Uncanny Avengers #1

I love the High Evolutionary. He’s so over the top ridiculous, such a perfect “comic book” villain his appearance almost guarantees that I will enjoy a comic. It certainly seems that Rick Remender imprinted on a lot of the same comics I did, so maybe we’ll get the Evolutionary War villain doing some neat stuff in this opening arc. (That said, my real hope is that the villain for this one is the Man-Beast, a tremendous and ridiculous older Thor and Spider-Man villain.)

Remender has used the Axis crossover as an excuse to totally reshuffle the Uncanny Avengers roster. Rogue (still using Wonder Man’s powers) and Scarlet Witch carryover from the previous series, the rest of the cast is new. Sam Wilson’s Captain America, Sabretooth, the Vision, Brother Voodoo, and Quicksilver round out this new lineup. That is sort of an odd line-up, and the team is lacking a true powerhouse, but the potential for drama is high. Divorced heroes, brothers and sisters, and replacements make up the team. There is real potential for sparks between these folks.

The other interesting thing is that unlike the last volume of Uncanny Avengers, this team hasn’t been brought together to serve a specific mandate. Rogue is worried about the missing Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, and she gathers the other heroes to make an attempt to track down her old teammate. I like this approach. It certainly seems like Rogue is overcompensating for how horrible she was to Scarlet Witch in the last volume, but frankly, that personality correction is more in line with the Rogue I know and love from years of X-books.

So the team ends up teleporting to Counter Earth, the world that orbits the sun directly opposite the Earth. This Counter Earth is populated by High Evolutionary’s ani-men, who show more personality in the opening few pages than they have since Quicksilver’s late 90’s series. This is going to be fun.

Daniel Acuna is in my top five for artists these days (and maybe top two). His character work is excellent. The costumes look fantastic. And the sensibility of the combat and panel layouts reminds me of Jack Kirby. Quicksilver’s new suit isn’t quite dynamic for me yet, but Acuna makes it work. And Rogue looks fantastic, as does the new Cap. Marvel really did a nice job with that new Cap suit, didn’t they? It almost always looks swell.

It isn’t surprising, considering how much I’ve loved Remender’s work for the last few years, but I’m in for as long as this volume of Uncanny Avengers lasts!