4 Issue Test #18 - Uncanny Avengers

Now if there’s one facet of the Marvel Universe they’ve expanded since Secret Wars, it’s the Avengers, there are 6 different Avengers titles out there, each with a unique roster. Those titles are: All New All Different Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, New Avengers, The Ultimates, Squadron Supreme and A-Force. I’m going to be looking at Uncanny Avengers and All New All Different Avengers. I’m picking up more than enough Marvel titles for this to suffice.

So, I suppose I’d better mention the cast of this book. Steve Rogers: Former Captain America, he’s not an active hero in this book. The Human Torch, former member of the Fantastic 4, but with the Richards family no longer present thanks to Secret Wars and Ben Grimm chumming up with the Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s in this title. Filling our quota for mutants (the Uncanny Avengers aka the Unity Division was initially a route to peace between mutants and humans) we have the power absorber Rogue and the merc with the mouth Deadpool. In the magic-users’ category, we have Doctor Voodoo. I don’t know who he is. In the Inhumans category we have Synapse, I have no f*cking clue who she is and Quicksilver, who was retconned into being an inhuman to screw over Fox.

Before we begin in earnest, I think it also fair to look at Uncanny Avengers Annual #1. I’ll be brief, it’s rare that a series will get an issue this early in its run. But there’s a reason for it here: it’s a marketing gimmick to get people interested in the Scarlet Witch comic. Bear in mind, Scarlet Witch is not a member of the Uncanny Avengers. In fact this story centres around magic users and barely features them. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS! With that said, let’s dig into the real content.

Avengers #0, which served as an introduction to all the Avengers titles features a story about Deadpool stealing something for Steve to use on rogue whilst noting that Steve is the only person he respects enough to work for, for free. It’s probably the best story in that issue, but nothing to write home about and barely relates to what’s at hand.

A double-sided cover showcasing all the characters in the game, could be misleading given that Spider-man is not a prominent character in the issue

We open with a man dying of Lung Cancer, he sees a dying wasp in his hand and remark’s that the planet’s dying to. As he lays to sleep one night, however he undergoes terrigenisis, he’s become an inhuman. And so has his granddaughter. His power is being attune to the vibrations of the world him. He begins campaigning but with fruitless results. He sees the Earth as a single living organism, dying. He lies in the grass it begins to interact with him

Like with most post Secret Wars books, we cut to 8 months later. Deadpool thinks he’s leading his Avengers (comprising of everyone I’d previously mentioned plus Spider-man) against the Super Adaptoid but really Rogue is leading this battle. Johnny tries to fry its synapses, but it gains his power. Rogue charges in, knocking it down. Doctor Voodoo kills off the organic parts of him (our heroes!) then Synapse uses her ability to hack minds to send a flock of pigeons its way. Deadpool joins the fight by touching the adaptoid and giving it his cancer, destroying (I have no idea how that works, how can cancer kill a robot)

Spider-man isn’t happy, the adaptoid could’ve copied Deadpool’s healing abilities and they’d all be in trouble. He tells Steve he needs to get back to being a bodyguard at Parker Industries and says is Deadpool stays, he quits. Steve lets him walk away saying he is welcome to return as the others have to face the press. Johnny follows after him as the others face the press. Rogue is clearly not happy about the mutant situation. In basics, most mutants have head to find sanctuary after Terrigen mists have been released which have had adverse effects on mutants, killing some and rendering others infertile. Cap tries his best to keep the peace between Rogue and Synapse

Spidey tells Johnny that there isn’t any way his mind’s being changed. Johnny says he was hoping he and Spidey could serve in the name of the Richards since both are off doing Secret Wars things. Spidey says they will, but on very different terms.

They head to their new base, seeing the headline of the paper refers to ‘inhuman poison’ that Rogue briefly mentioned during the press conference. She’s fairly new at taking the limelight, not something they did regularly in the X-men. She says that trusting Synapse, who has relatively little experience is only half the problem. The other half is Deadpool. Steve explains that Deadpool’s using his newfound fame to fund the team and that Wade has earned his trust. Rogue asks if there are other ways but Steve says the he doesn’t want to be funded by shady corporations and the Government knows that they’ll save the world if they’re paid for or not.

She shows that she can fly (Rogue had that ability in the X-men TV series, in the comics it’s because she’s taken the powers of I think Captain Marvel) she enters her private quarters where a scan reveals her terrigen levels are high. She takes some anti-terrigen solution but it seems it may only be a matter of time.

In the lower sections of the building Doctor Voodoo is talking to a theatre ghost. He was killed in the theatre, and he killed in the theatre. Steve arrives asking if he wants company. He laments that this was not an ideal headquarters. Steve asks what he thinks of the team, Doctor Voodoo asks about Pietro, Steve says he took a personal day. Celebrating the idea that Magneto is not his father (another of the retcons.) He’s having dates across the world when a pigeon lands on a girl’s shoulder and she passes out. He races her to the hospital as the team, presumably via Doctor Voodoo tell him to meet them in Boston

1 hour later Deadpool narrates the scene as the Unity Division arrive via helicopter, Quicksilver’s already on the ground, saying that there are creatures down there. Johnny and Rogue are to provide support from the air whilst Deadpool lands the chopper so the others can intervene. Steve is in the War room, ready to provide support from a distance. Rogue and Johnny jump with Rogue asking about Johnny’s latest flame (get it?) before she gets stunned and Johnny rescues her. Apparently they dated a while back

A few civilians have been cornered but Quicksilver rescues them, he asks for more cover and it comes as Johnny destroys some of the spores and keeps the attack creatures back. Quicksilver berates Johnny, making him briefly miss his old team. Rogue arrives, asking where the creatures are coming from. From the 40 minutes Quicksilver has been on the scene he’s worked out they’re grown like plants. The others arrive, Synapse can’t connect to the creatures’ minds and Doctor Voodoo senses a void where their souls should be.

Meanwhile a policeman comes across a strange figure whilst evacuating the park, his creatures attack and kill the officer as he’s introduced as the Shredded Man.

An OK cover, not fond of the purple filter and Steve Rogers is not in Boston so potentially misleading again

Issue 2 opens with Tony Stark calling Steve asking if they need Iron Man’s help. Steve responds that after all the bad press, if they need to be bailed out he might have to fold the Unity Squad. Wait? Steve and Tony are on good terms again? OK…

Back in Boston Johnny’s using his fire to burn away many of the creatures. Rogue asks (again mind you) her to try and connect to them and shut them off but she can’t, leading to Rogue questioning her worth. I mean this situation would dissolve on its own if they remembered that they’re plants, you know, what Quicksilver told you in the last issue. Anyway, the situation is soon remedied as a mother brings her baby into the fray. She was trying to get her child to the hospital, she’s in desperate need of medical attention. Synapse connects with her and gives her immune system a boost, a one-time workaround that sees the child instantly getting better.

As Quicksilver rushes the parent and child to the hospital Doctor Voodoo notes that they are yet to understand the mechanics of this attack. Johnny flashes back to him ignoring Reed, warning him that the day may come that he needs to know about science. He has an idea, he may not have the biggest brain, but he knows where to look. He flies off with Rogue muttering that one of them should’ve quit the team.

Quicksilver returns and saying there’s somebody they should meet, they follow, although Rogue isn’t happy that he keeps running ahead.

We cut to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where a bunch of teachers and students spot him. They begin bombarding him with questions about Reed and whether his latest endeavours will be published posthumous. Johnny offers to tell them anything he can think of about Reed if they help him identify anything about the body he came with that could help them.

The Mayor is questioned and she says they have the situation under control, Shredded Man disagrees. He says on Camera that everyone should abandon their cities and return to nature. They’ll be able to survive. He talks about all the water needed to produce particular meats, the planet only has so much to give. A plant bursts out of the Mayor’s office, destroying it.

Quicksilver arrives on the scene laying in a good punch. He asks who he’s working for but retracts the question, saying he doesn’t care since finding out Magneto wasn’t his father. Shredded Man responds that nobody cares, this city will be under water within a century (ever get the sense there’s an ulterior motive for this choice of villain) Quicksilver is grabbed by a root, even though he’s not pure human Shredded Man will allow the plants one bad meal. He says that tomorrow the process will repeat across the globe.

We cut to 2087, Cable is investigating the M-Pox and has arrived at Boston, the first City that was evacuated. He easily takes care of one of the creatures. He sees a newspaper picture with Deadpool as an Avenger, remarking that they must be desperate. But now he has a precise date he can go back in time and help fix things. Although he’s reminded he has problems of his own under the name of Stryfe.

Rob Liefeld created Cable, in case that wasn't obvious with the over-muscled body, grimacing face and lack of feet and detailed background. Never do a homage to Rob Liefeld with your cover, it looks awful!

The Avengers are shown by Quicksilver where he punched Shredded Man, he tells Deadpool to chop down the tree but Doctor Voodoo warns that not all is as it seems, he’s dead. The dead grab Quicksilver until Doctor Voodoo breaks him out, he saves him but a mysterious voice tells Doctor Voodoo that he owes him one.

In reality Deadpool is giving Quicksilver mouth to mouth. He alerts Synapse when Quicksilver wakes up, thank Voodoo for ‘moral support.’ Meanwhile people are trying to break through the poice blockade to get out of Boston, one of them draws a gun but is quickly knocked out by Deadpool. Rogue tries to bring calm everyone down but is hit by a bottle from an onlooker. The creatures begin an ambush but are destroyed when Cable arrives and shoots them down with his 90s Rob Liefeld gun

Cable evaluates the team he has, dismissing Synapse for reasons I don’t really get but… Whatever. He tells them that in his future they lose this battle. Rogue isn’t interested in this becoming a Deadpool Cable shoot ‘em up and wonders whether his intervention might be the very cause of their failure. He says that only a few small number of inhumans will survive what’s to come. Deadpool intervenes taking off his mask and telling Cable to put his cards on the table, they’re not mutants he can boss around, they’re the Avengers.

Again we’re alerted to the fact that the creatures are plants and that they’re distributing the contagion that’s causing the illness. Cable has developed an enzyme inhibitor that should inoculate them, Quicksilver says he’ll get it to M.I.T. so it can be mass produced. Synapse senses something is coming. It’s Shredded Man.

He tells the Avengers that they shouldn’t bother, the City will be underwater in a few years, he’s just giving it an early push. Cable blasts him but… it has no effect. Rogue attacks as he engages in yet more preaching (seriously, this guy is a living mission statement) she’s knocked backwards by a policeman he now has under mind control. He unleashes a toxin, Cable has his rebreather and orders the others to cover their mouths.

Rogue is in anaphylactic shock from the order, her immune system already compromised by the terrigen mists. Cable tries to create some anti-toxin before Synapse says she can help them. As an inhuman she’s immune to the gas. Cable tells her to pursue Shredded Man but not to engage, she wonders who he thinks he is but we see he has saved Rogue.

She catches up with Shredded man and they fright as he preaches more about how mutants are incompatible with the new worlds, humans are evil and inhumans are supreme or something. I’ve lost any ability to care. She kicks his ass, eventually removing his mask, she can’t connect to his mind because he’s another plant creature (spoilers) he is her grandfather.

Largely generic background but it puts a point across fine.

Issue 4 flashes back to 8 months ago where the man that would be shredded man and the woman who would be Synapse adjust to their powers, likely teasing something for another day, they note that her brother is yet to emerge. Back in the present Synapse is begging her grandfather to stop what he’s doing. He refuses and she attacks

Back elsewhere Deadpool asks Cable if he has any ammo. Rogue comments that they needed more fliers, Deadpool responds by asking for the classic Marvel Fastball Special. Which is essentially a throw move. He asks Quicksilver to get him some ammo, Quicksilver does so but also brings along one of his fans, into a QUARANTINE lest we forget. They’re both fine with a weapon and begin shooting at the creatures.

At MIT, they’ve developed a serum based on Cable’s, that could save everyone or kill them. He believes that with so many lives on the line, Reed would test it on himself and he does. He experiences no adverse effects. Quicksilver arrives and takes the injector. Everyone in the City will need a shot. Johnny remarks that Quicksilver can and will do it, he has the biggest heart this side of Ben Grimm.

Cable gets a psychic flash of Synapse snapping the neck of his grandfather and everything ending. He rushes off to stop her. He does so, finding out the pair are related in the process. He tells Shredded Man that he created a second formula, one that removes Inhuman’s immunity to the plague, he shoots Synapse with it. Unable to see the loss of his granddaughter, especially after he tells her she does not want to live with the shame of what he’d done. Shredded Man reverses the damage done. He warns her however that he loves her no longer and they’ll be no mercy next time as his plant body dissolves.

They return to base as Steve stops Deadpool from quitting once again. Synapse says she needs to tell him something. But he says it can wait. He asks Cable if he’s sticking around, and once he reveals their team’s ‘secret mission’ is to recover Charles Xavier’s brain from the Red Skull he agrees. Rogue tells him it could’ve gone better; Steve says some luck turned up with Cable. He tells everyone that they did well, Earth lives to spin another day.

We cut to a space ship where a robot, which the crew confuse for a Space Knight comes aboard. It’s Hank Pym, and Ultron is his new suit.

So, this was practically made for the 4 issue test, a 4-part opening story for the team, how does it hold up, well, let’s take a look.

I think this is best broken down issue by issue. The first issue is fantastic, giving us the mission statement of the book, an introduction to all of the main characters (Cable notwithstanding) a few running threads for them and the beginning of a big mission for them

The second issue has a few problems, mostly with the repetition of it’s a plant which we knew in the first issue. However, it maintains a great action character balance whilst keeping the story flowing nicely.

Issue 3 and 4 feel more like the Cable show featuring the Uncanny Avengers, he kind of takes over the group. Occasionally there are character moments but Johnny and Steve don’t even appear in issue 3. Issue 4 suffers it to a lesser extent, but it still feels like he’s running the show, even though the focus should be on Synapse.

I get they wanted a big arc around Synapse, a new character created for this comic, I think. The problem is until that moment I didn’t really know what her character was. She barely had any dialogue in issue 1.

The other thing is it’s not a great showcase for this team to have them fail so miserably in their first big mission that Cable has to come from a post-apocalyptic future to save them. It’s not helping put reader’s faith in this group consisting of far lesser known heroes

Looking at characters, if there’s one thing I like about this comic is its portrayal of Deadpool. The cracking jokes and references is what was missing from him in the Deadpool comic I felt. It’s captured brilliantly here.

Rogue is a survivor above all else, we see her take the struggles of being a woman still facing the prejudices of being a mutant whilst also suffering the effects of the terragin mists and being the team’s field leader. She handles it reasonably well most of the time, even if the others don’t always listen and I totally get why she was not trusting of Cable

Doctor Voodoo has a number of skeletons in his closet. We see that to save Quicksilver he now owes a favour to an unknown being. He desires solitude, although he rarely gets it but is not uncomfortable with a team environment.

The Human Torch is a man morning the loss of his sister and Reed. You can see why he tries to convince Spider-man, who briefly also was a member to stay a member of the Avengers for the sake of Reed and Sue. It’s clear he also wants to take a leap out of Reed’s book and become a greater man for it. Reed was far from perfect, however, so this may have consequences

Quicksilver is a man whose life has been restored to him. He sees it as a blessing that Magneto is not his father and that he’s an inhuman and he’s treating life as it comes to him, whether that means dating multiple women in multiple different countries or just running to cure everyone in the city. He’s got a big heart, but his ego is also a little high which lead to his ‘death’ in issue 3.

That leaves us with Steve, the mentor of the group. His age/lack of powers mean he is no longer a more active member of the team, but provides support. This is something I wish had been expanded upon a bit, and might well be in later issues

Oh and the villain. Shredded Man. I don’t like him much, he’s too preachy and him claiming that he no longer has love for his granddaughter after committing an act entirely to suit her rings false to me.

The artwork is fine. You know I hate the cover of issue 3, but it’s a minor quibble all things considered

Ratings:

#1 8/10

#2 7.5/10

#3 6/10

#4 6.5/10

Overall: 7/10

Recommendation: I recommend this to everyone who likes Cable, doesn’t mind the lack of Spider-man and lack of A-list heroes and is interested in an interesting read. I’ll personally take the next arc but it may well be dropped after that.

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Images/clips used in this review are from Uncanny Avengers and belong to their respective owners. All images/clips in this review are subject to fair use