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Avengers Initiative #1/Omega Flight #1
Posted 16 Apr 2007
Writer: Dan Slott/Michael Avon Oeming
Artist: Stefano Caselli/Scott Kolins
Publisher: Marvel Publishing, Inc.
5.00 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Adam McGovern
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Omega Flight #1
Writer: Michael Avon Oeming
Artist: Scott Kolins
Colorist: Brian Reber
4.90 out of 5 stars
Avengers: The Initiative #1
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Stefano Caselli
Colorist: Daniele Rudoni
5 out of 5 stars
It’s not that politics and superheroes don’t mix
— there are implicit issues of power and authority whenever a
character drinks some super-steroid or wields an unlicensed raygun and
imposes his or her will in the name of the law. But pulp and politics
can make an unbalanced ticket when these implications are ignored or
the dramatic element is mishandled, resulting in talky civic
procedurals (a chronic problem in Black Panther) or
pseudo-relevant soap operas (like, sorry, the main Civil War
book). Still, true to the competition’s typical practice of
pairing often-generic big events with spin-offs that offer a lot more
personality and variety (as Freedom Fighters did for
Infinite Crisis or Secret Six for Villains
United), two of Marvel’s newest Civil War sequels
present a kind of offbeat, unpredictable third-party alternative.
Omega Flight concerns a successor to the once-proud Canadian
superteam scraped together from surviving homegrown heroes and several
loaners from the States, as Canada gets overrun with supercriminals
fleeing the Civil War and the American crackdown on costumes of all
kinds. Writer Michael Avon Oeming has a keen ear for the mild but
“Omega Flight is sure to give fans of both sides
of the ‘political thriller’ label their money’s
worth.”
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durable antagonisms between the two national neighbors, and portrays
the real-world resentments over America’s foreign policy and
domestic decisions skillfully, using the fallout from the Cap/Iron Man
conflict as a fantasy stand-in. Both the foreboding and the wry humor
of a largely-defenseless country and the losers who are getting a last
chance to be its champions are brought to life with tight
storytelling, sharp dialogue and shaded characterizations, and artist
Scott Kolins is up to the task of conveying everything from the
all-out battles to the subtle double-takes with impact and style.
It’s too bad this series was shortened from an ongoing to a
mini, but five issues’ worth is sure to give fans of both sides
of the “political thriller” label their money’s
worth.
While Omega Flight does a fine job of not trivializing its
topical themes for the sake of its action, Avengers: The
Initiative does just as well not letting its drama get drowned in
its social agenda. Though one of the pillars of Marvel’s newest
crossover event (chronicling the assembly of all the now-registered
superbeings into a less-than-volunteer army), it shows a stroke of
editorial genius in recruiting the company’s most unrepentant
irregular Dan Slott as writer. A leading authority on mining obscure
characters for variety and laughs in books like Great Lakes
Avengers, The Thing and She-Hulk, Slott arrives at
this top-tier book with all of his wit and individuality intact. The
inventiveness he’s applied as humor elsewhere turns out to be
perfect for lending unpredictability to a dead-serious story here, and
his feel for the underdog and the also-ran serves well in a series
whose all-star first-issue cover is a bit deceptive — this book mostly
follows the new recruits and miscellaneous veterans at an Initiative
training camp, with the marquee names like Hank Pym well-used but far
from the front lines. Even though Slott’s serving in the
work-for-hire trenches where any freshly created concepts get
immediately conscripted into the company’s copyright, he
doesn’t flinch from introducing brand-new and memorable cast
members, and the tense character dynamics and risky situations of the
boot-camp atmosphere make for vivid reading. Lucid yet energized art
from Stefano Caselli, with the fluidity and illuminated quality of
animation but a good grasp of classic superhero storytelling, joins
forces with the refreshing writing to make this book an event everyone
can look forward to.
—CCdC—
Cover image used without explicit permission in accordance with the "Fair Use" provision of US copyright law.
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