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Usually I'm one for not passing judgment on a book for at least a few issues (at least until the end of the first story arc). However, something about the new Legion of Super-Heroes and the New Avengers has compelled me to say just a few things about how these books are starting out. I will hold my final "verdict" on the books for a while but I just felt like sharing some of my current thoughts since these two titles are the only ones I currently have under a microscope and I've read the first two issues of each title.
New Avengers
It's no secret that I thought the end of Avengers was complete garbage. The only reason I can even fathom for the way things ended in that title was that Brian Michael Bendis wanted specific things to be set before he started writing New Avengers. Now the stage has been set and we get to see where Bendis wants us to go.
The first thing it seems Bendis wants to do is get a few villains freed up for either short-term or long-term use. Enter the ever useful large-scale escape of individuals from a supervillian prison. I figure that's a safe bet story wise because that idea has worked pretty well on setting things up in the DC Universe recently (you know, the Slab getting opened up in Outsiders and Iron Heights in Flash). Luckily the Raft (a supervillain prison in the Marvel Universe) must have been built by an incredibly inept group of individuals because it seems that all it takes is one supervillain to shake the sucker up enough to give the inmates an opportunity to cause problems.
Fortunately for the villains getting out luck brings a group of heroes for them to play with. We've got Jessica Drew (the original Spider-Woman), Luke Cage, Daredevil, Captain America and Spider-Man. Unfortunately for the heroes none of the villains seem set on escaping and it seems they would rather hangout and pummel heroes than actually flee the prison.
Enter what appears to be Bendis' new thing for the Avengers as a group, having them slapped around and broken. Spidey is easily dropped into the hands of villains while Captain America sits on his thumb waiting for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to give them protection. Finally, after waiting for S.H.I.E.L.D. Cap decides to get involved in Spidey's introduction to prison life and give a helping hand (which goes great with Spidey's new broken arm). Admittedly this all takes place in the span of a few minutes, but it just seems like an eternity for Cap to get off his duff and back up Spidey.
The remainders of the heroes at the Raft end up in a little brawl with Carnage and Mr. Hyde. Luckily they are helped out by the Sentry (you know that character that was a Marvel hoax a while back). While the Sentry was supposedly in a self-imposed prison stay it seems something inside of him decides to light up his pro-wrestling belt and get in on the action. The result is what I consider to be the only true enjoyable part of the first two issues of this title, that being Sentry ripping Carnage in half in space. Who knew that the best way to defeat a character that should have been a hoax was to get a real hoax to take them out (at least for a while)?
Overall I'm still not impressed with Bendis' take on the Avengers. My best guess is that somewhere along the way he got latched on to the ideas of the Avengers actually "Avenging" something and having a bit of a grittier feel. It has possibilities if that is where he's going, but right now I'm just not "feeling" it. I'm also afraid that Bendis is willing to sacrifice characterization for his plots. My gut still aches when I think about the whole Chaos Magic thing (it not existing). Anyway, I guess we'll see where this goes. The nice thing about low expectations is that it's easy to be impressed.
Legion of Super-Heroes
Now this series is actually refreshing. I've only dabbled a bit into the Legion in each of its incarnations. Mostly because it seems like every time I want to check it out the poor folks get rebooted (not just relaunched…rebooted). I guess that actually makes me a bit fortunate because I have much less attachment to the characters that others might have. Of course, even with that said I still do notice things.
The first thing that is easy to see is that there are a few cosmetic shakeups, and I don't just mean how some characters are dressed. It looks like a few folks have had their races changed. I'm not sure if this is an Earth racial or planetary racial change we're talking about, but there are changes. To me it's nothing huge it's just something to make me raise an eyebrow.
As far as the costumes go there does appear to be some changes there too. Some have had minor changes, some have gone a bit more towards older versions of their previous incarnations, and others just seem to be brand new. In my eyes the biggest changes is probably Element Lad's costume change because it looks like he must be a Dr. Fate fan.
What I would say is the largest positive point of the series thus far is that the first two issues each can stand alone and they do so very well. I'm not sure if this is how things are going to continue to go while Mark Waid is writing the title, but if he has the desire and ability to do so I think it would be a very refreshing change from comic titles in general as of late. I'm sure he's got some larger plot set up (it is Mark Waid, folks) but if the book can stay jump on friendly for new readers for a least a year it can only help the title in my opinion.
Now for my one gripe. However, it's not a gripe with Waid's writing or Barry Kitson's art, it's with one of the "defining" ideas of the Legion of Super-Heroes. I still cannot take the whole "utopian" or "near utopian" future Earth. For me this has never made sense because if things were so dang good then why does the LSH set up shop on Earth? I'm not saying they should be in a warzone, but it might make more sense if they weren't at the point furthest from where they're needed. Plus, this time there does appear to be some "oppression" going on regarding the youth both on and off Earth (is that a natural evolution of a "utopia"?) so perhaps there will be some explanation as to why things have changed so much in the Legion's "now."
As I've said before, I need to give both of these titles a bit more time to fully evaluate them but as of two issues the new LSH title is definitely beating the new take on the Avengers without even trying. I'll keep reading and hopefully I'll be giving a bit more reflection on the titles later (along with a few others). For now I'd say if you had to take a choice of which title to check out, go with Legion of Super-Heroes.
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