Vengeance #1 & 2

As a fan of the fringe of the Marvel U, the guys in my shop thought I’d enjoy Joe Casey’s most recent descent into madness, the Vengeance limited series. First of all the book’s first few issues are $3.99, but after a discount, I decided to give the first couple issues a try.

And yeah, this is a Joe Casey book! I have always liked Casey’s most insane ideas the best, with Godland, Superman, and Cable being my favorites of his work. When he interfaces with too much tech, the books tend to lose me a bit. This series opens with two of the new characters texting each other, so I started off a tad annoyed (that dang text-spelling!)

Marvel did such a horrible job marketing this, I actually had no idea what the book was about, so let me help. The book follows the modern Teen Brigade (remember the incarnation Rick Jones led a long time ago?). The core members include the cool Miss America Chavez, Beak and Angel from Grant Morrison’s X-Men, and the too-cool for school Ultimate Nullifier. I assume they’ll face off against the villainous Young Masters, many of whom showed up in Paul Cornell’s Dark Young Avengers. For some reason, both groups are mad that the line between heroes and villains are crossing so much. I have to say, I’m not sure I follow the motivation.

The series has some nice nods to old Casey concepts like his weird Defenders and Stacey X. Those Easter eggs help, but my main problem is that I don’t really like any of the characters in the Brigade. (Miss America has potential, though!) The Young Masters are fun, and I hope to see how Dane Whitman deals with there being yet another fake Black Knight. I MAY get one more issue, but right now, there isn’t a whole lot motivating me to see what happens to the emo In-Betweener, and that’s the only plotline that really continues from issue to issue.

Nick Dragotta’s art is great, of course. His Mike Allred-lite style is fun and his designs are great. They are actually too effective! Ultimate Nullifier annoys me just from his look!

Fair