NEW AVENGERS #1

Capsule Review

There are more Avengers than you can shake a stick at! Why, in my days, we just had The Avengers, and we turned our noses up at the West Coast franchise! These new New Avengers used to be the Young Avengers (I think … I never read that book). And so we are dropped into the newest adventures of characters like Wiccan, White Tiger, Hulkling, and Squirrel Girl. Writer Al Ewing gives the team their own personality, branding them a “secret cult of science crazies,” and provides them a groovy island headquarters off the coast of California, but I didn’t engage with the cast, even after Hawkeye showed up to provide a familiar face for old farts like me. Gerardo Sandoval’s art is easy to follow, and looks like it has a little manga influence. Some nice visual storytelling when the team engages their lightbending devices — even their word balloons go transparent!

Approachability For New Readers

Hard to say. As a new reader, I didn’t feel lost, especially, but I also didn’t get on board. The Avengers theme is readily understood at this point, so mostly what the book needs to do is tell us how this Avengers team is different from the rest (which it does), and make a case for why it matters (which it doesn’t, really).

Read #2?

No. These guys don’t grab me. Sorry, kids!

Sales Rank

#25 October

Read more about the Avengers at Longbox Graveyard

• Avengers — Kree/Skrull War
• Longbox Shortbox
• The Bride of Ultron
• Avengers Gallery

Read more capsule reviews of Marvel’s All-New All-Different rolling reboot.