From the Ashes brings Storm to Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
Writer | Jed MacKay |
Illustrator | Valerio Schiti |
Colorist | Bryan Valenza |
Legacy Numbering | |
Content Rating | T+ |
Publisher | Marvel | 08.07.24 |
Spoilers Ahead
X-Men's From the Ashes reboot isn't being confined to Marvel's merry mutant books. No, the publishing initiative has also crept into the world of the Avengers. In Avengers #17, it's the aftermath of the Blood Hunt miniseries, and the Avengers find themselves reeling a bit. Yes, they acted to save the world as they always do, but Captain Marvel is frustrated by her belief that the team didn't do enough to prevent the danger in the first place. The Avengers had been previously warned about Tribulation Events by Kang, which makes Carol feel like the heroes should have thus been able to prepare beforehand for the events of Blood Hunt and prevent it from happening.
Except... she never explains what they should have done differently, nor how the Avengers were in a position to take such preventative measures in the first place. Now, bear with me, as this is my first issue of writer Jed MacKay's run, so perhaps there's something from previous issues that explains this. But as a new reader, I have no clue how the Avengers might have stopped Blood Hunt from happening. Which makes Carol look rather impetuous given what the team apparently went through during it.
Carol's feelings seem to be mirrored by about half of the team. Captain America, the Sam Wilson version, agrees with her, but like Carol, his reasoning is also never established. The Vision, in a nice moment with Wanda in the garden, shares the opinion that the team failed, stating that the loss of so much life is unacceptable. The team managed to save billions of people at the cost of thousands, which, in his estimation, isn't good enough. Except, there's no logical reason that the Avengers are at fault beyond this amorphous, "shoulda, coulda, woulda" scenario that no one can quantify. I'd think a synthezoid would have better reasoning skills.
Meanwhile, Carol and Tony are talking through her frustrations about the events of Blood Hunt. I can appreciate when bits of old lore are maintained for years, and Carol's bout with alcoholism is something Kurt Busiek established way back when he was writing Avengers during the Heroes Return era. Tony, as her sponsor (and a fellow recovering addict), worries that Carol is replacing her addiction to booze with an addiction to guilt. That she's clinging to feeling guilty because it makes her feel righteous. It's not a bad conversation, but MacKay quickly pivots away from it and we never get an answer from Carol.
Meanwhile, T'Challa is talking to the City, which I guess is the Avengers base. It's an AI of some kind and... I really didn't care about anything it had to say. T'challa asks how it is handling recent events, and with no sense of who "City" is, where it comes from, what it even is, it left me totally cold. Maybe if I go back and reread MacKay's arc up to this point I'll have a different attitude, but as has been the case with much of the From the Ashes lineup, being new reader-friendly is never prioritized. Tell me who City is and maybe I'll be interested in reading it talk with T'challa. Until then... not so much.
Sam decides to head over to Atlanta to visit Storm. She puts his mind at ease about Blood Hunt, but he has another thought on his mind that is similarly pressing: he wants Ororo to join the Avengers. It's the heart of the issue and the reason that this is a From the Ashes tie-in. Sam is upset over Blood Hunt, of course, but he's also unhappy with how the team handled Orchis and the events that took place on Krakoa. He wants the Avengers to be a voice for everyone, including mutants, and as a result believes she's the perfect person to bring onboard the team. We don't get an answer, but considering this book is being billed as "Storm joins the Avengers!" it seems like a safe bet she says yes.
In the background of all of this is the big bad of the arc: Hyperion. The Squadron Supreme stalwart is apparently losing his mind because of the Heroes Reborn event from a few years back (which is not connected to the original Lee/Liefeld one from the '90s). In this story, reality has been rewritten so that the Avengers never formed and the Squadron Supreme became the Earth's premier defenders. By the end of that story, reality has been restored, but the Squadron members have had their memories of the Heroes Reborn world merged with their original memories of the world as it was. This has proven to be too much for Hyperion, who can't stand the state of things to the point that he's going to smash into the planet to destroy it and himself.
With that, the issue comes to a wrap. And you know what? It wasn't bad. I continue to dislike the modern day characterization of Carol. She's just not likable. I don't care how powerful she is, if she's the leader of the team, and so on. I've been reading these books for my entire life and Carol had a certain place as Ms. Marvel that suited her perfectly. The way she's been shoehorned into this role as Marvel's Superman doesn't work. Beyond that, however, I think the issue worked fine, setting up the threat of Hyperion and the exciting notion of Ororo joining the Avengers. There's always something cool about seeing a member of the X-Men join the team, so I'm willing to see how this pans out.
On a more pessimistic note, I would point out that this is only the second From the Ashes book that I'm giving a solid recommendation to. Uncanny X-Men #1 is flawed but fine, and now we have Avengers #17. Everything else has either been middling or outright bad. That an Avengers book is one of the most engaging series coming from the world of X-Men isn't a good sign. Still, after years of Krakoan slop, I'll take this any day. It's rather ironic that MacKay's Avengers From the Ashes book is better than his X-Men debut, but hey, maybe it'll get better.
It doesn't hurt having Valerio Schiti on art. I've been a huge fan of Schiti since his work on Chip Zdarsky's Marvel 2-in-One run. The artist is just brilliant, with the sort of draftsman, immersive style that reminds me of Stuart Immonen in some ways. His work here is great, really serving to elevate the story and lend it some much needed gravitas. He will be switching off with newcomer Farid Karami (expect him on issue 20), and I couldn't be happier for him. If you saw his art in Venom: Lethal Protector II last year, this man has been ready for primetime for a while now. If nothing else, the artistic future of the Avengers is looking good.
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