Broken Frontier

The outrageous antics of Mr. Immortal and the rest of the Great Lakes Avengers make a triumphant return just when the world needs them the least.

I’ll admit to having absolutely no prior knowledge of the GLA other than that they were introduced in John Byrne’s West Coast Avengers a while back. Honestly, when the original solicitations came out, I thought the guy on the cover was Captain Marvel. Fortunately, my ignorance doesn’t really seem to matter. What matters (and is the reason I picked this title up in the first place) is that the creative team re-introducing the team to the Marvel Universe is the same team that brought critical acclaim to the recently cancelled She-Hulk series. What does that mean? Well, if you’ve opened the pages to She-Hulk or this premier GLA issue, you know that means, among other things, goofy brilliance.

By the time Squirrel Girl’s furry little mascot, Monkey Joe makes his first disclaimer at the bottom of page one; you know you’re in for a treat. The issue revolves around Mr. Immortal’s tragic yet ultimately amusing upbringing followed by the first gathering of the GLA and the few winsome times they had together. At first, the story is merely a funny spin on the supergroup. They take a beating at just about every turn. They’re outdone by the likes of the Avengers when anything serious occurs (that’s what you get for having a Quin-Jetta for transport). And just when Mr. Immortal is about to call for a disbanding, continuity kicks in and the events of the much maligned Avengers Disassembled story kick into gear. Now what? The power vacuum that resulted from Disassembled calls for a group of heroes, so of course, Mr. Immortal finds that the world needs the GLA! That can’t be good…

Slott hits all the right notes here. From Monkey Joe’s PC disclaimers to Mr. Immortal’s semi-serious narrative about his childhood and discovery of powers, everything in here is pretty lighthearted. Then the Avengers have their problems in New York, and the story takes a slightly darker turn. One of the GLA meets an untimely demise at the hands of a major Avengers rogue, and I got the feeling that there is some real story potential here aside from the funny-funny.

Pelletier, who collaborated with Slott on She-Hulk, is a natural choice for pencils. He, Magyar and Quintana do a great job of keeping things visually lighthearted, but they also change gears seamlessly when the script calls for action or darkness. There is a one-panel Avengers smackdown toward the middle of the book that is particularly well done.

I love what I’ve seen so far. If you like superhero spoofs, there isn’t any reason I can see that you wouldn’t like this. I mean, c’mon, it’s got a cute little squirrel named Monkey Joe…

-Kert McAfee