Uncanny Avengers 5, Young Avengers 3, A+X 6

Uncanny Avengers 5
Remender (w) and Coipel and Morales (a) and L. Martin with Molinar (c)

I've really liked Marvel NOW! for the way the writers and artists have really jumped in and been unafraid to break some traditions. At the same time, I kind of love the way that Remender is playing with traditions in this book. I've talked a little bit before about Remender's use of a narrator, something that has faded a little bit with the disappearance of thought bubbles and the emergence of captions as a character's thoughts (which I don't view as a bad thing). There's no real narrator in this issue (though there's a good bit with Kang as narrator at the beginning) but there are still a few traditions that creep their way into UA 5. One of the traditions that I hadn't really considered for any of these new Avengers books in Marvel NOW! that has been all but ignored (which I don't think has hurt the books in any way) is the press conference. It took this issue for me to actually recognize that none of the other Avengers books have done a press conference issue in any way but that it really is a weird sort of tradition for these books to have. It makes total sense to me that the Avengers WOULD have press conferences so I've never questioned them appearing in a book, but it's still a fun little nod at Avengers history. There's a lot of that in this issue, between Rogue replacing a picture of the original Avengers with a picture of Charles Xavier, the team meeting together to discuss their next move (in a meeting called by Cap, just like the old days when people used to regularly call and lead meetings), Wasp and Wonder Man (Avengers mainstays) appearing at the mansion as a PR team for this new Unity Avengers division, and the inevitable supervillain attack at the press conference. Even when Grim Reaper does attack the conference, he announces his name with the traditional (though not frequently used in modern comics) larger/different/colored font.

Don't mistake all of these traditions as covering up a weak book. Plenty happens here and it's all very interesting. Kang the Conqueror, sick of seeing the timeline corrupted by Apocalypse and his spawn, kidnaps the twin children of Apocalypse and his Pestilence (of the Four Horsemen from Remender's Uncanny X-Force days). Wolverine goes to Japan to convince Sunfire (a one-time Apocalypse Horseman himself) to join the team. Rogue and Scarlet Witch express their frustration with the Unity Avengers. Alex takes charge of both a team meeting and the press conference that follows. Grim Reaper, rather insane, attacks the Avengers and eventually is possibly killed by Rogue in front of gathered press as she doesn't realize the strength of the power she absorbs from Wonder Man. So yes. A TON HAPPENED. Another solid issue and it puts us in another interesting place as we move forward (though where did Thor go? I know he's in next issue but I didn't see him...wait, I just went back. He's AT the press conference. Why did he not get in on that fight with Grim Reaper? Would it have been too easy? Okay, so there's my complaint about the issue and MAYBE it's a little nitpicky but MAYBE it's a good question.

Young Avengers 3
Gillen (w) and McKelvie with Norton (a) and Wilson (c)

I don't know that Young Avengers is my favorite book Marvel has at the moment (considering all the tough competition) but I do believe it's the one wherein I most regularly say "oh, that's neat" about something or other that Gillen and/or McKelvie has done. Whether it's McKelvie's full-page spreads with interesting panels sprinkled in or a writing technique that makes a narrator feel present when he's not (for example, America speeds into a situation as a blur of colors that appear in several panels that say "somewhere distant" then "still distant" the next time it appears then "getting closer" the next time then "here" as she arrives). I find myself constantly reading and seeing innovations like these in a mainstream comic and being completely taken aback with how simple and how great they are. It's one thing for a to know the story they want to tell and even to know the characters their using, it's a different thing altogether when they have such a complete grasp on the tone they want that story and these characters to have. I don't know if it ties into what I was talking about in my pre-game post about Gillen and McKelvie's long-established relationship coming into this comic or about their experiences with these kinds of innovations in their independent comic Phonogram but it really shows and it plays incredibly well in this book.

The book itself, on top of being a kind of masterwork of cool techniques, is loaded with story and character (particularly character). After Billy's spell the restore Teddy's mother in issue one, everyone tied to him has found their parents alive, present, and altered. The start of the issue has Billy, Teddy, and Loki fighting Loki's once-dead father Laufey outside of Asgard. America shows up just before her parents who have been combing the universes to track her down. It's the first time we REALLY see America outside of a couple of quick lines in the first issue and a bit of backstory in the initial .1. Her attitude is very clearly on display, as are some of her powers. It's particularly important because she's the least known character of all of these relatively unknown characters (people who know the Young Avengers know the majority of this team, but those people are limited. Loki too, despite his long history, is only really entirely familiar to people who read Gillen's run on Journey into Mystery) but you don't want to just cram in information about her. You want it to come out naturally, as the story requires it. We're also getting a great look at Gillen's Loki, which remains unbeatably enigmatic. No one trusts him to cast spells or trusts him at all (wisely). America reveals that he had wanted her to kill Billy, which he explains as a reverse psychology tactic to get her to actually protect Billy, citing the known perception of him as, you know, Loki. He explains too that his powers are significantly weaker because he's in a child's body and tells the three of them that he could wipe this spell away instantly if he could "borrow" Wiccan's powers. What side is Loki playing? Only Loki knows, as it should be. Great book, great issue. If you're a comic fan, you should read Young Avengers. It's a good story with good characters (and a really good sense of what that story is and who these characters are) and great flair. Also worth reading for the best fake ID in the world variant cover (at right).

A+X 6
Captain Marvel + Wolverine: David (w) and Camuncoli w/ Benevento (a) and Brown and Mossa (c)
Thing + Gambit: Costa (w) and Caselli (a) and Mossa (c)

Interesting first story. As I've said about A+X before, they're not aiming for story here. There's probably nothing from any of these books that will be expounded on in other books or used in canon later on. They're fun little books to show X-Men and Avengers working together, a place they've usually not been before. We mostly have seen people who haven't really teamed up together in the past, like Gambit and Hawkeye or Captain America and Quentin Quire. Even the second story in this issue (Thing and Gambit) is one you don't really envision. That makes this first one interesting; it's a team-up that's happened plenty of times. In fact, in some timeline (I want to say Days of Future Past but I might be wrong) Carol and Logan end up married. Not the case here, of course, but it's worth noting (maybe. Noted it, anyway). Playing poker, the two get into an argument spawned from the TV series Angel about who would win in a fight, an astronaut or a caveman. It's an interesting question posed by interesting characters to examine it. Carol is all about flight and the modern (with pretty amazing powers to boot) and Wolverine's incredibly old and oftentimes not far off from a caveman. Naturally, the two side on their respective connection (Carol with the astronauts, Logan with the caveman). As they're arguing (and it gets kind of heated), they're interrupted by a giant robotic being called The End, who seems intent on fighting them. Carol poses the question to him and he answers "astronaut" and explains that we've already seen it in Planet of the Apes. They invite him to the card game. Sure it's cute and throwaway but it's still pretty fun. There's a lot of fun dialogue and smart writing that feels relatively real. Like I said, I'm not here for an ongoing series where The End is a legitimate threat and not a not-particularly-tongue-in-cheek joke and the two have to put aside their argument to defeat him. I'm here for him to be invited to the card game as Carol lords his answer over Wolverine. Fun story.

Story two is another fun one but with two characters I like less than the first story. I like Gambit well enough but I'm not really a big Thing fan. It's a similar situation though, with no real villains in sight (aside from those dirty Yancy Street Gang members) and, even more similar, a poker game. Thing has been invited to join a card game with the Yancy Street Gang and they, to even the odds of the rock pokerface of Thing, have brought in Gambit as their ringer. Thing lashes out at Gambit as the two met several months ago in New Orleans as Gambit cheated a man in cards and he and Thing got into a fight. Thing yells at Gambit in the present for a while and Gambit slings his smooth insults back before Thing eventually demands they take it outside. They manage to sneak all the winnings out with them and escape together while the gang waits around inside. We learn that their original meeting had ended when Thing reveals it was all a misunderstanding between them and enlisted his help in cheating this very gang in this very situation. Kind of a fun story. I'm somehow less into it than the first one, which I thought had a little more character to it (and those characters HAPPENED to be ones I liked more anyway).