Writer Rick Remender really enjoys having a full plate. Right now, the Uncanny Avengers are in a losing battle against Red Skull, the idea of a team made up of Avengers and X-Men is not gaining traction post Avengers vs. X-Men and, to make it all worse, there is dissention in the ranks. With all of that going on, Remender decides it’s a great time to bring in Kang The Conqueror. Not only does he introduce the blue-faced alien, he ties it to celestial manipulation that has horrific ramifications for mankind. All of this has something to do with the new Onslaught, and it all takes place within the first two pages.
From there, Uncanny Avengers settles back into the already unhinged story. Wasp, recently returned from a micro universe, has brought Wonder Man into the fold in hopes of gaining strength against Red Skull, who is currently using a dead Professor X’s powers to wreak havoc. Within Avengers Mansion, things are tense. Rogue, still reeling over Xavier’s death, is being difficult and confrontational with her new teammates. Meanwhile, Alex Summers (Cyclops brother) is attempting to keep the peace and work with Wasp to rebuild the team’s image.
Captain America has his own issues as he tries to maintain his trust of Scarlet Witch and rebuild that trust between her and the other teammates. Wolverine is in Japan trying to convince Sunfire to return to the fight. With all this brewing, The Scythe (aka Grim Reaper) decides to pay a visit and test the Uncanny Avengers. This is no ordinary bad guy; he’s Wonder Man’s brother, so he’s really powerful and picks off Avengers and X-Men with ease. Moving in to kill Scarlet Witch, Scythe is stopped by Rogue, who has absorbed Wonder Man’s powers. It stops the attack, but manages to make matters worse in front of a international audience.
What Remender does here is take stock. So much has happened within these five issues that we need a breather to figure out where we are before pressing on. In lesser hands, a “take stock” issue can be nothing more than a boring retread of what’s already happened. Remender avoids that by both introducing Kang and giving us a dramatic conclusion to issue #5. By the end, the pieces have been set, but new challenges are issued. That’s what makes a “take stock” issue work, when you have new developments worked into the current story. While I’ve hated his Captain America across the board, I remain very impressed with Remender’s Uncanny Avengers.
Olivier Coipel joins the team for art duties and I applaud the change. I just didn’t dig John Cassady’s simplistic and usually boring pencils. Coipel has a finer touch and a greater finesse with faces and details. His panel placement is excellent, too; he uses the panels to push the action so they become so much more than just squares on a page. Everything isn’t perfect; at times Coipel’s work is too vague. His Captain America has no emotion to his face at all. There’s also a proportion issue. When Scarlet Witch is talking to Cap, her head looks enormous compared to the rest of her. While Coipel’s work is inconsistent, it’s head and shoulders over Cassady.
Mark Morales inks are passable. He seems easily satisfied just inking the very basics of the panel and usually with thin inks. There needed to be heavier work on the outlines and perhaps more attention to faces and not hair. Color wise, I’d be fine with Uncanny Avengers, except it took two people to do it. Laura Martin and Larry Molinar both worked on issue #5 and, while the colors are nicely done, nothing here says two people colored the issue. There are some nice dramatic changes in background hues but really, two people?
Uncanny Avengers is a smartly written and really entertaining book. If Marvel could get the art team to rival Rick Remender’s script, it could become a serious force to be reckoned with.
(5 Story, 2.5 Art)
