Graphic Novel Review: Uncanny Avengers Unity: Civil War II

(Panini Books)

The fall-out from Hawkeye’s assassination of Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, plays out here, as we find the Unity Squad of Avengers, X-Men and Inhumans breaking faith with team leader Captain America over his handling of the situation.

After Deadpool attempts to break Clint Barton out of jail, and Cable leads a mutant assault force to steal US Army research into the transforming Terrigen Mists, Cap decides to permanently dissolve the squad, regardless of their ongoing secret mission to find the Red Skull.

But the team refuses to lie down quietly, especially after occult ninja organisation The Hand steals Banner’s body and plots to resurrect it as a weapon of mass destruction. Ignoring Steve Rogers’ edict, these ex-Avengers head to Japan – and join forces with the deadly Elektra - in a bid to thwart this insane scheme before it’s too late.

Writer Gerry Duggan builds on the developments of previous volumes to progress his long-term narrative, using the Civil War II crossover to propel his plot rather than hinder it.

But as the motives of Captain America come under increasing suspicion following recent revelations in his own title, the audience’s loyalties are torn between Rogers and the team he founded, who seem to be doing plenty of avenging on their own.

With the ever-present threat of the Red Skull pulling strings in the background, and Earth’s superhero community torn apart by the predictions of the Inhuman Ulysses, the Unity Squad is needed more than ever.

Definitely one of the strongest team books Marvel is currently publishing, with a darker twist to traditional superheroics, Uncanny Avengers has yet to disappoint. Hopefully Duggan can keep up the pace to ensure a suitably spectacular conclusion to many of the ongoing plot lines in the next volume.