Uncanny Avengers #5 Review

Uncanny Avengers suffered a rougher start than I would have expected from a series written by Rick Remender and drawn by John Cassaday. But if nothing else, the bizarre flash forward sequence at the end of issue #4 suggested that the best was yet to come. Issue #5 certainly seems to bear that out. Remender finds a stronger foothold with his new team in this chapter. And guest artist Olivier Coipel gives the series the visual flourish it was lacking in the previous arc.

Remender kicks off this standalone issue with a sequence that sheds some light on how Kang and the Apocalypse twins will factor into the ongoing conflict. It's a very revealing segment, and one that fans of Uncanny X-Force will delight in. Unfortunately, Remender relies on the same hybrid prose/dialogue style of scripting that tended to drag down the book in its first arc. The prose never adds anything to the script that dialogue and more traditional forms of narration couldn't.

Luckily, Remender abandons that approach as he returns to the Avengers themselves. This issue kicks off the second wave of recruitment. The new trio of additions make sense in that they're either A.) mutants or B.) highly dysfunctional. Or both, in the case of Sunfire. So far these new recruits seem to fit in well with the overall team dynamic. It's a novelty to have an Avengers team with all the psychological hang-ups and dysfunction of an X-Men team.

This issue is also a good showcase for Havok as team leader and Rogue as the catalyst for much of the team's tension. It would almost seem out of character for Rogue to be as antagonistic as she is here, but the explanation that she's reacting poorly to Xavier's death is enough justification. Plus, it's simply fun to watch her torment her fellow Avengers.

Whereas Cassaday's art in his four issues rarely lived up to his usual standard, Coipel's art is much more in line with its general high quality here. Aside form a handful of panels that lack background details, Coipel delivers ample amounts of finely rendered figures and cinematic panels. His facial work and skill with body language are a huge boon to the many dialogue-driven sequences.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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