Avengers: The Initiative vol. 2 - Killed In Action

Collects Avengers: The Initiative #7-13 written by Dan Slott & Christos Gage and drawn by Stefano Caselli (#7-11) and Steve Yu (#12-13) and Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1 written by Dan Slott & Christos Gage with art by Salvador Larroca, Clayton Henry & Paul Neary, Steve Yu, Tom Feister & Carmine Di Giandomenico and Patrick Scherberger & Dave Meikis.

The attempt to cover up the accidental death of Initiative member MVP goes completely haywire as he wakes up again, although this time as a super-strong zombie-like uhm... thing, pissed off and out for revenge. And with his left arm replaced with the deadliest weapon in the universe. Needless to say, it takes a lot of B and C grade heroes to deal with this kind of trouble, and a lot of heavy punches are dealt here. And this guy is not content with a bit of happy slapping either, there is literally liters of blood spilled here. Meanwhile, the New Warriors, unhappy with upper management, decide to jump ship, foreshadowing some interesting things to come, and in the end the first class of the Initiative graduates, making room for new recruits.

Killed In Action keeps up the high quality of the first book, Basic Training, while shedding more light on some of the characters and continually introducing new subplots. This time the stories seem a little less self contained, with the MVP storyline taking up most of the book, but there are so many subplots that it feels like something new is happening all the time.

One thing that I immensely enjoy about this series is the characterization. Before reading the first book I was worried that the characters might be a little bit boring, mostly because I didn't know many of them I guess, but those worries have been proven completely unfounded many times by now. Baron von Blitzshlag, the extremely morally questionable ex-Nazi employed by the Initiative, is quickly becoming my favorite current Marvel character, and several minor characters are having a bit of a golden age of their own here: Henry Pym, Taskmaster, War Machine, Henry Gyrich, Constrictor etc. And then there's the new characters, through whose eyes we get to look into one of the darkest and at times most cynical corners of the Marvel Universe.

Although this book is about new heroes, in the tradition of New Mutants and similar titles, the tone is rather dark, definitely a lot darker than I expected before reading it. Twisted morals and double standards seem to be central themes here, and how the new heroes react to this is an important part of the story. But the new heroes themselves are not as blue-eyed as they seem, and this adds another layer to the story, removing the book from the black and white hero-beats-the-crap-out-of-a-villain-every-month genre. There is also a lot of humor here, which saves the it from becoming too depressing and makes it a pleasant and enjoyable read despite the dark themes. Few Marvel books has this kind of thematic sophistication today, and in that regard the book is a bit of a gem.

Another thing that this series has in spades is interesting subplots that swirl and merge and guarantees that the reader will never be bored. A good example is the subplots of MVP dying and the three Scarlet Spiders which turns out to be connected, or the New Warriors subplot or the multiple little seeds planted in the annual which hint at both Hydra and skrull involvements later on as well as the return of a character from the beginning of the series. There's a lot of stuff to keep track of and sometimes it can get a little confusing, but it meshes very nicely, and the result is a very entertaining story that never lets go until it ends.

The art in this book, most of it by Caselli, is very good, and I'm especially impressed with how well the drawing and coloring complements each other. The coloring by Daniele Rudoni is really good, and I can only imagine that Caselli and Rudoni must work very closely together to create this level of quality.

I certainly recommend this book, but you will want to read the first volume before this one. This has turned out to be a the surprise hit of 2008 for me, and I'm eagerly awaiting more. Slott has positioned himself as a heavy weight Marvel writer, and this series shows why.

7/10

Avengers: The Initiative vol. 1 - Basic Training

Collects Avengers: The Initiative #1-6 written by Dan Slott and drawn by Stefano Casselli (#6 drawn by Steve Yu).

When I first heard about this book it didn't really strike me as very interesting, but then I read the two issues that were in World War Hulk: X-Men, and I was immediately impressed, so I decided to try it out anyway. Avengers: Initiative is the direct product of many of the major developments in Civil War, and many of the themes of that event are carried over into this book. It's a book that does not want to be it's own niche, it involves the rest of the MU to a very high degree with appearances by many major Marvel characters such as Hank Pym, Henry Peter Gyrich, War Machine, Beast, the Thing, Spider-Man etc. and references to events such as the Stamford incident, NW tags and World War Hulk. As such, this series starts out by placing itself smack in the middle of the MU, thus strengthening the Avengers franchise's position as the pillar of said universe.

The story assumes the disguise of an army story, but at it's heart, it is a good old super hero book. Yes, we have the drill sergeant, meaner than a pit bull, and the top secret projects that only commanding officers can know about, but that's about it. The rest is super heroics with elements of 'coming of age' and 'team building', both classic super hero themes. Plot wise, there's a lot of balls being thrown into the air at the same time and the reader is not likely to be bored. There's a constant buildup to something, a certain feeling that the people in charge have a lot of skeletons in their closets and that things are not as they seem. Nothing is revealed here, however, and if I had to point to something, that is probably the biggest weakness of the book. It builds up to something, it doesn't stand on it's own. This is not a major issue, however, and it certainly shouldn't stop anyone from buying it, just remember to put money aside for the next book as well (solicited to come out by the end of this month).

The book is loosely structured in three parts. In the first part we are introduced to the main characters as they are getting used to their new home and get into their first battles. The second storyline is the World War Hulk tie-in. I'm impressed with how smoothly Slott manages to tie the series into the WWH event. Often when a series is tied into an event it feels a little tagged on, but Slott comes up with a story that makes perfect sense in the context of both Avengers: Initiaive and WWH and even manages to move the book ahead. The last part is a single issue suspense/crime story that sets up the scene for the next book. In the course of the story Slott comes up with several plot twists that really keeps the reader glued, and the last scene is quite a shocker, it made me say out 'Holy Sh*t' in a half whisper!

I must not forget to mention the art which is excellent and only gets better as the book progresses. Caselli is good at infusing his characters with personality, and this is especially important in a book featuring so many characters that readers won't be familiar with. I also want to praise the coloring by Daniele Rudoni, I'm not sure how to describe it, you might say it has a warm almost animation-like quality to it. In any case it is really good, and the combination of Caselli and Rudoni makes for a great looking book. Steve Yu, who handles the art of the last issue, has a somewhat quirky style and I suspect not all readers will enjoy it as much as the rest of the book, but I thought it was pretty good and went well with the story.

This is a good beginning for a new series, and I will definitely be getting the next book as well. It features less known characters but at the same time it is deeply rooted in the MU, and if this sounds interesting to you, I suggest you try it out. You should, however, be aware of two things: two of the issues contained in here are also in the WWH: X-Men book, and the book doesn't read that well on it's own, it is only the beginning. Lets hope the series can keep up the quality!

7/10

World War Hulk: X-Men

Collects World War Hulk: X-Men #1-3 (Christos Gage/Andrea Divito), Avengers: The Iniative #4-5 (Dan Slott/Stefano Castelli), The Irredeemable Ant-Man #10 (Robert Kirkman/Phil Hester), Ghost Rider #12-13 (Daniel Way/Javier Saltares) and Iron Man #19-20 (Christos Gage/Butch Guice).

This is a potpourri of stories from various series that is connected to WWH in smaller or larger degree. None of the stories are related except that they all concern WWH somehow, so it reads pretty much like a collection of short stories.

Let's start with the main event, the X-Men story. It sucks. In fact, calling it a story is a bit of a stretch, as it's pretty much just a drawn out slugfest going through all three issues and featuring different X-teams getting beaten silly by the Hulk, until he finally realizes that his fight is not really with the X-Men, and then walks away. This is obviously just a bad excuse for slapping the X-logo on a cover knowing that it'll sell.

The Avengers Initiative story is this books nice surprise. I didn't expect much from this, as I tend to prefer stories involving classic Marvel characters (I'm pretty conservative on that point...), but this story was both well written and well drawn, so I'll definitely be trying out the tpb's for this series. The story works very well within the greater context of WWH, without feeling tagged on or unnecessary, which is the case with some of the other tie-ins.

The Irredeemable Ant-Man is a fun little story. It's nice to see a Marvel series with a focus on comedy for a change. Phil Hester's art is excellent, so I might try out the digests of this series.

The Iron Man story is also pretty good. I quite like the direction Iron Man has taken after Civil War, and this story focuses heavily on his Shield responsibilities. The atmosphere of the story is moody, and the art augments this perfectly. This story also features the fight between Iron Man and the Hulk, which is a pivotal scene in the main WWH book, from a different view, namely that of Iron Man.

The Ghost Rider story manages to beat out the X-Men story in the 'The Story of this Book that Sucks the Most'-competition by a fair margin. There's just no reason for this story.

So as is usually the case with this kind of book, it's a mixed bag of hits and misses. It works pretty well as a collection of samples of various series, giving the reader interest in trying out books he otherwise would not and warning him about books he should stay miles away from. There really is no excuse for WWH: X-Men, however. As a limited series featuring a major team and tying in to a major event, it should have been better.

5/10