COMIC BOOK REVIEW - New Avengers: Everything is New
As I’ve started to get into more Marvel Comics novels, I’ve realised that a lot of their focus is team-based, which is why the Avengers have always been more popular than any one of their single members, bar Spider-Man. Compared to DC, where Batman and Superman seem to rule the roost of popularity in terms of what fans are reading. So in my head, I was like I should start reading more team books from Marvel to see what they had to offer. That led me to the “New Avengers”
‘Everything is New’ is a two-part story involving the “New Avengers”. This is a team that is run by Roberto Da Costa, aka Sunspot. Since Costa can no longer be out in the field as a mutant, due to the Terrigen Mist (Read Inhumans vs X-men), he has used his money to buy A.I.M. and create his own Avengers Team consisting of Songbird, White Tiger, Power Man, Wiccan, Hulkling and Squirrel Girl. Their first mission sends them to Paris where people are turning into ghostly creatures with crystals on their heads. Although successful in their mission, they have no idea who started this attack. Behind the scenes, we see a villain named “The Maker” whose secret identity will blow your mind. Whilst it’s clear that they are a force for good, S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t completely trust this new team and sends in their own agent to investigate the group. Who else but Hawkeye? The second part of the novel sees a race of Kree-Skrull hybrids look for their prophesied leader who they think is Hulkling. Whilst retrieving them they also take Wiccan. They tell Hulking, aka Teddy, that if he is the chosen one, he will pick up a magic sword, which he does immediately. However, danger is never far, and the two Avengers along with the “Knights of the Infinite” must battle Moridun, an ancient evil who is quickly dispatched by Teddy’s new magic sword. But we all know that ancient evils never really go down easy, do they? The last part of the novel deals with an Avengers Team from the future who come back into the past to destroy Moridun, who has possessed one member of the New Avengers. Can both teams work together to defeat this threat? And can everyone make it out alive?
So this was a fairly interesting novel. I have to say, the majority of the members of the team were unknown to me, and I guess that’s what reading a new series is all about. I found the story to be a little confusing in parts and also, it ran from point to point quite rapidly which meant that I felt like I had received only a figment of what these characters are all about. Both stories were intriguing, but not enough to pull me in. That being said, I think that the roster of this team is quite interesting. None of the characters seem overpowered which is often the case in superhero teams. Hawkeye somehow seems to make it into every one of these alternative Avengers teams and I don’t know if that’s because he’s good or useless! Haha! I think going forward, I’d probably like to read some novels that involve the team doing one mission and only focusing on that!
The artwork was pretty vivid and adventurous. I probably would have liked it more if the story was also good, but it was the novel's highlight. The covers were excellent and even the variants were decent as well. Overall, not a bad novel to start a new series, but not a particularly good one either. Let’s see what the future holds for this series!
Favourite Panel:
I’m sorry, what? Beat-up Thanos? Where was she in Avengers Endgame? Haha!
Favourite Character:
Difficult, but I think the character with the best quips was definitely Hawkeye
Rating:
Story Arc: 12/20
Character Development: 12/20
Artwork: 12.5/20
Enjoyability: 12/20
Re-readability: 9.5/20
Overall: 58/100
Level: Advanced