The New Avengers Annual #1 – Review

Why is a raven like a writing desk? Anybody familiar with that riddle may know that there’s no clear cut answer. Just like the New Avengers have no clear cut answer as to why they are being attacked by Simon Williams and his team of Revengers. The riddle, in case anyone is wondering, is a reference to Lewis Carol’s delightfully demented Mad Hatter, and after reading this issue I felt a little like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. So join me, as we explore Bendis’ take on the classic tale of madness and self-realization in: The New Avengers in Wonder Man-land.

The New Avengers Annual #1

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Gabriele Dell’Otto
Color Artist: Ive Svorcina
Letters & Production: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover Art: Gabriele Dell’Otto, Mark Bagley, Andy Lanning & Frank Martin

The New Avengers: Luke Cage, Ms. Marvel, Thing, Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Dr. Strange, Mockingbird, Jessica Jones, Victoria Hand, Squirrel Girl.

The Revengers: Wonder Man, Devil-Slayer, Goliath, Ethan Edwards, Captain Ultra, Century, Anti-Venom, Atlas, D-Man.

Plot: Simon Williams, the former Avenger known as Wonder Man, has corralled a collection of lesser-known heroes and vigilantes to help him bring an end to the Avengers. Williams blames the Avengers and their past actions or inactions for the five greatest atrocities perpetrated in the world; namely, the creation of Ultron, the Scarlet Witch’s mental breakdown, the superhero Civil War, the existence of the Incredible Hulk, and Norman Osborn’s reign and personal team of Dark Avengers. Williams tells his team of Revengers that it is up to them to defeat the Avengers before they can cause any more harm.

Outside of Avengers Mansion, the Revengers lay in wait and watch as Squirrel Girl takes Danielle Cage out for a walk. When the baby and her sitter have left the grounds, Wonder Man orders Atlas to attack the mansion. The giant crashes into the front of the building, interrupting the New Avengers’ poker game and Jessica Jones and Luke Cages’ personal time. When the heroes look out to their front yard, the Revengers unleash the full fury of their powers on the New Avengers.

Ms. Marvel faces off in the air with her former beau, Wonder Man, promising him that she will get him the help he needs. The rest of the New Avengers are at a loss concerning who their assailants are and Victoria Hand uses her handheld computer to acquire information on them. Outside, Jessica Jones faces off against two behemoths, Atlas and the new Goliath, who is interested in locating a lab inside the mansion. 

Hand relays the fact that Captain Ultra is afraid of fire, so Dr. Strange casts an illusionary spell of fire on the antagonist, sending him fleeing. Atlas drops a wall on Jessica Jones and sends her husband flying over the house when he comes to her rescue. Mockingbird fails to hold up the rest of the building and it collapses on top of the New Avengers. The Thing tries to make a final stand but is surrounded and taken down by Century, Ethan Edwards, Anti-Venom and Devil-Slayer.

The Revengers pause to reflect on their victory and pedestrians look on at the destruction in disbelief. Ms. Marvel crashes to the ground followed shortly by Wonder Man. The leader congratulates his team on a nearly perfect victory and directs their attention to their next target: Avengers Tower.

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Curiouser and curiouser! This story was started back in the Avengers title about a year ago, so it’s nice to see it finally addressed. I don’t really follow the Annual comics, so it seems a little odd that they would continue a story that began in a regular issue. This storyline hasn’t been mentioned in the New Avengers comics so it could confuse some readers who don’t know where it came from.

I feel as though Annuals are normally best suited for one-shots or special events such as weddings, so figuring out where the stories fit in within the normal timeline isn’t that important. That is a problem with this particular story however, as it doesn’t seem to fit with what is transpiring in the current Avengers stories. Mainly, how are they going to explain that Avengers Tower is still standing after just making a big deal about it falling in the Fear Itself story? Or is this supposed to take place before it falls, in which case, we already know that this story is going nowhere, making it even more pointless.

I like the story idea though. Wonder Man’s belief that the Avengers are bad for the world is an interesting concept and building a team of Revengers to stand against them is something I’d like to see further explored. The storyline is going to be continued in the Avengers Annual, but I’d like to see it progress beyond that into the main comics and I’m not sure if it will. I think this team and story is something that deserves more focus instead of a story about an Avengers team from 1959, for example.

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We’re all mad here: Wonder Man’s powers are out of whack and he is suffering from an ionic energy leak. This is obviously making him crazy which is nothing new as we’ve seen former Avengers Scarlet Witch and the Sentry go crazy. Bendis made a point to highlight those breakdowns at the beginning of this issue. The extent of Wonder Man’s craziness is what is interesting though. Could all of these events be transpiring inside Simon’s head? That could be an interesting twist on the crazy superhero bit, and also help explain some of the inconsistencies with the timeline and character interactions, such as Spider-Man not immediately addressing Anti-Venom’s association with the Revengers.

The majority of the members of this ragtag group are so unknown that the New Avengers don’t even recognize them, despite the fact that some of them have had close interactions with them in the past. For example, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones interviewed D-Man for the nanny position that eventually went to Squirrel Girl. I personally had no idea who most of them were and had to spend some time on Wikipedia learning their backgrounds, of which there was not a lot. This is just another example of Bendis digging deep to play with obscure characters in the Marvel Universe.

One thing that wouldn’t help Simon deal with his mental problems would be this cast of characters with whom he chooses to surround himself. A lot of his teammates seem to suffer from one disorder or another as well. D-Man has a bit of mental instability himself and we’ve seen Anti-Venom display something of a hero-complex and a need to be accepted. Century is an alien amnesiac with different personalities floating around inside his head and Ethan Edwards should have an identity crisis of his own, being that he’s a tongue-in cheek rip-off of Superman. It will be interesting to see if all these characters were chosen specifically for their disorders.

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What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversations? The highlight of the art was at the beginning of the issue when Simon was recapping the big events in Avengers history. I really liked how each story received a double splash page and thought they could make fantastic posters. The title of each event was displayed using the same typography that was associated with those stories, such as the green, brick font of the Incredible Hulk title, or the Times New Roman-esque stacked characters of Civil War. I thought that was a great touch. The rest of the art in the issue was good, but it seemed static and flat. It was nice, but the panels looked more like a still life painting and didn’t convey the sense of movement or action that a battle like this would deserve.

It was nice of Bendis to have Simon wait for the Cage baby to leave the Mansion, but Jessica’s use of the word ‘nookie’ kind of sullied the moment. Bendis is also a little over enthusiastic with Simon’s order to have Atlas “Go! Go! Go!” I would also like to know if there is a reason why Goliath was asking about a lab and feel like Bendis missed a great opportunity to have Spider-Man and Anti-Venom interact. It became annoying to have the Revengers repeatedly claim “you know me” to the heroes. Hopefully there will be a reason for this selective memory on the Avengers’ part.

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Rating: Meh, action and art. Poor, characterization, story and writing. 2/5 Avengers Assembled

“Remember that one time during the fight when it looked like you might actually win? No? Me neither.” – Marvel vs. Capcom 3
“Did I mention I beat up Firelord once? No, seriously. Firelord.” – Ultimate Alliance 2