Hello Enthusiasts,
Today I will be reviewing Marvel's graphic Novel, The New Avengers: Breakout, which was the first volume in the original run of the New Avengers and includes issues #1-6. Head's up, as always, there will be some Spoilers Below.
To start with, a little bit of back-story here. These are the New Avengers because the original team ended up being destroyed during a fairly convoluted series of events. To keep a long story short, Scarlet Witch was manipulated and multiple Marvel characters met their end. It was a devastating event, and it didn't look like Captain America was going to ever put together another team of Avengers, until this line of comics came out. So just the title had some impact on the universe in saying that another team of Avengers would be put together, something that, as readers, we all expected, but nobody in the comics seemed to think would happen.
So the story starts out on The Raft, which is Marvel's super prison for super-powered criminals. Matt Murdock, Foggy, and Luke Cage are on their way to visit a prisoner on The Raft, the former hero known as Sentry. They are greeted by Jessica Drew (AKA Spider-woman), who works for shield and will be escorting them down to the cell. However, while they're in the prison, Electro causes a blackout, resulting in all of the criminals being let loose. While Daredevil, Spider-woman, and Luke Cage battle from inside, Captain America and Spider-man make their way over to The Raft as well to assist. So the battle rages on, with Spider-man taking a lot of punishment in the process. Sentry throws Carnage into space, Luke Cage wails on Purple Man, and Iron Man comes in and ends the battle. The team work and dedication shown at that prison convinces Captain America to rebuild The Avengers (although Daredevil declines), and we have our team. They follow some leads to Electro, who says he was hired by someone in the Savage Lands, where our team meets up with Wolverine, and now we have our actual team of Avengers complete.
Short version, I loved this volume. It was incredibly influential, as this one volume introduced three new heroes to the team that have become easily associated with the Avengers when it included Wolverine, Luke Cage, and Spider-man. It also established the Avengers' home base in Stark Tower instead of the Avengers' Mansion, which has persisted on and off since. Outside of that, I felt like this was a solid story as well, with the Avengers coming together naturally to tackle a big problem. From start to finish, it didn't feel like there was any unnecessary padding or forced exposition. Another big plus is the artwork of the story, which is consistently fantastic. David Finch is the primary artist and really brings this already great story to life with a crisp and clean style of art. The dialogue is believable and natural, with the additional of some jokes that land well (like Luke Cage and Spider-man discussing Spidey's "Booties"). The conversations and chemistry between the characters is wonderful, and it really feels like this is a team that would have brought itself together, it just needed Captain America to help them along a little.
While not a lot of motivation is revealed for the villain, this isn't the complete story, and I can assure you that more is revealed in later issues. This one volume did prompt me to buy the entire run of this series, which doesn't always reach the bar this volume set, but is mostly solid. I would say that this run is one of the stronger ones that Marvel has put out in some time, at least for me. Again, it doesn't all hit the high point of this first volume, but it never seems to stray too far. Honestly, this first volume simultaneously started several trends (as mentioned above) and didn't have any real negatives. I only wish it had been longer, but at that point it may have dragged a bit, so I would leave it just like it is even if I could change it.
So yeah, I'm about as difficult to see through as a clean window on this one. If you read comics, read this one. If you don't read comics, this is a great place to start, so read this one. I cannot recommend this graphic novel highly enough, and I consider it to be at a level that other comics should be striving for. It has an impact, it's well written, and well drawn. A flawless performance by Marvel.
I give The New Avengers: Breakout an obvious 10 out of 10.
Sincerely,
The Bored Enthusiast
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