New Warriors #1

The Good

It's hard to believe it's been so many years since we've had a NEW WARRIORS comic. We may not be able to have the team we did before but there is a lot here we can look forward to.

Readers will likely know the different characters that appear in this issue. One of the really nice things is we get to see the beginning of this team. In many of the All-New Marvel Now! relaunches, it feels like the new direction for the characters is already underway. Meant to be new jumping on points, we're thrown right into the action and should't have to worry about what might've happened before. Of course comic book readers will often worry about what they might have missed before.

Christopher Yost picks up on some of the threads from the characters. We've seen Justice and Speedball in the pages of NOVA recently and we get to see what Kaine and Aracely are doing after the end of SCARLET SPIDER. Of course we've also seen Sun Girl in the pages of SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP written by Yost as well. It's like there was a plan to bring these characters together for some time. There's also a new dark mystery being woven to bring them all together.

It's a joy to see Yost reunite with Marcus To. Their work on RED ROBIN remains one of my favorites. To's style will fit perfectly for this series. He has a way of capturing the youthful energy of younger characters, making them look like superheroes without them having insane muscle proportions.

The Bad

While it's good to see the events that will bring the team together, this is a building issue. There is a connection between the different characters being developed but it almost feels like separate stories mashed together.

There's also that lingering realization that this isn't and won't be the same old New Warriors we had before. Change is good and teams should be able to evolve or add new elements. I have full trust in Yost's selection of these characters and I can't wait for him to put any doubts I might have about how a couple might fit with the others to rest.

The Verdict

The New Warriors are coming back, sort of. There's a new mystery developing that will pull together the latest incarnation of the team. It's a great feeling seeing the story develop rather than having the status quo already in motion and being expected to just accept it as the new starting point. Chris Yost and Marcus To are cranking up the fun and energy in their corner of the Marvel Universe. There's a great vibe being established and seeing how all the characters fits together is going to be a blast.

loved it!! loved it so much that my only complaint is that it wasn't a double sized issue

How did Kaine do in this book. He just seems a little out of place being on a roster full of teens. I'm on the bubble about picking this up. But I do love me some Scarlet Spider.

:D

Kaine and Aracely need I say more?

@dark_guyver: Justice is the same age as Spider-Man and Speedball is only a little bit younger.

@jonny_anonymous: Awesome! I thought they were younger for some reason.

Speedball feels and reads like he's been deaged since his time as Penance though

@danhimself: I see :-/ I'll still probably give this a try.

Kaine worries me, hope he isn't stealing all the spot light?

its weird to see speedball like that again

(Just finished playing ultimate marvel alliance 2 with my lil bro)

it's not really a bad thing....it's just that while he was Penance he read as being in his mid twenties or maybe a little younger...here and in his other recent appearances he reads as being a teenager

@ostyo: yup this is Kaine's book and everyone else is supporting cast =p

I kid he gets some shine in this issue with the ending of Scarlet Spider continuing from the beach scene which in this introduced us to Namora

@dark_guyver: They actually reference Civil War pretty fast in this issue so maybe we can get info on why he looks so young

My fear is that Kaine will be overshadowed in the series and have more a tertiary role. Like in the Avengers certain characters are consistently spotlighted.

@mrgreenlantern: Good lol, still a little sad Namorita isn't part of it, but I look forward to seeing Namora in action?

Is he actually prevalent within the series? I'll wait until about the first 5 issues to hear if he's not overshadowed by all of the characters.

Man I hate Speedball. One of the worse MARVEL characters out there. They finally made him cool when they turned him into Penace but hey, I guess he gotten over the fact that he was partially responsible for hundreds of deaths in Stanford and igniting the Super hero CIVIL WAR.

@granitesoldier: that's my main issue of why I didn't want to pick up the book but these aren't the Avengers I keep telling myself. In previous New Warriors series the focus wasn't on one particular character so I'm hoping that trend continues.

Liked this book a lot. So I guess Namorita is still in space with Robbie Rider and a bunch of Nova Centurions?

There is a few characters on this team I don't know alot about so was worried if this title would be easy to jump into despite being an all new Marvel now title. However based on this review and the comments I'm looking forward to picking this one up.

@pauatt: I thought that the Novas were all dead. I'm so confused.

There were some definite classic Kaine moments in this book, including an echo of how he responded to that old lady who he saved crossing the street. It's also worth noting that he hasn't actually crossed paths with the teens yet -- this issue shows everyone in their separate places, not yet brought together.

Did you read Fear Itself: The Home Front? He didn't just "get over it." There was a major story arc in which he was reconciled with the people of Stanford and was able to forgive himself.

Might have to get this series just for my love of Kaine!

I have so much hype for this series.

But I'll be honest...I really didn't like the death on the first page.
What is with Marvel and KILLING EVERYONE?!!!

I thought this was great issue. A lot of good comedy with Kaine. The art was pretty good too.

KAINE.

ARACELY

I MISSED YOU

Nice.

I'm the exact opposite. I really like Speedball and I thought Penance was an emo douche.

Cant wait to get my hands on it.

@waezi2: That's what she said! *troll face*

Seriously though, which new hero do think is gonna be the most interesting?

@ostyo: Hardy har har:)

Water Snake.

@maddpanda531: No the Novas didn't all die but when Richard died the Nova Force died with him so they were all depowered

@jonny_anonymous: Ooooh, okay. That definately makes more sense.

This is one of the reasons Sam Alexander having powers confuses me

@waezi2: Oh you and your Aquatic babes.

Kaine and Aracely nuff said. This book reads like Scarlet Spider so i am excited about that, i love that we get more of Sun Girl! Speedball and Aracely are going to be hilarious together! Still don't see where Kid Nova fits in, but this book is going to be one of my loves, i can already tell! Issue 1 read like the beginning of a good comic book movie origin tale!

More like me and BLUE babes;)

@akbogert: Didn't read it, but I believe he was already running around as Speedball in Avengers Academy which I did read the first 10 or so issues of. I simply have never liked the character. I thought they did something interesting with him by having him be responsible for a terrible disaster and dealing with the fallout from that was way more compelling than anything "Speedball" ever has ever done. Then Marvel goes and just has him revert from Penance back to Speedball which feels kinda counterproductive. Instead of moving the character forward they moved him back to where he was in the beginning and he's no different from what I can tell.

@ducey13: The problem is that you're calling it "reverting back" when in actuality it was very much a matter of moving forward. Staying angsty and constantly self-loathing would not be progressive of Marvel, it'd be the very definition of stagnation. "Dealing with" fallout isn't a perpetual experience; ask anyone who has ever made a mistake or gone through trauma, and I guarantee you the story isn't in the feeling bad about it but in the finding a way to come back from it. I'd definitely recommend reading The Home Front because actually he has a lot of trouble accepting forgiveness. And let's face it: it really wasn't something that was his fault. No one could have known what the New Warriors were walking into in Stamford.

Now all that aside, I will agree that he seems a tad too jovial. The Speedball that emerged on the other side of Fear Itself (and who was featured later on in Academy) was more mature and developed through his time as Penance. Going fully back to who he was would indeed be inappropriate, but being happy/lighthearted shouldn't be considered a bad thing.

@jonny_anonymous: They never explained it in the new series? I feel like that's something they should've taken care of early on.

Really good first issue.

@maddpanda531:

This is what I hate most about the new Nova series, they pretend that the Abnett & Lanning run never happened.

@pauatt: Then again, the Novas need to wear their helmets to have powers. Maybe its a new kind of powersorce they use. It was never a problem for Rich.

Loved the issue and characters, but I agree with the 4-star rating. The art was off in a few places and made some characters look younger than they are. Other than that, I thought it was fun and I'll definitely be sticking around for the first arc (at minimum).

Scarlet Spider needs his own series back. Pushing him with New Warriors is forced (and the only reason I picked up the book). I see what Marvel did here. Unfortunately most of these characters have a strong but smaller following each, not allowing a solo comic to last too long due to low sales. Put all these obscure cult classic characters in one book and you combine each following, hopefully equaling a large enough audience to bring in sales and keep the book running. Sad but well played Marvel.

It was so nice to finally have a fun comic to read... I do get so tired of the same old tripe where humor is almost an after thought.

Not really, he just moved on. And it wasn't in a snap, it took a long time to move from sorrow to anger to acceptance and finally forgive himself.