'Barbarism is the natural state of mankind,' the borderer said, still staring somberly at the Cimmerian. 'Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph.'

-Robert E. Howard
Beyond The Black River

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Showing posts with label Crossover. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crossover. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Savage Avengers: Issue #1 (2019)

May 1st is here! That means we are taking a look at the new offering from Marvel, "SAVAGE AVENGERS", Billed as a team up of Marvel's deadliest heroes.

A lot of fans will hate this before it is even looked at. They will derisively make comments about Marvel. They will complain they don't care! That they just want to make money!

I am not one of those fans. I am curious about this book. I think it could be a lot of fun. So lets take a look at what I actually thought after reading it!


Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Mike Deodato
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: VCs Travis Lanham
Cover Artist: David Finch & Frank D'Armata

Cover Price: $4.99cad for 31 pages of story.

I bought my digital copy through Comixology and got something called "The Director's Cut", which includes pages with Variant covers, a script and a side by side of the pages both colored and B&W. All in all, with cover and credits the book is 138 pages long in this digital format. Well worth the price, I would love them to do more digital books this way!

The cover of Savage Avengers, although not directly related to the story inside is a good depiction of this team up. The art is solid and as a first cover I think it works pretty well to draw the audience into the book.

This story arc is going to be a little grander than what we might be used to with a Conan story but for Conan's part in this issue we have another straight forward S&S tale, with some more barbaric heroes mixed in. The story moves at a fairly healthy clip having more fight panels than not, which is good for this type of book in my opinion. This issue also introduces us to the bad guys and their evil plot.

Conan himself is depicted in his basic superhero fur outfit, nothing new here. I'd prefer something different, but the fur is signature and iconic, so I understand it's use. The other heroes depicted in the book are likewise shown in their signature outfits. We are shown him as a capable warrior, cleaving and chopping, but are shown little else about him. I hope in coming issues they establish him as the well rounded man he is. My single biggest fear is people new to the character will see nothing beyond the barbarian exterior and think him a simple character.


In general I like the art in the book, although perhaps not my favorite depiction of our Cimmerian hero, I think it is a pretty good one. The color is good with panels depicting a wide variety of environments from sunset through to night and rain. Being able to directly compare the B&W to the color really shows off how much atmosphere is added due to the environmental colors. I think Frank Martin did a great job here.

Art:

Story:

Cover:

Sword & Sorcery:


And with that, this issue is going to get 3.5 skulls full of wine for Conan!

A 3.5 rating is getting pretty low for how I rate these, but don't let that hold you back. My metrics are geared towards sword & sorcery, and although this definitely has elements of it, it is an area this book will most likely get lower ratings in. That doesn't make it bad. That doesn't make it less fun. Just different than what we are generally looking at with a Conan comic. I am looking forward to the next issue to see how this story unfolds and to see how the team is brought together.

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