Review: Savage Avengers #1
Avenger teams come in all shapes and sizes. The mansion team, the compound team, the guys and girls over on the West Coast and the Secret Avengers. That’s not counting the New Avengers and the Uncanny Avengers. Now their is another new team, the Savage Avengers featuring fan favourites, Wolverine, Punisher and Conan?
No good deed goes unpunished as Conan finds himself in the Savage Land after helping the Avengers on a previous mission. To be honest, there is not really anywhere else for him to go; Dynamite had their “fish out of water” version of Barbarian in the city with Red Sonja. Back to the Savage Land; Conan is not the only visitor, as the Hand are also present, up to their Ninja pyjama’s in trouble. With them, is their master who is intent on bringing about the resurrection of some seriously monstrous, er monster. If this seems to much for a lowly barbarian to handle, then don’t worry as Wolverine is on the Hand’s trail. Throw in a couple of teases for the rest of the team and you have the first issue.
Gerry Duggan has been around the Marvel universe for a while now, spending time with both the Avengers (Uncanny) and Conan. As such, he seems the perfect fit for this book. As first issues go, it is pretty standard fare, plot wise. Two heroes meet up, have a misunderstanding and then try to batter each other into submission. No great shakes, right? However, during the melee Duggan intersperses the plot with some fun dialogue between Conan and Wolverine. If the book was set in a different time, you could imagine the two have a helluva party in the nearest tavern. Duggan writes in such a way that neither character seems the weakest. True Logan has his healing factor, but Conan is no slouch in dealing with what he sees as magic or demons. As result it is these two on which this book will rise and fall. The inclusion of anti-heroes isn’t that much of a break from the norm; this won’t be the first time villains have reformed to be part of the Avengers and having villains on a team is all the rage thanks to Detective Comics and more recently Justice League’s Dark and Odyssey.
One of the main reasons for checking out this book is that fact is features art by Mike Deodato Jr. who has possibly drawn every character in the Marvel Universe. Initially known for being a sort of cheesecake artist, Deodato Jr. has evolved and developed a style that whilst reminiscent of David Finch and perhaps latter Jim Lee work, does carry more substance in how the character’s frame work and poses are rendered. Of course, it does help that neither Conan or Logan are svelte and under Deodato Jr.’s pencils, could possibly be maybe the broadest characters on any Avengers team.  The rest of the cast is pretty formulaic, though they do the job in looking both menacing and mysterious as and when required. The colors by Frank Martin are fantastic, you can almost feel the heat emanating from the Savage Land. Throw in some fantastic shadow work and you have a really dark looking comic book environment. Finally, VC’s Travis Lanham varies the lettering well, to encapsulate, not just sound effects, but tone and volume which delivers the right emotions matching the beats of the story well.
In all the hoopla and success of Endgame, this feels like an odd time for a book that features not one member of the film to hit the stores. Maybe Marvel think that people may be tired of Rogers, Stark et al being the focus of the Avengers. Problem is, no matter how much fun this book is, eventually Avengers always fall back on the main three characters. Still, this team is an odd mix which will give fans a different type of team a different type of dynamic, so much so, I am tempted to say “All New, All Different”. In all honesty, I hope the book does well and I am looking to seeing how Conan reacts to Venom and Frank Castle reacts to Elektra down the line.
Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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