More fun with the New Avengers

[iamrman]

New Avengers #17, art by Paco Medina. The heroes are under attack by the forces of the Maker.

Rights for rattos!

New Avengers #18, art by Carlo Barberi. With the Maker defeated, it is time to tie up some loose ends.

Boo, Warlock. Boo!

Not bitter that Wolfsbane was excluded from a New Mutants reunion once again. Nope, not at all...

Comments

[icon_uk]

I love the comic page my artist friend Leigh Wortley did after this issue came out:

[iamrman]

Dani doesn't have time for this nonsense.

[scorntx]

"Stuff like this is why I stopped being the leader."

[zachbeacon]

Doug sure has a dry sense of humor. He can read anything but the room.

(Cut Warlock some slack, though. We all grieve in different ways)

[beyondthefringe]

This truly is the best depiction of Berto as the Man with the Plan and the Swash to be Buckled. The right balance of charm, audacity, and unexpected pizazz.

[scorntx]

It is the best.
The only problem is that afterward any other depiction of Berto feels like a severe let down.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Love it when a plan comes together.

[super_fly]

Power to the proletari-rat

[mastermahan]

Songbird has no time for anyone who would team up with her loser ex-boyfriend.

[onsokumaru]

There is not a single panel I don't like. I miss Ewing writing those guys.

Amara is the only one dressed appropriately for Roberto's funerals.

[scelestus]

SERIOUSLY. It feels like a long damn time since I've read a post on here where I loved everything on every panel.

[super_fly]

If you're a superhero attending a superhero's funeral or wedding you have to come in costume, it's the law or something. Otherwise people will be like "Why is this random civilian attending the service for this well-known crime fighter?" And the main assumptions are going to be someone who's life they saved or the the mild-mannered alter-ego of an associate.

[tcampbell1000]

Loved Ewing's Squirrel Girl, couldn't get enough.

[iamrman]

Squirrel Girl is love. Squirrel Girl is life.

[cainofdreaming]

SQUIRREL GIRL IS.

[scorntx]

(BUT ONLY WHEN IT'S NOT CREEPY.)

[mastermahan]

COMPASSION + UNDERSTANDING + NUTS + FRIENDSHIP...

[iamrman]

The Anti-Anti-Life Equation.

[cainofdreaming]

I think her nutsack should be somewhere in there too.

[zylly]

Doreen really is amazing. I haven’t seen a character as committed to deescalation instead of violence since Quasar. I love how, while she’s perfectly capable of kick butt, many of her victories were from offering a hand instead of throwing a punch.

[numeronone]

On the one hand, I remember when Vermin was a heartrendingly tragic figure.

On the other: rat unions just make sense.

[scorntx]

Angar, Vermin, Asti the All-Seeing, Skar and Paibok the Power-Skrull*.
(*"All the powers of some of the X-Men!")

Such a weird and ragtag assemblence for the Maker's gang of thugs.
Rather than, say, a highly coordinated team of B-list villains, instead just a sampling of people who you could easily believe were chosen via Ewing flicking through a handbook.

... there was a lot about this series to love.

[iamrman]

I like that the villains counter the heroes. Vermin/Squirrel Girl and their rodent friends, Paibok/Teddy, Angar the Screamer/Songbird, etc.

[scorntx]

Skar's the odd one out, even with the Maker saying he got him from a world where he's a living weapon.
But hey, he's got a cool look.
(And there's not a large amount of villains who have the whole "planet busting weapon" aesthetic going on. Aside from Heralds of Galactus, I suppose...)

[iamrman]

I got the impression Skar was chosen to counter Pod.

[scorntx]

Isn't that the exact reason Maker said he brought him along?

[zylly]

God, I loved Ewing’s Avengers books so much. He writes Berto better than just about anyone (especially after a lot of writers kind of forgot he was supposed to be smart).

And I think this was the first appearance of Koi Boi and Chipmunk Hunk in a “real” Marvel book (Don’t get me wrong. Doreen’s book was my absolute favorite. But I always felt it was just enough out there to be “continuity adjacent”).

[thumbs13]

It had a direct crossover with Howard the Duck that took place in both of their books, I remember.

[huntleyhaverstock]

There are writers who never bother to dig for deep cuts, and just keep their stories at surface level.

There are writers who dig up the deep cuts only to point and laugh and make fun of them. (Bendis and Speedball comes to mind.)

And then there's Al Freakin' Ewing, who has read every story and loves all of it, seems to know that every character is SOMEONE's favorite, and makes damn sure that if a character shows up in one of his stories, he's going to remind you why they're cool or fun or interesting or all three. Everything he writes, even the creepiest stuff in IMMORTAL HULK, feels like an act of love.