Uncanny Avengers #3

By Gerry Duggan, Ryan Stegman, and Richard Isanove

The first volume of Uncanny Avengers by Rick Remender was awesome. He had a huge, overarching storyline, introduced the Apocalypse twins, and the finale successfully tied things up (and it was very cool). Then the second volume launched and it was extremely disappointing. There really wasn’t anything good about it, so we’ll just gloss over that. Now we are onto the third volume with Gerry Duggan at the helm. So far things have been just so-so. The team is different and interesting, and it can’t possibly be worse then the last volume. But, Duggan has yet to reach the peaks of Remender’s volume 1.

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear here, Gerry Duggan can write Deadpool. He continues to be the best character in this series and is always very funny. This issue brings Deadpool’s buddy Cable back into the fray. Duggan seems to have a good grasp on Cable as well, as the two play off of one another nicely in this issue. One big hindrance to this story though is that it’s honestly not that interesting. It’s also kind of weird for an Avengers story; It almost reminds you of the M. Night Shymalan movie The Happening, plants getting angry and all that. There are some decent character moments here, like Rogue taking a shot at how unimportant the Inhumans are. We also get to see Synapse finally get a little spotlight, which is very necessary. The bottom line is that this book is merely okay, but it’s not really doing anything that would make a reader need to pick it up. Duggan is a fine writer, but this introductory arc is just not exciting.

The pencils are handled Ryan Stegman with colors by Richard Isanove. Stegman does a good job this issue when he has a full page spread, when Cable appears and again when he blasts a bunch of dogs with his gigantic gun. These are some of the pages that Stegman does well. We also get a really detailed panel of Deadpool without his mask, which is creepy. There is something a bit odd when Stegman has to draw someone’s profile though; their chins really stick out. This is of course his style, but it’s just very noticeable this issue. There is also a couple of panels where characters just look odd, almost not like themselves. Stegman’s panel set up is something that to the overall visual experience, and it makes this book a bit more interesting. As Synapse chases the villain, Stegman uses the waves from the mist to divide the panels. It’s a small thing that Ryan does that makes his art a little different and a bit unique. The colors by Richard Isanove are great as usual. His colors add a dark tone to many panels, which makes this book feel a bit more serious. The art was decent overall, but it most likely won’t drop your jaw.

Uncanny Avengers is off to a pretty mediocre start so far. Everything is just okay. The story or the art doesn’t really stand out and there is nothing that makes this a must read book. The cast is cool, but they need a better story to go along with them.