Comic Review: New Warriors #1
New Warriors #1Written by: Kevin Grevioux
Art by: Paco Medina (p), Juan Vlasko (i), and Marte Garcia (c)
Cover by: Nic Klein
Cover by: Nic Klein
Published by: Marvel Comics
Story: Defiant
Story: Defiant
*SPOILERS*
Another New Warriors series launches this week. Let’s see how things look.
We start off with some heroes, mostly off panel, chasing and taking down Grey Gargoyle. Grevioux does some interesting misdirection by making it look like one of the assailants is a giant woman, although when the police find the trussed up Paul Pierre Duval (Gargoyle’s secret identity), we see that he was actually shrunken. A very brief glimpse of someone with mechanical wings, what appears to be an energy blast, and another blast of apparent electricity, plus the not-so-giant woman, that’s all we see of the New Warriors.
Then we shift to see Sofia Mantega, former New Mutant known as Wind Dancer. The odd thing about Sofia is that, had I not read the Academy X series when it started, I wouldn’t have know who she was, and even then it took me a bit to figure it out. Anyway, she’s lost her powers after M-Day and she’s just trying to make a living working in a dump of a restaurant. A homeless friend of hers gives her a black berry and someone starts speaking to her through her MP3 player. The ethereal voice speaks to her in cryptic terms about her past and her possible future.
This leads to a contact, a frequenter of her restaurant to whom she was attracted. He, it turns out, is a member of the underground vigilante group calling itself the New Warriors.
Grevioux sets up what could be a great series, gives us plenty of mystery to come back and to figure out what is going on…but…it’s too much mystery. He follows the same pattern that most first issues follow these days; plenty of mystery, little action, few certainties. As annoyed as Sofia gets with her cryptic messages, so I react to this cryptic first issue. What I wouldn’t give for a double-sized first issue like they used to do where you meet at least the majority of the cast. There’s still mystery, but there’s action as well, and characterization and we want to come back for more. Grevioux’s first issue isn’t bad, but with so little revealed, I can’t call it good either.
Medina’s art is nice. He does some interesting work with Sofia’s dream sequence at the beginning, and he creates a dystopian feel reminiscent of 1984 and Brazil with Sofia passing Registration posters, Thunderbolts toy advertisements, and TVs displaying Tony Stark (Man, I hate that guy). These background images create an oppressive feel perfect for a book about an underground group of defiant (revolutionary?) heroes.
We start off with some heroes, mostly off panel, chasing and taking down Grey Gargoyle. Grevioux does some interesting misdirection by making it look like one of the assailants is a giant woman, although when the police find the trussed up Paul Pierre Duval (Gargoyle’s secret identity), we see that he was actually shrunken. A very brief glimpse of someone with mechanical wings, what appears to be an energy blast, and another blast of apparent electricity, plus the not-so-giant woman, that’s all we see of the New Warriors.
Then we shift to see Sofia Mantega, former New Mutant known as Wind Dancer. The odd thing about Sofia is that, had I not read the Academy X series when it started, I wouldn’t have know who she was, and even then it took me a bit to figure it out. Anyway, she’s lost her powers after M-Day and she’s just trying to make a living working in a dump of a restaurant. A homeless friend of hers gives her a black berry and someone starts speaking to her through her MP3 player. The ethereal voice speaks to her in cryptic terms about her past and her possible future.
This leads to a contact, a frequenter of her restaurant to whom she was attracted. He, it turns out, is a member of the underground vigilante group calling itself the New Warriors.
Grevioux sets up what could be a great series, gives us plenty of mystery to come back and to figure out what is going on…but…it’s too much mystery. He follows the same pattern that most first issues follow these days; plenty of mystery, little action, few certainties. As annoyed as Sofia gets with her cryptic messages, so I react to this cryptic first issue. What I wouldn’t give for a double-sized first issue like they used to do where you meet at least the majority of the cast. There’s still mystery, but there’s action as well, and characterization and we want to come back for more. Grevioux’s first issue isn’t bad, but with so little revealed, I can’t call it good either.
Medina’s art is nice. He does some interesting work with Sofia’s dream sequence at the beginning, and he creates a dystopian feel reminiscent of 1984 and Brazil with Sofia passing Registration posters, Thunderbolts toy advertisements, and TVs displaying Tony Stark (Man, I hate that guy). These background images create an oppressive feel perfect for a book about an underground group of defiant (revolutionary?) heroes.
I do have high hopes for this series, and I look forward to the next issue to see about the nature of the last page splash panel shock, but it’s frustrating to know so little.
Rating: 
3 1/2 Worms. I think the arch as a whole will warrant more worms, but that's a problem with Bendisizing your story. Sometimes making the reader wait can work against you. A half a worm was added for the last panel surprise.
3 1/2 Worms. I think the arch as a whole will warrant more worms, but that's a problem with Bendisizing your story. Sometimes making the reader wait can work against you. A half a worm was added for the last panel surprise.
posted by Bodog at 4:49 PM
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