Written by: Mark Waid
Art by: Jesus Saiz
Published by: Marvel Comics
A good Avengers book should have at least one of three things:
- Captain America (Steve Rogers)
- Iron Man (Tony Stark)
- Thor (the Odinson)
No offense to Sam Wilson, Rhodey, or Jane Foster (or any other legacy character through the years), but no one has really grabbed the mantle and held it a la Wally West. It has to be one of the originals. Failing that, and ideally in addition to those three characters, a good Avengers book should have at least two of the following:
- Hulk (Bruce Banner)
- Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
- Whatever The Hell He Decides To Call Himself This Month (Hank Pym)
- Wasp (Janet van Dyne)
- Black Panther (T’Challa)
Failing that, you can throw in one of these guys and hope it lands:
- Quicksilver
- Scarlet Witch
- Vision
- Hercules
- Maybe Beast
Of those thirteen characters, Avengers #672 has two, and they’re both from the third tier: Vision and Hercules. There’s a plethora of other characters that can be used to fill out the roster (basically any other character), but the book needs to have a few of the staples. And don’t get me wrong, I like legacy characters. They can be in there alongside the originals, or even to replace some of the originals, just as long as some of the originals are in there. (They did that with Spider-Man, as both original and new are in this book. Unfortunately, I don’t really consider Spider-Man a true Avengers character.)
Anyway, the book loses points on that front from me, because the roster is a hodgepodge of “Do I really care about this character?” characters. Here’s the makeup: Falcon, Thor (Jane Foster), Wasp (Nadia Pym), Vision, Hercules, Spider-Man (Peter Parker). That’s it. Yhey meet up with the Champions in this issue (supposedly the young versions of established heroes). That squad goes like this: Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Hulk (Amadeus Cho), Nova (Sam Alexander), Viv Vision, Young Cyclops, Spider-Man (Miles Morales).
Again, all of these characters fill out a roster nicely, but it’s like filling out a basketball roster entirely out of sixth men. There needs to be a star, and I’m not sure I’d read a solo book of any of these characters. (Save for the Spider-Men, who, also again, just feel a little off being Avengers.)
The plot of the book goes like this: a meteor (Asteroid? I don’t know; I’m not an astronomer) mysteriously appears and is headed toward Earth. The Avengers and the Champions team up to stop it. Tension between the two teams is rife, as the Champions, like all teenagers, loathe being told what to do. Spoiler: they stop the meteor thanks to some seriously dubious scientific means that strain the bonds of suspending disbelief. (Speaking of scientifically dubious, Pluto is apparently still a planet in the Marvel Universe, as Wasp refers to “the other nine planets” when talking about Counter-Earth’s potential gravitational effects.)
After the meteor is dispatched, strange vibrations start occurring all over Earth, which the teams split up to deal with. This leaves Hulk and Hercules to fight a monster that emerges from the asteroid. To be continued…
So nothing groundbreaking plot-wise, but serviceable enough. The characters seem well-written, even if I’m not particularly interested in them. The art is fine, but again, nothing groundbreaking. I guess that’s just how the book feels to me: It’s fine. It’s a standard, slightly above-average book. Read it if you’re particularly interested in the characters or the teams. If you’re not, I’d definitely say give this book a pass.
(The backup feature explaining the origins of the Avengers was a nice add-on though. It was only three pages, but it summarized things nicely, and the art was really sharp.)
