Avengers #1 (2012)

The Avengers return yet again in Marvel's newest Marvel Now! title. The question is do we really need another Avengers team? And the cover image does little to inspire confidence. I mean we've got Captain America, who seems to have little to do these days except start new Avengers teams and them abandon them after a dozen or so issues. (Isn't he suppose to be off in Dimension Z anyway?) The new Captain Marvel, Wolverine, Cannonball from the New Mutants, what appears to be Skaar, Son of Hulk, and a mysterious siloetted figure fill out the cover team. Not a lot of promise here. Luckily, all but the good Captain make the cut for issue 1. Again, I could have did without the flashback/flashforward story-telling that Marvel Now! seem to be in love with now. But all that put aside, the story itself seems pretty solid and our 1st team of Avengers is solid (and amazingly its the team from the Avengers movie). But after kicking our movie Avengers team's arses, Cap is sent back bloody and battered. And the ultimate call goes out. And the last page splash page gives us a glimpse of the heroes that have answered the call. Unfortunately, it's not that great of a team. But I am willing to hold back final judgement until issue #2. There is one problem that I wonder if anyone thought out before they started this series. The premise here is that Tony Stark/Steve Rogers believe that the Avengers have to grow. That threats are getting bigger and badder. But if we learned anything from the Avengers recruitment drives in the past, too many Avengers is never a good idea. And Jonathan Hickman is a wonderful writer, does he realize that issue after issue his villians are going to have to be worse than the last. And although I am not a huge fan of Jerome Opena's painted-like panels, I pity him when he has to really start drawing George Perez like pages with 15-20 characters in each one. This idea sounds like a great mini-series but not an on-going. Time will tell, it always does.