Avengers: No Road Home #1

By Mark Waid, Al Ewing, Jim Zub, Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco and Jesus Aburtov

Weekly comics have become increasingly popular and ubiquitous recently. The Avengers kicked this off with a weekly series called No Surrender. This was followed up by the Uncanny X-Men recently doing it to kick off their return with a Disassembled story arc. Here we are again though, with another Avengers weekly book called No Road Home. These weekly issues are fun and exciting because it seems like the story doesn’t miss a beat and as readers we don’t have to wait for the next part of the story. With the same trio of writers involved, we’re sure to be in for a wild ride.

As we enter our second weekly series from the Avengers, it’s normal to feel a little fatigued financially. Having said that, these weekly comics from Marvel have been great. Ewing, Waid and Zub set the stage for us very well. Hercules seems to be a central character here, which is fine because he doesn’t get much spotlight these days. As the writers set the scene for many Avengers, Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch catching up, Vision coming to terms with his mortality, or Rocket Raccon and Herc crossing paths. All of these little stories collide when Voyager returns and rounds up the troops. Even though this is a first issue, The writers set the tone nicely. There is drama between Hulk and Clint, which dates back to Civil War II. The writers use that for some added tension in this introductory issue. The trio of writers have laid out an interesting premise to start us off on this weekly Avengers journey. If you didn’t enjoy this, you’re not a comic fan.

The pencils are handled by Paco Medina with inks by Juan Vlasco and colors by Jesus Aburtov. Just as important as the story is for this book, the art has to be amazing too. Luckily, Paco Medina brings his A game. Helped by the wonderful inks of Juan Vlasco, Medina’s art leaps off the page at you. As Voyager and Hulk go to recruit Vision and Spectrum, Voyager looks to be coming right at you. There is a page where the whole team is assembled and they arrive at a devastated area. Medina shows us the destruction, and we can feel the hurt on Hercules face. Medina turns in an outstanding performance to kick off this series. The colors by Jesus Aburtov are great here as well. There is a lot of pink used this issue as Voyager is leaping from place to place, but the contrast he uses is what makes this work. As Voyager recruits Scarlet Witch, the pink lights up the page, but the darkness of the chairs and everything else in the restaurant looks good. The art, in every aspect, helped make this an even more enjoyable book.

Avengers: No Road Home was a pleasure to read. Everything about this book screams epic. The writing team has a formula that continues to knock it out of the park and make this a winning series. The art is simply stunning. This is a must read book!