New Avengers #10

By / / Comics

There are two stories going on here. The first is the current squad of New Avengers fighting Superia and her squad of former H.A.M.M.E.R. troops. One Avenger is already down and the team has their hands full with villains they were just joking about last issue.

The second takes place years before and follows Nick Fury on his mission to recruit the very first team of Avengers consisting of Silver Sable, Sabertooh, Kraven, Namora, Ulysses Bloodstone, Dominic Fortune, and Dum Dum Doogan. Aside from historical clusterfuck this presents with this team being the Avengers before the Avengers (and thus tying the Star Trek franchise for the worst idea of another Enterprise being the best ship in Starfleet decades before the original Star Trek), it’s a pretty good tale. Oh, and did I mention I hate that they’re called the Avengers?

Even if I do have issues with the flashback storyline it’s by far the more intriguing of the two. (Sorry if I can’t get choked up on the apparently imminent death of a C-List West Avengers character Marvel kills and brings back whenever it fits their whimsy.)

Fury’s recruitment of the team will no doubt remind people of The Magnificent Seven (or younger viewers with Ocean’s Eleven). There’s actually story here, where the other plot line is basically one fun joke with Luke Cage (that’s really just the same joke from last issue) and one big battle against a no-doubt dangerous, but relatively laughable, foe. (Superia? And H.A.M.M.E.R.? Really? Were Flag-Smasher and A.I.M. too busy to make an appearance here?)

More than a little hit-and-miss, but still worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]