Two Guys Talking Uncanny Avengers #3 By Rick Remender And John Cassaday

Features, Reviews, Roundtables, Top Story

Pulse Glazer
   Damn it Grey, I lost last week’s 2 Guys.  We must Avenge the fallen article!

Grey Scherl
   Avenge it is right! And to make it up to our readers, how about we toss in a third book this week?

Glazer
   Three… Avengers books.  That hasn’t been safe in a decade.  How many by Bendis?

Grey
   Let me see here….we’ve got Rick Remender, Jonathan Hickman, and Kieron Gillen….holy crap! DUDE! NO BENDIS!

Glazer
   I feel Avenged already.  What shall we begin with.

Grey
   Let’s start with the big money book, Uncanny Avengers #3 by Rick Remender and John Cassaday.

uncanny-avengers-3
Glazer
   That book is so purty!

Grey
   It’s what John does best, and why I’m not sure how sold I’m going to be when they switch to Daniel Acuna for the next arc.

Glazer
   Agreed very much.  Nothing against Acuna, either.  

Grey
   I’m not a fan of his work, so speak for yourself.

Glazer
   Fair enough.  I don’t love him, but he’s perfectly acceptable to me.

Grey
   His name will turn me away from books after some of the horrible books I’ve read that he provided art for.

Glazer
   So, hey, the shit sure hits the fan this issue.

Grey
   Seriously, the first page sets the entire tone for you when Remender refers to this clone of the Red Skull as the last Nazi bomb. He shows up and the world around him goes to absolute chaos in minutes.

Glazer
   He’s basically planned for his enemies powers and, in the process, is targeting mutants.  Filthy muties.

Grey
   In one issue we see the reality that the mutants have legitimately feared since the sixties come to pass. Humans running around with weapons killing all of the mutants, and it’s terrifying. Especially since no human is safe, not even Captain America.

Uncanny Avengers 003-013

Glazer
   Cap fights it off in true heroic fashion.  I love Honest John, the Living Propaganda.

Grey
   The names were absolutely fantastic, and Cap didn’t fight it off in true heroic fashion, he got put in his place by Havok. God, Remender writes an awesome Havok.

Glazer
   He fought it off earlier and saved someone, too.
   I like his Havok, particularly since we really aren’t sure he’s making the right calls, but he is really trying.

Grey
   He feels like a guy who is a leader, but hasn’t been thrust into this magnitude of it. He’s never been in a position to be in charge of people like Cap, Wolverine, and Thor….oh, and speaking of the latter two….ouch.

Glazer
   But his team’s getting wrecked.  He isn’t Cap, isn’t prepared for Red Skull, and just gets creamed.

Grey
   He doesn’t even really have a team yet, Steve offered him the job and five minutes later there’s a crisis. He just has whoever was on hand at the time.

Glazer
   Well, the letters page promises 5 new characters… which we have to guess at.
   But first, the issue ends on a… well, with the Red Skull dominant, so the Heroes will have to pull together under Hawkeye to stop Skull with Xavier’s brain.

Grey
   Hawkeye? I really don’t want Clint in this book, he’s everywhere right now, and while his book is awesome…I kinda wish he’d stay there only for a little while.

Glazer
   Sorry, Havok.  Was thinking of who’ll probably be in this book and came up with, yes, Hawkeye, because a totally normal dude fits really well.

Grey
   He’s already in Avengers, Secret Avengers, Avengers Assemble, and his solo book.

Glazer
   I didn’t say I wanted him there.

Grey
   I wouldn’t be shocked to see Hank Pym join, Remender had fun with him in Secret Avengers. Same with Captain Britain, whom Remender just absolutely loves.

Glazer
   He said classic X-Men and Avengers so I don’t see Britain, but, yes, Pym needs a home.

Grey
   Pym and Pietro for sure then.

Glazer
   Quicksilver is one I expect.

Grey
   Especially with Wanda on the roster, Quicksilver is a perfect fit.

Glazer
   Right – but what other classic X-characters need a major spotlight?  I hope it’s not just Storm in a 20th book.

Grey
   I’d say Beast if he wasn’t quickly turning into Bendis’s newest pet in All-New X-Men.
   Storm is in WAY too many books right now.
   BANSHEE BACK FROM THE DEAD!
   That’s what I want!

Glazer
   Yea, let’s not and say we did.  

Grey
   Boo-urns. Lorna?

Glazer
   I hate her.
   And she wasn’t an X-Man, really, besides some nonsense in space and Austen.

Grey
   Sure she was, she and Havok joined together and were both on Krakoa with the rest of the old school characters in Giant Size.

Glazer
   I hates her. She was mostly X-Factor!
   Hey, Gambit fits.

Grey
   And then she spent the early to mid 80’s as Malice, being a mind controlled bad guy for the X-Men.

lorna-malice

Glazer
   I thought Malice was Sue Storm.

sue-malice

Grey
   I could take or leave Gambit. Avoid the Rogue relationship.
   Malice was a body hopper, whoever had the collar on. During Inferno it was Polaris.

Glazer
   Good point.  That’s a hugely overdone bit of nonsense.
   Cable would fit if he weren’t a terrorist again. Cannonball and Sunspot are in Avengers proper.

Grey
   Dani is a Fearless Defender, Rahne is in X-Factor.

Glazer
   Kitty is too important in Bendis’ run.

Grey
   And Wolverine and the X-Men.

Glazer
   Longshot fits, I suppose.

Grey
   X-Factor.
   Maybe he
   ‘ll claim Dazzler after X-Treme ends.

Glazer
   What’d be cool is young Cyclops as a way to help mold him.

Grey
   How about young Angel, get him before he becomes Death.

Glazer
   Wait, Iceman fits perfectly.
   Add Iceman and Spidey.

Grey
   There are so many potential choices of awesome.

Glazer
   True there, but they love Spidey everywhere.

Grey
   He’s about to get booted out of the Avengers completely, from the sounds of the Superior solicits.

Glazer
   I can live with that.  

Grey
   This book has a lot of potential, and with Remender on board we really have nothing to go by to predict the directions he’ll take the book. With Bendis that was always so easy, you knew his pets and his fanboy characters, and his rosters were easy to figure out.

Glazer
   Remender has a plan, but it will be expansive and crazy and change characters.

Grey
   Just like X-Force.

Glazer
   Or Punisher, really.

Grey
   Secret Avengers and his final story line, which is absolutely insane.

Glazer
   Agreed all around.
   So, a rating for this issue?

Uncanny Avengers 003-017

Grey
   I’m going with an 9. Great art, great story, and the point completely gotten across. I can’t imagine where this is going to go next.

Glazer
   I’ll go with an 8.  And here we end Part 1.  Check back tomorrow for 2 Guys Avengers and Young Avengers!

A lifelong reader and self proclaimed continuity guru, Grey is the Editor in Chief of Comics Nexus. Known for his love of Booster Gold, Spider-Girl (the real one), Stephanie Brown, and The Boys. Don't miss The Gold Standard.