What, no Dark Reign sum up? No Siege speculation. Have you seen how out of date my blogging has got these days, my only chance is to blog about things before they happen.
In all seriousness I might comment on Siege post event, but I’m interested at the moment on how the universe is going to unfold post-Siege. Marvel have been releasing various things regarding the new shape of the MU and it looks brighter, sunnier and happier. Some have said this could be a response to the Disney takeover but I reckon that with a probable Avengers movie coming out marvel want the universe back on a more approachable tack.
So, what do we know about this new age, lets look at the team books that have been revealed so far.
Avengers
Marvel has released the line-up of this new team in the wake of Siege. Line-up Includes Iron Man, Captain America (Bucky Barnes Version), Spider Woman, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Thor and Hawkeye (Clint Barton). Its kind of a half and half, half Bendis’s new avengers, half traditional Avengers. I’m in two minds about this, on one hand it will be nice to see a more traditional Avengers Team, I’m very happy that we’re not loosing Bucky cap just yet and that Barton is back to being Hawkeye. On the other hand I’ve never been thrilled with Bendis writing Avengers, his work on Mighty wasn’t bad but I think there are better avengers writers out there. It does leave at least one question; Barton is taking back his “Hawkeye” identity, what will happen to the Young Avengers Hawkeye?
Secret Avengers
This has been secretive, unsurprisingly. We know its written by Ed Brubraker which is exciting enough, we know what the team members look like as silhouettes, we don’t know what the team is about, what their purpose is or indeed the identity of any members, although speculation includes Steve Rogers, War Machine, Moon Knight and Black panther. Either way this will be one to watch.
Atlas
Another go at agents of atlas, I really enjoyed the previous Agents of Atlas series and like the commitment to keep trying to get them ingrained into the Marvel Universe, and I’m also keen to see the New 3D man meet the team. Again another good sign.
Thunderbolts.
Another interesting looking title, going back to the concept of criminal rehabilitation that existed throughout Thunderbolts but in particular in “The Initiative” period. Luke Cage leads a team based on the Raft, Currently looks like the team will include Moonstone, Crossbones, Ghost, Juggernaut and Man Thing with the theme of criminals doing heroic acts as part of their rehabilitation.
There is also an interesting looking title called Heroic Age, not sure if it’s just a one shot or a series but it’s more of an anthology book and will see the return of Captain Britain and MI13 in a short story. Solo title wise Iron Man has new armour and solicits show that it will feature Jim Rhodes, possibly as War Machine. And Captain America, at least for the next story will continue to show the adventures of Bucky Barnes which is good as I can still see mileage in that concept.
What are we loosing; to my mind so far it looks like we’ll loose two significant titles. The first is confirmed axed, that is Ms Marvel. It’s a real shame because this title has been holding on and with a bit more promotion she could have been Marvel’s Wonder Woman. Marvel are doing a comic featuring female heroes, but I preferred a female solo book (and with She-Hulk gone as well I struggle to think of any Marvel female solo book).
Second is Avengers: The Initiative, and while I wasn’t enamoured by the “Disassembled” story it’s been consistently good. I like the concept (Hero boot camp) and I liked the often personal approach to stories they took. It was an interesting book, so far no announcements of what will become of the initiative but I hope it will survive in some shape or form as it’s really been too good an idea to drop.
I like your idea of commenting on things before they happen. Could get quite amusing :-D
ReplyDeleteAnd your line-up speculations are clearly wrong as only one of them featured Wolverine ;-)
Is Bendis actually writing Mighty Avengers? I thought that had been Dan Slott or someone else wasn't it? I tend to agree though. While I like a lot of Bendis' stuff I've never been sold on his take of the Avengers. He seems very fond of the "street" heroes that haven't always jibed well with the more cosmic aspects of the team.
That said, he's done a fair few of those stories on Dark Avengers with more success. I'd imagine the lack of Luke Cage in this new team will move the tone away from the New Avengers and more towards something more traditional, just with Spider-Man and Wolverine in tow.
For myself, I may give the new Avengers book an issue or two to see what I think. If nothing else, Bendis writes some great dialogue amongst the heroes.
Bendis started writing Mighty Avengers, but post SI it has been Dan Slott doing a very good job with a very B-List team.
ReplyDeleteof course thsi article has already gone out of date. Avengers Title No 3 has been announced, New Avengers is relaunching with #1 and Luke Cage is in charge, but wait is he running the Thunderbolts? Wonder if the New Avengers will be a more "Street Level" team or possibly even a checks and balances squad who keep an eye on teh Avenegrs.
I'm slightly confused about the line-ups. Looking at a New Avengers article, I noticed it seemed to indicate that Wolverine and Spider-Man were members. Does this mean their on both teams?
ReplyDeleteGranted, this would be expected from Wolverine, but does risk making the two teams look a bit samey. Personally I'd rather keep them in New Avengers, and keep Avengers as a more classic line-up. Although putting them in the main Avengers, and mixing up the New Avengers line up might be more interesting.
Yeah, I'd have possibly not used spidey and wolverine on both, jessica jones returning to her jewel persona is nice though.
ReplyDeleteHere's a theory, will ther be a split in the avengers early on, perhaps spidey and wolverine prefered cage's way of doing things
That could explain it. Maybe they'll start in the main Avengers team, but realise there's a gap for the more grounded Avengers team in the market, and Luke Cage reforms his own team, poaching Spider-Man and Wolverine back from Cap and co?
ReplyDelete