I was just saying earlier today how there’s very few Native Americans in comics. Then Christos Gage goes and turns Thunderbird into a Nazi. And, really, that’s what he does. Thunderbird in House of M: Avengers is a Nazi. It’s kind of funny, but mostly it’s just really damn bold. I guess Gage realized readership for a House of M series, almost four years after the original, would be down and not get any public notice (it’s kind of a hedged bet… I mean, the mainstream media doesn’t acknowledge Native Americans and, additionally, comic book stories in the mainstream press require adequate planting… or the New York Post to pick them up).
The series itself, covering Luke Cage’s adventures–starting out much like the first issue of Hero for Hire (down to the Marvel flashback)–fighting back against… well, I can’t spoil it, so let’s just say the oppressors lead by Thunderbird. Along the way, he picks up a bunch of teammates and by the third issue, they’re called the Avengers. What sets House of M: Avengers apart is the passage of time–it covers years–and Gage’s nice mix of alternate universe detail, old comic references, and new developments. There’s also some material from more recent books thrown in, specifically Runaways, and House of M: Avengers really feels like a breather for (reasonably) well-read comic book readers. It’s “out of continuity,” but it’s fulfilling the promise of a House of M brand (three and a half years late), so it somehow feels a lot more concrete than one of the toilet paper Elseworlds DC put out in the late 1990s.
Gage shifts his narrator from issue to issue, which–cheaply–gives the reader a lot of different perspectives on the situation. Mostly, Gage just comes up with really wacky scenes and plays them straight–like the Punisher running off to Wakanda. That one’s quite a surprise.
Perkin’s heavily photo-referenced art–is Misty Knight supposed to be Pam Grier?–is pretty good, actually. Perkins usually is way too static in these limited series, but here he manages to do action scenes, homage scenes, and talking head scenes. The photo-referencing occasionally gets distracting, but at least it’s not static photo-reference.
Hopefully Marvel won’t give up on the brand.
B+
Recommend on Mahalo
1 response so far ↓
1 north shore comics dealer // Mar 31, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I also hope that Marvel doesn’t give up on self contained series that are much more fun to read than the books they spin from. I also liked the sexually suggestive scenes that made me think of all the goofy exploitation flicks I saw as a kid.
Easily a case of the sequel bypassing the original.
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