U.S. Avengers #5 Review and *SPOILERS* - Marvel Monday

Pissing Contest

Written By: Al Ewing
Art By: Paco Diaz, Jesus Aburtov
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 19, 2017
Publisher: Marvel

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

The U.S. Avengers book has been… dull at best. Incredibly inconsequential up to this point. The one saving grace of this book has been the art by Paco Diaz and Jesus Aburtov. This is probably one of the prettiest books in the entire Marvel line up. However, we are now going to be jumping into a storyline that has a bit more weight. This issue is a precursor to the opening issue of Secret Empire and the series will be tying into the crossover for quite a while afterwards. Granted, I’m not always a fan of having so many tie-ins with a crossover but with this series, we really need something to propel it forward. This crossover could certainly do the trick. Let’s just jump right in and see where the first step of this event takes us.

Our issue begins with Captain America saying “Hail Hydra” to Roberto Da Costa. Da Costa is obviously shocked but Steve Rogers instead plays it off as some kind of joke and says it was a test to see if Da Costa was some kind secret agent. Of course, we as readers know the truth. Anyway, Steve plays the meeting off as some kind of touching base since he is the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. We get a small recap of the relationship between these two and about the current state of A.I.M. which has been changed into a division of S.H.I.E.L.D. and rehabilitated to do good. We cut to Aikku and Toni. Toni seems to be diving into her work even deeper than usual and Aikku expresses her worries about this. She has seen it before when she was trapped inside POD. Toni worked tirelessly to save her but now she is free and it seems as though Toni is still in that state.

We cut back to Steve Rogers and Roberto Da Costa and things have turned a bit more serious. Steve is grilling Da Costa about the events that took place in Lichtenbad with Red Hulk. Steve ends by stating that he expects Da Costa to follow his orders and Da Costa seems a bit skeptical. He seems worried that an order might be illegal and he wouldn’t be able to follow it. Rogers conforts him and tells him that he would never issue such an order. We learn during this conversation that the members of A.I.M. have received training to protect them from mental control. We cut to Red Hulk who is fighting the King of the Gorilla Men. His time limit comes and he turns human only to be rescued by Squirrel Girl. It would seem his pride is injured when he receives a call from an A.I.M. scientist stating that he can bypass the restraints on the General’s powers. However, it is revealed after the call that the scientist is a member of Hydra.

We return to Steve and Roberto whose conversation has turned strict as Steve begins to put the screws to Roberto to put him in his place. He wants to make sure that Roberto will follow his orders no matter what. Afterwards, Steve leaves and we catch up with Cannonball who is on the planet K’rii-Vi. He and Izzy Kane are wrapping up some enemies as they discuss Sam’s involvement on Earth. They come to the conclusion that they must move on with their lives on their new home planet and Sam decides that on his next trip to Earth, he will tell Roberto that he is going to be leaving the team. We catch back up with Steve Rogers who is speaking with Erik Selvig. He tells him about the mental defenses in A.I.M. but that they shouldn’t be a problem and he is confident that his visit to Roberto will prove useful in the future. We catch back up with Roberto who see on the monitors that a major invasion of Hydra has taken place. This is where the issue leaves us.

What a bore this issue is. Honestly, it’s mostly about setting everything up for the future rather than entertaining us now. A lot of the storylines that have been set up with come to a head in the coming issues but in this issue, things are just boring. We get a conversation between Steve Rogers and Roberto Da Costa, which is well written but unfortunately is mostly just a pissing contest and it is the majority of the comic. Finally, what action scenes we do get are so inconsequential that our heroes talk about different plot points over them rather than focusing on the battle at hand. That said, the cliffhanger is well done and got me excited to read the first issue of Secret Empire. Honestly, this issue would have a lower score if not for the art. The art in this book is beyond phenomenal. It’s what made me buy this book and it’s what will keep me going with it.

Bits and Pieces

While the art in this book is some of the best in Marvel’s lineup, the book lets it down in this issue with setting up future storylines and the Secret Empire crossover. Instead of giving us actual progress in this book, we get set up. Granted, set up is important, but the issues that focus on it solely are never very entertaining.

5.5/10