New Warriors #1

New Warriors #1

Only one new series debuted this past week for Marvel Now and it is the return of the New Warriors. From the cover we recognize Nova and Scarlet Spider, but overall we get the sense that this will be a group of younger heroes banding together to fight evil, taking on the jobs that aren't already taken by the Avengers. Scarlet Spider is a very interesting character, being a clone of the actual Spider-Man, so this was one of the main reasons Deanpool was excited for this series to get some exposure to Scarlet Spider's character. And there's also Nova, who Deanpool also just started reading his series as well. Then hopefully the rest of the roster (of seemingly unknown or practically D-list Marvel characters) are interesting enough to keep up with the series.

But that may not be the case... with a roster of 8ish people, it already sounds like it may be difficult to get this series off on the right start. How would they all come together, or would we catch them already united as a team, etc. We start off with Speedball and Justice fighting the Salem Seven in Colorado which was all just a misunderstanding. The Salem Seven are the children of the devil, but are the protectors of this small city in Colorado and welcome all beings of magic. We learn that Justice is the one who is attempting to bring forth the latest reincarnation of the New Warriors and was just passing through the city before Speedball over-eagerly engaged in a fight with the Salem Seven. It's unclear if Justice is trying to recruit someone or is genuinely just passing through. The only other member that they mention, which the reader assumes must also already signed up to join, is Nova. Soon after all the mayhem settles between the two groups, they welcome Speedball and Justice into the city with peace.

Evolutionaries.

Later we see Justice and Vertigo, one of the Salem Seven, catching up on Justice's mission to bring back the New Warriors. Vertigo brings up that the Warriors have a reputation of blowing up an entire city in Connecticut, a reference to the beginning of the Civil War. This incident was what ignited the whole conflict of having registered heroes and what not. So being notorious for turning the Avengers against each other isn't exactly the most persuasive argument to have for bringing back the team. Also, that's the second Civil War reference in the last month (first was in Loki: Agent of Asgard #1). Anyways, everything gets interrupted when these beings called Evolutionaries (though we don't learn this until later) show up. They're clearly searching for something specific, after scanning the surroundings they deem that the "blood is tainted" and to "burn it all."

Meanwhile, in Mexico, Kaine aka Scarlet Spider and Aracely aka Hummingbird stumble upon a couple being mugged. Kaine simply wants to mind his own business while Aracely wants to play hero and help out the couple. Scarlet Spider and Hummingbird jump into action and quickly dispose of the muggers. We later see them relaxing on the beach. Aracely wants to use her powers for good and be a hero, whereas Kaine has your model clone mindset: believes that as a clone he doesn't share the same responsibilities as Spider-Man. For the record, Aracely is a demigod and Kaine is a clone of Spider-Man, quite an interesting pair. One wants to be hero, the other doesn't. Kaine explains that after trying the hero gig before, he endangered those close to him and doesn't want to put anyone in that situation again. They notice blood and dead bodies in the water, and soon after Faira Sar Namora of Atlantis emerges saying that she is seeking heroes.

Scarlet Spider. Hummingbird. Namora.

Likely the group with the more interesting story for this beginning arc.

Though it is not revealed, it's a safe bet that Atlanteans died at the hands of Evolutionaries. Aracely gets to play hero now and Kaine's integrity will be brought forth with this call to duty. Namora, being dead center in the cover of this issue, is the fifth "eventual" member at this point that is mentioned in this issue. It should be noted that readers don't know if Kaine, Aracely, or Namora know about the New Warriors coming back. We also don't even know why Kaine and Aracely are in Mexico in the first place.

In New York, Sun Girl also gets to showcase her talent as she stops a stolen armory car. She hears of an accident in the subway lines and goes to investigate. Underground she finds a group of people (Deanpool is betting they're Inhumans) being attacked, by Evolutionaries once again. We assume she's the lone "soon-to-be" New Warrior in this particular section of the story, but Deanpool guesses that the last member will emerge in her part of the story in the upcoming issue.

Nova is lastly seen in New Mexico, fighting some strange-looking alien that has the ability to morph into a human, which catches Sam off-guard. Their battle is interrupted by... you guessed it... Evolutionaries. This is when we learn that these beings are called Evolutionaries and are proclaimed to be the salvation of the human race. The race ends with the Evolutionaries reporting that they have captured an alien hybrid, and also a Nova.

If you think this issue just has way too much going on, you're not alone. The reader is thrown into the story with this lingering feeling that there are background stories and more context required to fully understand the issue. The three different stories will likely converge due to the common enemy. These Evolutionaries aren't exactly villains or bad guys that attract a reader and up to this point, only Nova and Scarlet Spider remain the more interesting characters. Not sure if that's enough for Deanpool to keep up with the series. But then again, there was hardly enough face-time to go around for each character since the story kept jumping throughout the 3 different settings.

The art was good, especially on the villains and Scarlet Spider. It's just the clustered story that doesn't hit hard as far as first issues go. Deanpool relates it a lot to Avengers World, where the Avengers were split up into three or four teams to take on various threats. But that's the Avengers, and they were split balanced enough to have interesting characters with each group. New Warriors still has the potential to turn around into a compelling, fun read... but it might be after the whole "bringing the team" together story. Not the best start to the return of the New Warriors. 6.5/10 Nova's and Scarlet Spider's would make this series more appealing.

Here's a brief overview of the New Warriors introduced in this issue, with so many characters separated it's hard to get a good idea of what kind of group they collectively make up.

Character profiles:

Speedball aka Robbie Baldwin. Powers: Super-human. Kinetic energy absorption and redirection.
Justice aka Vance Astrovik. Powers: Mutant. Telekinesis.
Scarlet Spider aka Kaine. Powers: Clone. Proportional speed and strength of a spider. Generates webs, stingers and can adhere to any surface.
Hummingbird aka Aracely Penalba. Powers: Demigod. Manipulation of emotions, levitation.
Sun Girl aka Selah Burke. Powers: Human. Possesses light-generating technology that enables flight, offensive lasers.
Nova aka Sam Alexander. Powers: Human Rocket, gravimetric abilities.
[The last two aren't described in this first issue but will eventually be the Inhuman Haechi and Atlantean Water Snake.]

Each member has a unique trait and representation, along with their own special skill set and powers.

Check out other comics from Weekly Pick-Ups 2/19

At least their Animal Variant is cool. But again,
Nova and Scarlet Spider are the more interesting characters.