Uncanny Avengers #4: Relax, don’t do it. When you wanna come?

It’s the penultimate issue before the end of this iteration of the mutant/human unity team, the Uncanny Avengers, as they continue to battle between the heroes, and the new Mutant Liberation Force, plus ORCHIS! Who’s the human who survived this year’s Hellfire Gala, and will they come forth with their identity to expose ORCHIS to the rest of the world? All this, plus the identity of the new Captain Krakoa is finally revealed! Can the mutants and the Avengers save themselves and the world before Captain Krakoa can launch the nuke?! 

Duggan and Garron are back with this motley crew, and they continue to gel, but the biggest highlight of this issue, and series overall, is Duggan’s character work. This team really does feel like a motley crew, and while some of the characterization does feel rather forced, his Pietro has been tops, and Monet is delightfully arrogant. Although the blooming romance between Quicksilver and M is…uninspired. On paper the two would be quite the fit, but it just doesn’t hit the right tones. His Captain America has been…probably the most hamfisted version of Cap that I’m used to. It feels like we’re getting a cheesy pastiche of the character, who’s all rainbows and moonbeams, and none of the gravitas that’s so entwined to who Steve Rogers is. It just rings kind of hollow. 

I’d like to say the reveal of who this new Captain Krakoa is a bit of a surprise, it’s been telegraphed from the beginning, with many fans already guessing who he was hours after the first issue dropped. It felt very anticlimactic, and because everyone already knew who he was, the mystery felt rather forced and unconvincing. Even Steve’s reaction to realizing it’s [REDACTED] under the helmet felt forced and unbelievable. Wondering how he came back? He’s clearly a clone of Mr. Dr. Stasis, one of Marvel’s preeminent cloners. In a medium where everyone comes back to life (Cap came back cloned during AXE for crying out loud), him not believing he came back felt forced. 

Javier Garron has become one of the preeminent Avengers artists over the last few years, having an incredible run during Jason Aaron’s run on the title, so seeing him tackle the all too familiar Captain America feels familiar, and brings a certain sense of coming home, and comfort. Plus his take on Quicksilver is phenomenal. From the lines on his costume, to the way he depicts the motion of him in super speed is just sublime. Giving him the reins was an incredibly smart move on the editorials part. Morry Hallowell’s colors really pop, and the fact that Marvel has taken a concerted effort in coloring the Maximoff twins a darker palette, and depicting them closer to their Romani ethnic identity. If Marvel decides to make this an ongoing series after the Fall of X is over, giving him the job would be on the top of my list.