Marvel Reboot - 6 months later - review

[magisensei]

Hi everyone,

Its been 6 months or so since Marvel restarted its universe and I was wondering what everyone thought of this reboot universe. 6 months has given us a chance to really look at what has been happening and to review the new comics and the universe. Have you enjoyed it? Do you hate it? Or is it just okay? Or maybe it still needs a lot of work and perhaps another 6 months to really see if this rebooted universe actually works for readers and fans.

While I have not read every single Marvel comic in the rebooted universe I have read a majority of them and I wanted to share a few thoughts with you about them and what I think so far about the rebooted universe.

A while back (before the reboot was started) Marvel had imagined a more Avengers focused universe - you remember all those Avengers titles that came out - and it became an Avengers world for lack of a better description. Lots of interesting things happened during that time - most of it way overdone - as for me at least all those new ideas while initially interesting would forever alter earth and everyone that lived on it. Okay so what happened to all those things from Mars that landed on earth and began to totally alter the earth? But before these new ideas even got to flourish (not that it would ever) Marvel rebooted its entire universe. So the entire Avengers World idea that appeared after Avengers vs Xmen story line resulted in a couple of years of interesting story lines but in the end a universe that disappeared to some degree.

Back to the topic at hand, the reboot of the Marvel universe - 6 months later. Some general reviews and comments:

Avengers (after the reboot) - there are quite a few Avengers titles at the moment that at times it is a bit confusing which ones you are reading.

All-new All-different Avengers - is the team with Iron Man, Ms Marvel, Vision, Thor, Captain America, Nova and Spiderman (new). An interesting line up made of newbies and seasoned superheroes. But the team was made up just by chance it seems when they came together to deal with an alien. There is a lack of cohesion to the team - meaning that there is no Avengers' mansion or meetings - it seems like its just a bunch of heroes that came together to help battle the monthly villain/problem to appear. It lacks for me at least some of the heroic-ness that the Avengers represent as the team that is more global and accepted than another other superhero team. Even the first stories for me where just okay - nothing really special about them.

Uncanny Avengers (aka the unity squad) - one of the left overs from the previous incarnation of the Marvel Universe - stars Rogue, Steve Rogers, Deadpool, Dr. Voodoo, Synapse, Quicksilver, Human Torch and Cable. An interesting line up but since I was never thrilled with the original title when it first came out - I wasn't really that interested in this version. Any Avengers team that would invite Deadpool has to have a problem - and Cable has not been relevant in the x-universe since the 1990s.

New Avengers - is probably the oddest of the Avengers title - but in a good way. Formerly AIM (yes the bad guys) it was bought out by Sunspot (yes the New Mutant) who runs the team - although he is not in the field he is like the manager/director of the team - he watches through a camera like some kind of general (like a Shield commander) instead of in the field. Its composed of a unique team composed of young members (members from Young Avengers), a former semi-bad guy (songbird), hawkeye (sent by Shield to keep an eye on them), independent vigilante hero (white tiger) and powerman and odd-ball superhero-comic relief hero in Squirrel Girl. The funny thing about the comic besides being bought out by Bobby and turning it into the New Avengers is that there is a distrust about the team from Shield. Buying out AIM by a superhero and turning it into a new team with AIM tech does not make it a bad team - just a new team using AIM tech. So far it has proved to be entertaining but it really needs a lot more back story to see how the team was formed and the whys behind why Shield does not trust this new team - is it because Bobby (a mutant) runs the team? How did Bobby form this team? Why not more mutants? How did he gather this team anyway? How did he buy out AIM?

What have you noticed about these titles - most of them don't have Avengers on them really. 3 titles are composed of mutants and one team even has Spiderman. where are all the Avengers? Not a single team is composed of all Avengers - the closest of course being the All-new-all different Avengers - and even that doesn't feel like the Avengers team.

Overall 7 / 10 - its about average - nothing really exceptional about any of the titles.

Xmen Universe - its gone to hell in a hand basket. You have one team living in limbo, you have another team performing some kind of black ops mission (composed of villains and xmen badass) and you have another team made up of some of the original xmen and younger xmen - its the new version of teenage mutants. Its for me one big mess. There is no cohesion between the team and you have teenage mutants running around with no Prof X to train them; you have a group of black ops doing who knows what and adding to the mess and a team that is living in limbo - hiding out from everyone and everything. The X-universe has been a mess for a while and the reboot has not fixed any of it - it has even made it worse.

Overall 5.5 / 10

The best of the new Marvel Universe:

Amazing Spiderman - the first 6 issues has proven to be interesting and entertaining. Its good to see a Peter Parker that has finally grown up - he runs a mutlinational tech firm - and is very successful. The first 7 issues so far has Peter and co doing a world tour as his technology is going around the globe helping people in need. Spiderman plays the bodyguard at times - and Peter even has a team to help him with security. While it is great to see Peter finally growing up - it is also a bit sad - since part of Peter's charm had to be his everyday struggle with school and paying the rent while balancing life as a superhero with his relationships. Having a rich Peter Parker seems odd at times but nevertheless the journey so far has been entertaining.

Overall 7.8 / 10

Ironman - is surprisingly quite entertaining so far. Tony is having a bit of financial difficulties in this version which adds to the entertainment. He is still Tony Stark but a bit more humor and sarcasm that we have not seen in awhile -- the genius engineer in still there but with a touch of sarcasm and humor that makes this Tony more entertaining.

Thor - I am enjoying this title so far. The conflict in Asgard has proven to be well done so far and the art has been good. But I wonder how long it can last? Can Jane Foster who is sick really last?

7.75 / 10

Overall 7.75 / 10

Inhumans:

Uncanny Inhumans - the first 4 issues have proven to be quite good. Good art coupled with a good story line. A team of Inhumans lead by Crystal is going around the world assisting Inhumans especially those in need of help. As Crystal (the Inhuman Ambassador to the world) she and her team go around the globe trying to help those (usually humans changed by the mist into inhumans) new inhumans in need of help while attempting to promote peace between the people of earth and the Inhumans.

7.5/10

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Concerns with the reboot:

You'd would think there would be more difficulties with the Inhumans especially since they released the mist that contaminated the entire planet. Not only did the Inhumans infect the planet and alter humans they poisoned the mutants as well - causing a huge conflict between the two - although we have yet to see any real conflict from this.

I read one issue where someone asked why the Inhumans did not simply burn off the mist that was still in the atmosphere - and the answer was really a non-answer. Simple solutions that should work are simply not used for some reason or other.

I am surprised that there is not more conflict with the Inhumans; they are after all at least partially alien - alien in there DNA and alien in their life style and government - this should cause huge cultural conflicts that have yet to happen.

Mutant problems - are still feared and discriminated in the world even with the Inhumans and what they did. Yes, you have mutant terrorist - but you have a ton of terrorists - does that mean you fear everyone that has the same gene? And in the end - mutants are really humans with a quirk in the DNA, while the Inhumans have alien DNA in them. It should prove interesting to see how Marvel deals with some of these issues if they even can.

And have you noticed that the mutants are doing better in other comics (Kitty with the Guardians) then in their own titles.

Overall the comics for the most part have been entertaining. 6 months after the restart (or whatever you want to call it - since all the comics started at issue 1) some have been entertaining while some a bit less so.

What are your thoughts 6 months after the reboot/restart?

[Captain M]

What reboot?

[dan12456]

The reason they don't burn off the mist is that it would essentially destroy the Inhuman race. They don't have any stored Terrigen, so destroying it means no more Inhumans. So it really isn't a simple answer, since any attempt to destroy it would start a war with the various Inhuman nations as they all require it for survival (especially due to the prophecy Blackbolt was told that they need more Inhumans or they will all die) and for cultural reasons etc.

Eventually this will probably lead to some conflict or something, but its complicated so I don't consider it an issue that it hasn't been resolved yet. If it still isn't resolved in 3 years than sure.

[leoseek]

I'm not really following the team books..
I'm picking up Extra Ordinary Xmen and All-new All-different Avengers but I'm on the fence with those....I may drop both. I don't have a problem with the premises of these titles I'm just disappointed a little with the execution of them. I decided to pass on Spiderman and Ironman; they just didn't grab my interest and I'm limited on funds.
However the books I'm loving:
Thor
Silver Surfer
The Ultimates
Dr Strange
Sam Wilson Captain America
Titles that pleasantly surprised me
Vision
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur(guilty pleasure!)
Hercules(really surprised about this one!)
and Karnak
The last four I don't expect to last so I'll enjoy them while I can. I wanted try some of the Inhumans titles but I just don't have the money. If any of the above are cancelled I'll try one of the Inhuman titles

[The Negative Zone]

What reboot?

My thoughts exactly.

[parker stark]

I wouldn't be surprised if the next event won't be Inhumans vs. X-Men in a year or two with the Avengers added in to help "fix" things. One cool scenario could be that the three groups only make things worse, leading to the return of the Fantastic Four. Who come back to do what the other characters couldn't, thus getting everybody back on track. Which would probably lead to several relaunches (groan) but Fantastic Four would be one of them, with strong new directions for the other groups, (sigh) probably only wishful thinking on my part.

[jackolover]

Great post Magisensei. I especially liked the reference to the Mars Planet bombs being eliminated in ANAD. I also have been reading the All New Marvel Now, and in the light of Secret Wars, they are rather bland stories. Like you say, nothing of significance has stuck into ANAD. The only use of ANMU is that it set up characters that were to appear on Battleworld, but all the Hickman Avengers stuff was irrelevant. The Avengers just seemed to be running on the spot. I'm not even opening the bagged books.

Now we come to the 8 months later of ANAD, and I can't see any development that I thought was significant by the planets design. Magic being all up the Fitz, Space-Time broken, The planet still choked by Terrigen Mist making Earth Kree by comparison, and no clues to how different the 8 iteration of existence is from the 7th. I am not buying any of ANAD because of that reason. I pick up Standoff and l'll be looking at CWII, but until Marvel make the 8th iteration of reality come calling on Prime Earth to wreak havoc, ANAD just seems like ANMN. Dull and uninteresting. Why should I buy something that looks like Pleasant Hill all over the planet? Come on Marvel. Show us a little fallout of Reed Richards and Co's planting 7th iteration characters into the 8th. Surely something bad comes from Reed and Co doing this?

[Centipede Damascus]

New Avengers - is probably the oddest of the Avengers title - but in a good way. Formerly AIM (yes the bad guys) it was bought out by Sunspot (yes the New Mutant) who runs the team - although he is not in the field he is like the manager/director of the team - he watches through a camera like some kind of general (like a Shield commander) instead of in the field. Its composed of a unique team composed of young members (members from Young Avengers), a former semi-bad guy (songbird), hawkeye (sent by Shield to keep an eye on them), independent vigilante hero (white tiger) and powerman and odd-ball superhero-comic relief hero in Squirrel Girl. The funny thing about the comic besides being bought out by Bobby and turning it into the New Avengers is that there is a distrust about the team from Shield. Buying out AIM by a superhero and turning it into a new team with AIM tech does not make it a bad team - just a new team using AIM tech. So far it has proved to be entertaining but it really needs a lot more back story to see how the team was formed and the whys behind why Shield does not trust this new team - is it because Bobby (a mutant) runs the team? How did Bobby form this team? Why not more mutants? How did he gather this team anyway? How did he buy out AIM?

We saw how Bobby bought out AIM prior to the Avengers: Time Runs Out arc in Avengers World #17-21. SHIELD doesn't trust them because they are affiliated with AIM, and SHIELD doesn't trust that AIM just became good guys overnight. There aren't more mutants on the team because the Terrigen-caused "M-pox" has caused most mutants to go to X-haven.

[Star_Jammer]

Vision (especially), ANAD Inhumans, and the Ultimates are the standouts for me.

Scarlet Witch's solo is somewhat disappointing (not sure I even like her in a solo, vs. a team book), but...hey...favorite character and all that.

Most disappointed in New Avengers and the X-books, but Uncanny is alright.

[mr_crisp]

What reboot?

I know. This doesn't exactly feel like a reboot.

[wwise03]

The team books are wholly uninteresting to me. I am enjoying Thor and Doctor Strange. I enjoyed the first issue of Black Widow as well. I'll lie my wait for oversized hardcovers for most other Marvel series.

[mr_crisp]

There are questions that I don't think are going to be answered. What happened exactly with the X-Men? What did Cyclops do? Why are the Avengers scattered the way that they are with three different groups claiming to be Avengers?

[magisensei]

More Reviews:

Angela - Queen of Hel - the art was quite beautiful - it was one of the first things that drew me to this title but it was the story that kept me coming back to this title - it was a story about love, redemption and rebellion. It had mythology and dialogue that were more than just jokes, sarcasm, fighting orders - and for me at least it had a depth that many of the new titles really lacked.

7.9/10

Ultimates - an odd team book - compromised of some of very powerful beings - but it is almost a revamped version of the Might Avengers - without Powerman and a few other twists to the line up. The comic deals with huge cosmic and time issues - eg Galactus and time-altering issues - it will prove interesting to see if they can deal with such huge problems without destroying the universe.

7/10

A-Force - another sort of team book - although calling it that is stretching it a bit - we last saw the same team book when Marvel comics went crazy and did the Battleworld story line -- and so we have a character from that universe somehow coming into this universe only to have trouble follow her and so such gathers former friends (She-hulk etc) to help her battle this threat. The first few issues are all action oriented - lots of battles and running around - some humor in the dialogue as we run around gathering superheroes to do battle. So what happens after this story arc ends is my question? Can such a diverse group really be called a team?

7/10

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[Centipede Damascus]

There are questions that I don't think are going to be answered. What happened exactly with the X-Men? What did Cyclops do? Why are the Avengers scattered the way that they are with three different groups claiming to be Avengers?

I'm pretty sure we will learn what Cyclops did. I'm getting a strong feeling that he'll be coming back during the Civil War II: X-Men story arc, which will also involve the Inhumans, and when he returns we'll learn more about what happened to the X-Men.

As far as the Avengers, I'm not sure, but it seems like it came down to money issues. Tony overextended his finances with the Avengers Machine, and when it all came crashing down, the Uncanny Avengers were able to stay together by relying on Deadpool's newfound wealth, and the New Avengers team on Sunspot's.

[Knives]

Well it's no secret that mutants are @#$%&* in so many ways that would not even know where to start. On the other hand sales are still good considering Marvel has put little effort in mutant titles reutilizing again old plots that should have lost the expiration date. While Uncanny Inhumans has maintained a sufficient number of sales and All New Inhumans is in a difficult and uncomfortable position despite the great qualifications and comments it has received.

As for the conflict with the Inhumans something happened involving Cyclops but the nature of this event and consequences so far are a mystery except for extremely annoying references to what he supposedly did. Hard to say if they will finally turn Scott into a villain definitely since in AvX it did not work using a different tactic or if there something more on this mystery.



As I am a X-Fan the note in general is low 5 or 6/10.

Seeing specific titles have some who have enjoyed not to mention the variety of titles to suit all tastes. Unfortunately some can not stand but it was worth trying.

In addition to the comics mutants buy:

Dr Strange
New Avengers
Ms Marvel (the only good thing that came out of this plot with Inhuman mist)
Uncanny Avengers
A-Force

Depending on the situation and review usually buy other titles when they call my attention as ANAD Avengers or Spiderman. Recently decided to give a chance to Power Man and Iron Fist.