The Avengers have been many things over the years, a flagship hero team, a group of characters that can't sell their own books, street level heroes, warriors for cosmic scale battles, secret agent teams. They've been able to turn their hands at most things given to them, showing the versatility of some of Marvels bigger characters. Now Al Ewing is steering the Avengers in a wholly new direction with Avengers Inc, crime procedural.
Avengers Inc focuses on Janet Van Dyne, The Wasp. A founding member of the Avengers, and the person to give the team their name, Janet has been a mainstay of the Marvel Universe ever since, though doesn't always get given the chance to really shine. This book, however, seems to be giving her something new and different to try out.
The story begins with a series of murders taking place on The Raft, a high tech super villain prison. Six inmates have been shot in the head by a mysterious, unseen assailant. One of the victims is Whirlwind, a long time adversary of the Wasp. Mayor Cage comes to Janet and asks her to look into what's happened; though with one caveat, no costumes.
Heading to The Raft, Janet examines the six bodies, but is shocked when they all get up, seemingly back to life. They now sport diamond shaped crystals in their foreheads where they were shot. Unusually, whilst the others seem to be themselves, Whirlwind has a complete change of personality. Not only does he help Janet against the others, but he's using the name Victor Shade. Victor Shade, for those in the know, was once an alias used by Vision; and the diamond in the forehead is a bit Vision-like for sure.
Avengers Inc is an okay book. That's about all I can say for it at this point. The story has some interesting pieces to it, the mystery feels like it could be quite fun, and the end page reveal definitely piques my interest. But there are large parts of the book that move at a very slow pace; to the point where I was checking how many pages were left of the book. This feels like a series that could get really interesting, and I have faith in Al Ewing to do that after reading all of Immortal Hulk in one week, but it also feels like it could go the complete opposite way and end up being a book I quickly drop.
The artwork on the book, by Leonard Kirk, and Alex Sinclair, is decent for the most part. The characters are all neat and clean looking, and the action scene is clear and easy to follow. However, the books lack of costumes and big spectacle does mean that there are times when it feels like the art hasn't been given enough room to wow me. It's people in smart, dull coloured suits having conversations in regular rooms for the most part. And whilst that isn't a bad thing and I'm not saying that I need bright colours or flashy things to keep me engaged, it does mean that I don't really feel like I've seen everything this art team can do yet. I want to see them wow me on the page, and that just hasn't happened yet.
Avengers Inc is an interesting start to a series that's definitely doing its own thing. Whether or not it manages to be a book that people will talk about for a long while after the fact, or if it'll end up forgotten is yet to be seen, as it feels like either option is a possibility right now.
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