Avengers Prime #1 Review

Avengers Prime is a series that bridges the final moments of Siege and the start of the Heroic Age.  Chronologically speaking, this is the first adventure with Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Thor Odinson in years.  Frankly, Brian Michael Bendis’ first issue of the mini-series is intriguing and gives us much to look forward to.

Avengers Prime #1

As the ashes of the war between Norman Osborn’s goons and Rogers’ assembled heroes fall on a destroyed Asgard, Thor, Iron Man and Rogers meet to discuss what comes next.  Stark and Rogers get into it over Tony’s past behavior that led to Osborn rise to power and nearly destroying the world.  Not one to condone this behavior, Thor simply tells his former friends that if they have nothing better to do than to bicker about what’s going on, they can politely excuse themselves.

Stark and Rogers put aside their differences to assist Thor.  The God of Thunder explains that the Rainbow Bridge that allows travelers to go to any one of the Nine Realms is broken and they must do what they can to limit access to and from Asgard until it can be repaired.  Before they take any action on closing the portal, they are whisked away each being taken to a different realm to face their own set of nasties that reside there.  In the end, Thor is met by a long lost character who had not yet been seen since Thor returned the Asgardians to life.

Bendis should really be proud of himself right now.  The Heroic Age has been everything that was advertised in the early stages.  Just seeing Thor, Stark and Rogers together again and undertaking a very large, very important task is terrific.  This is a shattered friendship and it’s going to take a little time and effort to piece these three legends together again, but this first issue was a lot of fun.

This whole issue almost feels like it was released in the early to mid 80s.  The characterizations of these three long time comrades feels so classic but refreshing at the same time.  Everything we’ve seen thus far in this mini is epic and it doesn’t look to come down from that as it continues.  This is the third series to be released from the Avengers with the Heroic Age banner, and for the first time since Disassembled, that feeling of Marvel’s mightiest team taking on mighty threats is realized in each of the series.  And it just feels like Marvel is fun again.

The real star of this book though is Alan Davis.  Davis is not a stranger to the Avengers.  He teamed up Kurt Busiek during what I’d like to think of as the Avengers’ Modern Golden Age.  The way he draws characters have a look and feel of what you’d expect them to look like.  His Thor is Majestic, his Rogers is stoic, and his Stark is cocky.  But it isn’t just the heroes he does well…  He draws some cool trolls in a scene that finds Steve Rogers caught in a bar room brawl with a bunch of liquored up uglies.

I think someone should get Alan Davis on the phone and hire him as the artist on the main Avengers title for as long as he wants to stay.  His panels pop with an electric vibe that stuns and woos the readers eyes with perfection.

If I had one thing that I would change if it was up to me, it would be having this five-part series happen directly after Siege, and finish before the four new titles are rolled out.  I know it’s crazy to think about having the Avengers off the shelves until November, but think about how exciting it would be to be reading this while anticipating how awesome it will be to have these three central characters together again with a full compliment of Avengers around them.

Let’s face it, though…  Marvel would not take down their flagship title for that long.  But if they did, their commitment to the Heroic Age and the return of real Avengers stories would be proven.

Image courtesy of Marvel Comics.

Tags: Avengers Comics Books Brian Michael Bendis Siege