Back when All-New Marvel NOW was announced, ‘All-New Invaders’ was the first new title debuted along with ‘Inhuman’. In this new series from Eisner Award-winning writer James Robinson, the World War II era team known as the Invaders are brought together once again, but this time in the modern day for a sort of war that they’re not used to.

In this first issue, we learn that the Kree Empire is on the hunt for some sort of weapon called The God’s Whisper that the Invaders had broken up and hidden a long time ago. But before they can find the pieces, they must find the members of the team that have dispersed since their days in the trenches. The first one on the list is Jim Hammond AKA the original Human Torch, who has traded in the spotlight that comes from being a hero for a small town life.

The first thing that I noticed about this book is the main antagonist of the story. With the Kree Empire venturing to Earth to acquire this weapon, I wonder how far after ‘Infinity’ this story takes place. Since the Avengers have just come back from fighting side by side with many alien races throughout the galaxy including the Kree in order to take down the Builders, I find it hard to believe that they’d be so quick to invade their allies like this. At first, I thought that the Pursuer planning the attack was a rogue of some kind, but in ‘All-New Marvel NOW Point One’, we saw her speaking with the Supreme Intelligence, so the empire is well aware of what’s going on. The whole thing is a bit questionable to me.

Despite that hang up in the villain department, I really enjoyed this issue. One of the main reasons for my enjoyment was the focus on Hammond. Out of all the Invaders appearing in this book, he’s probably the least known to today’s audience. It was a smart move to start the story this way because those readers not in the know have a chance to get to know the heroic android that has appeared sporadically since his reintroduction into the modern day Marvel Universe. But while drawing in the new fans, there were some great nods to the long-time fans of the character as well.

In addition to the smart storytelling with the Torch, another appealing thing about this series to me is the Winter Soldier. I’m a huge fan of Bucky and have been anxiously awaiting his return to an ongoing title for quite some time now. I was excited to hear that he would be starring in ‘Winter Soldier: The Bitter March’, but that’s a limited series set in the past. Then, he was supposed to join the Secret Avengers under the direction of Nick Spencer, but after a quick glimpse of the former Captain America, his inclusion seems to have been dropped in favor of a focus on Mockingbird. Now that he’s on the roster of the Invaders along with Hammond, Namor, and Captain America, I’m hoping that he gets more action than he has been getting. I’m sure that we’ll be seeing more of him as we get closer to the release of ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, but I say the more Bucky the better.

Overall, this was an exciting start to a new title. Old school and new school fans alike have plenty to be pleased about in this series. I look forward to seeing where it all goes from here.

Final Score:

atoms_3.5

 

 

ALL-NEW INVADERS #1
Written by James Robinson
Art by Steve Pugh & Guru-eFX
Cover by Mukesh Singh