COMIC REVIEW: Avengers: No Road Home #1
Updated: Feb 18, 2019
As part of this goal is to educate the Disney community about all things Marvel, I have decided to do periodic comic book reviews. And there is no better occasion to start with Avengers: No Road Home #1.
I love me some Avengers. I love them in any media. I read the Avengers in the comics, I watch the animated series and I love them in the movies. This book, to me, is the best of the best of the Avengers.
For those of you who don't normally read comics, this is sort of a sequel to Avengers: No Surrender which introduced the character of Voyager who was revealed to be the daughter of the Grandmaster. Although, she turned against her father to side with the heroes. In this book, Voyager returns after there is a massive attack on Olympus and brings together an interesting assembly of characters. It includes Hercules and Rocket Raccoon, Hawkeye and Scarlett Witch, Vision and Spectrum, Blue Marvel and Toni Ho, and the Hulk.
The main title is ably written by Jason Aaron who has brought together a team of the usual suspects - Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Panther, Captain Marvel and others. But, this is when I most love the Avengers - when it highlights its vast membership and let's lesser known characters shine.
Avengers: No Road Home #1 is written by three of the best writers to ever write the Avengers - Al Ewing, who's The Might Avengers was, bar none, one of my favorite Avengers title, especially because its diversity; Mark Waid, who's Avengers also was diverse and brought together both younger and older members of the Avengers roster; and Jim Zub, who, currently is writing an amazing run of Champions, pulled together a unity team of Avengers and X-Men in The Uncanny Avengers.
The art team is beautifully assembled featuring penciller Paco Medina, inker Juan Vlasco and colorist Cory Petit.With so many storylines going on, the art team seamlessly weaves together all of them together in a cohesive fashion.
One of the things I love about this issue is that it drops us in the middle of the everyday lives of these characters - Hercules is recounting his glory days, Hawkeye and Scarlett Witch are just having coffee, Spectrum, Blue Marvel and Toni Ho are working on experiments to help Vision, and Bruce Banner is brooding. But, just as quickly as we get a taste of who we are, we are then dropped into the action and the threat, leaving us with a major cliffhanger.
After reading this, one thing is for sure, Hercules, the Lion of Olympus, must be introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I've always loved Hercules and his bravado. Reading this issue, I really imagined a Thor/Hercules buddy movie. I hope this will eventually happen!
Of all the characters in the book, he is the most fleshed out and you can't help but love him.
I am also so happy that the issue features two of my favorite Marvel characters - Spectrum, who I'm hoping will eventually be introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as her mom is a character in Captain Marvel, and Blue Marvel.
The great thing about this issue is that you really don't need to know about what is happening with the rest of the Avengers. You don't even need to know who Avengers is because they succinctly remind us of her origin. So, if you are looking for a fun Avengers title to read, this is looking to be a great adventure without miring it in much of the continuity and mythology.