In the wake of Professor Charles Xavier's death at the hands of the X-Man Cyclops, mutants are once again public enemy number one. With tensions between humans and mutants so high, the Avengers and the X-Men band together to create a new team of heroes dedicated towards improving the state of affairs between these two groups. Before they can even have their first meeting, they plunge head first into a battle against the deadly Red Skull.
Uncanny Avengers: The Red Shadow collects the first five issues of Uncanny Avengers, written by Rick Remender and illustrated by John Cassaday and Oliver Coipel.
Over the years, the Avengers have had a few mutants join their ranks. Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Firestar, Wolverine, and Storm have all been Avengers. However, there's never been a team that pulls members equally from both the Avengers and the X-Men. Remender's initial line-up here consists of Havok, Captain America, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Rogue, and Wolverine. It's a pleasantly well-rounded roster of A-listers (and Havok) with strong personalities and great abilities. He later expands the team to include Wasp, Wonder Man, and Sunfire. Sadly, with a roster of nine superheroes Remender failed to deliver diversity. Sunfire is the only non-white character present and the Uncanny Avengers come across as the White-Washed Avengers.
Lack of diversity aside, Remender delivers an incredibly thrilling story. Red Skull is a dangerous foe for this untested team to come up against and his hate-mongering motives make him a perfect fit to be an adversary for these heroes. The pace is on point and the action is unrelenting. On top of that, he manages to create plenty of great moments of character interaction. The conflict between Rogue and Scarlet Witch is catty, but is rooted in very real problems. Unsurprisingly, Rogue manages to be the standout character in these issues. Even though Remender is building Havok up to be the next Captain America, it is Rogue's signature sass that steals the spotlight. After playing the role of school marm for so long in the pages of X-Men Legacy, it's nice to see that bit of bad girl finally coming back in Rogue.
This is a great start to a promising series. Rick Remender is a very capable writer and is adept at creating fantastic character interaction. John Cassaday's art can be clunky and his women are more handsome than beautiful, but there is so much personality in what he draws. Oliver Coipel pencils the final issue in this collection which, sorry Cassaday, is a vast improvement over the first four issues. The expressiveness of his characters is so effective and his women are drop dead gorgeous. The only negative thing worth noting aside from the lack of diversity in Uncanny Avengers is that this trade ends on a cliffhanger!
Rating: A-
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