Mighty Avengers #1&2 (2013)

Marvel is lucky they are putting this out on a light week! I’m pretty much totally disenganged from Hickman’s Avengers, the cold, sterile approach of the Avengers world does nothing for me. Good thing that Al Ewing is writing an entirely different sort of book. It would be unfair to call these guys the “street-level” Avengers, instead, think of this as the team going on “regular” Avengers missions. The kind that the Avengers have always done in the past. I much prefer this rather than odd high-concepts or long discussions about space.

The team is pretty sparse so far, with Luke Cage, Spectrum, Superior Spider-Man, and Spider-Hero. I assume White Tiger, Power Man, She-Hulk and more will be joining shortly, but Ewing does a nice job with his thrown-together team. Even better, the new-to-me Blue Marvel immediately feels like a heavy hitter. This guy hangs out with Uatu! And he ranks world invasions on whether or not he actually needs to get involved! Marvel has always tried at Superman analogues, this time they may have succeeded. Blue Marvel has a ton of potential.

As for the mysterious Spider-Hero, I’m not sure who it is. S-H is a smart ass who uses ninja weapons. A possible future Ronin, I guess. It can’t be Shang-Chi, too silly. Could be Deadpool, but I assume the language would be in yellow and I don’t think DP knows Monica Rambeau. Starfox can fly. Black Knight uses a sword and isn’t this snarky. I’m not sure I’m ready to name a suspect yet…

Greg Land’s art is always polarizing, and again, he hits both sides of the spectrum. Monica Rambeau looks awful, nothing like she normally does. If you told me it was the Wasp in that costume, I’d believe it. The Spider Hero logo is clearly photoshopped or taped rather than drawn. But. At the end of issue 2, one of my all-time favorite Dr. Strange villains shows up. And he looks FANTASTIC!

This might be an Infinity crossover, but it stands on its own as a New York invasion story. I hope Ewing can keep it up, because if he can, this is going to be the Avengers title I keep buying.

SPOILER BELOW!

Any comic that has Shuma Gorath in it is automatically GOOD!