The Avengers go Pacific Rim and start piloting some giant robots, in the miniseries launch by Jed MacKay, Carlos Magno, Guru-eFx, and Cory Petit, with a cover by Kei Zama and Guru!
Sometimes a comic is exactly what it says on the label.
Avengers: Mech Strike #1 is a comic where a team of Avengers use giant robots. It doesn’t get to the point that they fight giant monsters while piloting them (yet), but that’s mostly because they’ve got to set that part all up.
It’s a pretty classic superhero set-up. Giant monster tears apart a city. It’s nearly indestructible but our heroes get lucky. Heroes also discover that more monsters are coming. So naturally they look for upgrades.
It’s exactly what it says on the box.
It’s a dumb fun comic, and let’s be real, after the day, week, month and year everyone’s had, that’s exactly what we need.
On the plus side, MacKay knows exactly what this story is and leans into it. This is clearly meant to be an all ages sort of collection to be sold at book stores and theme parks. He makes sure to give each character a clear introduction, sets up clear stakes, and gives the issue a satisfying arc so it can be read well on its own but entices a reader buying in singles to pick it up next month. It’s a lot of fun, and very silly, but knows that, so its not afraid to wink at the reader.
Magno and Guru do a good job throughout the issue as well. Though Magno does lean a little too far into a hyper detailed style at a few points, his action is good, and his layouts are fantastic. He does a really great job at conveying the scale of the threat, without pushing the Avengers themselves into the margins. Guru makes the characters jump off the page and does a really great job at setting the mood through palette choice.
The issue does definitely falter a bit in a few places. The dialogue is a little bit clunky in the first half of the issue, as MacKay does his best to introduce the team. For current Marvel readers, there are also going to be some continuity issues that will jump out, especially for the Hulk.
However, the biggest is I’m not quite sure who and what this is for. There’s no toyline or cartoon that this is tying into, unless you look at a handful of Lego sets that don’t match the designs seen in the book. The concept is perfect for kids to eventually read, but the creature designs are some extreme body horror. It makes for a tough story to gauge exactly who and what it’s for.
In the end though, this is a fun opening chapter to a story where Avengers Mechs punch giant body horror monsters. It has plenty to enjoy, and is just good old fashioned punch-em ups, which we all need a bit more of today.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
