Comic Review: Savage Avengers (2019-) #1

Savage Avengers (2019-) #1

Marvel Comics

Writer: Gerry Duggan

Artist: Mike Deodato Jr.

Wolverine is joining yet another superhero team. This’ll be the 181st current comic book he’s appearing in this month. It precedes his appearances in X-Men: Fuchsia, Old Man Logan: Space Cops and Weapon X: Gon’ Give It To Ya. He’ll be joining other “mature” characters like the Punisher, and newcomer to the Marvel Universe, Conan the Barbarian, to form the Savage Avengers.

Savage Avengers (2019-) #1 starts off on a very familiar trope. Two superheroes are meeting for the very first time, and not knowing they’re generally on the same side, they fight! There’s a good chunk of this issue that follows that fight between Conan and Wolverine. Obviously, they’re going to team up, but this is a superhero book and it’s pretty much mandatory that this would happen. But this one I don’t really mind so much. Wolverine is nigh invincible, and Conan is just super tough, so it ends up being a pretty brutal affair.

Mike Deodato’s art is really great for this comic. It’s more of a shadow-heavy style, but I really like the way the characters look. I think it’s best when there’s action though, and there’s some good action in this issue. From Conan fighting Hand ninjas, to Conan fighting Wolverine (it’s a lot of Conan) it all looks great. There’s blood and they don’t really hold back on some of the more brutal things. Some of the backgrounds can be a little simple and the colors feel a little bland, but it’s not too bad.

The rest of the story is pretty interesting, too. The hand is working with an Egyptian cult, and they want to bring back their God. Of course, this is by using blood sacrifices, so it’s not something the heroes will abide by. It’s a bit of a standard “cult” motivation, but it works for what it is. Of all the many books he’s appearing in again, this is one of the better comics he’s appearing in recently.

I’m a sucker for pretty much any Avengers team, I really genuinely like this first issue. With Conan being in the main Marvel universe, this feels like a good team for him to be on, once we see them get together. The story behind their formation isn’t the most original thing, but it’ll do its job just fine. The art is fantastic, with only some very minor things against it. If you’re thinking about picking up this comic, you definitely should.