avengers #1 (Marvel Comics) Review

While there's all kinds of cosmic goings-on in the pages of Infinity, Avengers, and New Avengers...who is protecting Earth? It's up to Luke Cage, Superior Spider-Man, and a disparate group of heroes to watch our backs as the new Mighty Avengers!

In the midst of Infinity, Thanos’ minion Proxima Midnight leads an assault on New York while the main Avengers team is in space. A new team of Avengers must rise to defend the Earth, a diverse group of heroes who seemingly have little in common. It’s the team’s haphazard feel that makes the book so much fun. The initial lineup consists of Luke Cage (who is trying to raise money to support his family by forming a new team of Heroes for Hire), Spectrum, Monica Rambeau in her 489th super-hero identity, Power Man (who is acting as a student to Cage and growing frustrated for the lack of respect he is getting from the hero community), White Tiger (who rejects her role as mercenary in Luke’ group), Superior Spider-Man (utilized as an effective wild card and a constant source of dramatic irony), and Spider Hero (a friend of Monica’s who is trying to hide his true identity by wearing a cheap Spider-Man costume much to…Doc Ock/Spidey’s dismay). 

Mighty Avengers #1 is the usual clarion call to action as each hero has his or her motivation to answer the call to battle and become a team. Luke’s reasoning is the most well thought out as he has an internal conflict whether to go back to being an Avenger, a role he clearly misses, or supporting his family by staying a mercenary hero for hire. Luke’s action in settling on Avenger is ironically inspired by the Superior Spidey talking down to him and dismissing him as a thug during a battle with the almost-forgotten villain, the Plunderer. Superior Spidey is so much fun in books like this as readers get to feel like they’re in on a dirty little secret since the heroes just act confused about why Spidey is suddenly a dick.

As far as art goes, readers either like Greg Land or they don’t. This book is scaled back Land as the whole thing looks more comic-y and less trace-y. Yes, his Monica looks like a Halle Berry trace job and his Superior Spidey is oddly fat, but the action flows cleanly and the art never distracts from the well-constructed character work that makes this book sing.

It’s so good to see Monica in action again that one can forgive the usual gathering of heroes first issue. Readers have seen this type of thing before, but the team is made up of such different personalities that good stories are sure to follow. With all the cosmic shenanigans going on in Avengers and New Avengers it’s nice to read an Avengers book grounded in character and team interactions.

 

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Mighty Avengers #1Writer: Al EwingPenciler: Greg LandInker: Jay LeistenColorist: Frank D’Armata

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Rating:

3.5 out of 5