Certainly a Work In Progress
This series kicked off pretty well, promising a lot more to come from the rather diverse team of generally obscure characters, minus Superior Spider-Man, who feels like he's more or less here to draw in readers who might otherwise pass this over. This issue has its moments, but kind of backs off at the end with a little bit of a double cop-out, in my opinion.
Beyond introducing us to a new character early on in this issue, there is very little character development to be seen here. Instead, this series aims to present a more thematic experience, focusing on how what the team signifies and how they are viewed by both enemies and the public. This allows for some really stand-out moments for the narrative as a whole, presenting us with some pretty sweet emotional points.
That being said, there's a lot of explaining that the book is forced to do, which is rather obnoxious to me. With all of these obscure figures coming out of the wood-work, that means we have to expand on their powers, personalities and motivations pretty briefly and quickly. So, some of the moments that should have been intense feel like they come out of no where, because I, as a reader, am not familiar with Proxima Midnight's spear or the limitations of Spectrum's abilities.
Also, the villains are fairly uninteresting. Proxima Midnight feels like a stock character, and the minions are certainly nothing to write how about. This leads to some pretty uninventive and stagnant fights and dialogue.
I still give this series 4 stars because it keeps my attention and I hold out hope for what the series could offer, thanks to the author and fantastic art. Perhaps after the Infinity storyline is all over, we can see what this series can really do.