The Avengers are somewhere in outer space on an unknown mission, so Thanos decides to use their absence as an opportunity to overthrow New York City. But he and his crew will soon learn that another team of Avengers has stepped up to the plate.

The story begins with Luke Cage leading Power Man and White Tiger on a “Heroes for Hire” job at Horizon Labs. As they are fighting Plunder and his henchmen, Superior Spider-Man drops in and captures Plunder. He calls out the Heroes for Hire as being mercenaries, thugs. White Tiger agrees with Spider-Man and call it quits.

Meanwhile Blue Streak is on the run from the police, racing all over the city like a maniac holding a large sack and wielding a gun. But Monica Rambeau, aka Spectrum, quickly put a stop to that madness. Spectrum was actually testing out her new costume when she ran into Blue Streak. When she returned to the costume shop, she was informed that a man stopped by to see her. The man was still in the shop but his name and identity remained hidden. He tells Monica that he can’t be seen in-country so she dons him in a knock-off Spider-Man costume!

Proxima Midnight and her minions arrives in New York and immediately began their plan of destruction. As Cage, Spider-Man and Spectrum fight the gang of marauders, Spectrum mentions that a guy may be on the way to help. Just as Spider-Man begins to brag that he can have back-up in a matter of seconds, Spectrum’s friend with the knock-off Spider-Man costume shows up with a pair of nunchucks.

I enjoyed this debut issue and I definitely plan to read the next one to see where the story is headed. The predominately black superhero team is not the sole reason that I bought this title. I also bought it because some of my favorite Marvel characters are in this comic, such as Monica Rambeau, She-Hulk and Superior Spider-Man.

Written by Al Ewing, the story is full of fun and easy-to-follow dialogue. I like the distinctive personality of each character. Cage is re-evaluating his life and trying to figure out what’s best for him and his family. Monica is re-branding herself which includes a new attitude, hairstyle and costume. Her new alias, Spectrum, didn’t grab me at first but then I realized the name is just a reflection of her powers. I like Power Man’s attitude and how he likes to challenge authority. I am a huge fan of Superior Spider-Man and I’m hoping that Ewing keeps him “Superior” in this series…arrogant, attitude and always demanding respect.

The art team consists of Greg Land (pencils), Jay Leisten (inks) and Frank D’Armata (colors). I have no complaints at all in this area, probably because most of my focus was on Luke Cage (sorry Tony Stark and Starlord). Land drew Cage as handsome as handsome can get, especially those muscles. I like Monica’s new look, especially her new hairstyle. If I’m reading a good story, then I expect the same with the art and this team has delivered just that.

MARVEL HAS SET THIS TITLE UP FOR FAILURE.

Mighty Avengers is a predominately black superhero team, includes Superior Spider-Man and is drawn by Greg Land. It’s a conspiracy to make sure the sales go nowhere but down. I don’t see this title lasting more than a year, if that long.

A superhero team dominated by blacks and led by a black man. That alone is enough for low sales. Was this title put together to appeal to the “there’s not enough blacks…” hype?

Marvel added Superior Spider-Man to the team’s lineup knowing damn well that he constantly gets hated on. I follow Dan Slott on Twitter and his hate tweets had gotten so bad and in abundance that he had to start blocking those followers. There is a lot of hate about Superior Spider-Man circulating on the internet. So of course this should tell you that Spidey haters most likely won’t even glance at this title.

A lot, if not most, people look at the creative team of a comic to help them decide if they want to give it a try or not. So when I learned that Greg Land, porn face as some call him on the internet, would be the artist, I mentally prepared myself for the negativity on blogs, forums, Twitter, Facebook and wherever else people go to complain on the internet. I heard and read about Land before Mighty Avengers was announced. I also read a few articles and comments about him a few days before this title was released and they were ALL NEGATIVE. There were people already saying they wasn’t going to buy the book because his name is attached. I don’t read reviews of comics that I plan to blog about until after I have published mine. This is that one exception, because I knew what to expect. The reviews, blogs and comments all had negatives that greatly outnumbered the positives.

A lot of the comments were from people who didn’t even buy the book. They’re stuck on the artist, saying things like if only it wasn’t Greg Land or if only it had a different artist. I also read several comments from people who claim they don’t like the new Monica. These are not only post review comments, but from previews as well, so the comic was judged before it was read in its’ entirety.

There is never-ending hate for Land so let me talk about Monica Rambeau. Monica is a beautiful African-American woman who is getting hated on for her new costume and hairstyle. I am well aware of the trench coat, afro and braids. People change, even in comics. So what that Land has given Monica a new look. She’s re-branding herself, a fresh start. There’s nothing wrong with that. And there’s not a damn thing wrong with her hair. I got most of my hair cut off a few months ago. I have always worn my hair medium-long length. Why cut it so short? Because I am also rebranding myself. My hairstyle is similar to Monica’s and it appears that we are both sporting a hair color from the cinnamon family. Black women change hairstyles all the time. I have worn my hair long, short and I even wore braids at one time. We’re not trying to make a statement, we are just trying something DIFFERENT.

I read a few positives on Twitter and A LOT of negatives. People claiming they would read it if there was a different artist, or if Monica still wore the trench coat and braids. Or there’s already too many Avengers titles. Really? Have you complained about all those X-Men titles? Retailers tweeting the low sales, but none of them said anything about if they read the comic or not. They’re claiming low sales due to people hating the art. Blaming low sales due to the artist and Monica’s new look is nothing but pure bullsh-t.

Retailers ordered extremely low amounts of this comic because they knew a black-dominated story wouldn’t sell well. But….sales wouldn’t be that bad if they helped promote the title, or better yet, read it and then Tweet, Facebook, blog or whatever it takes to help this comic sell. But that’s far from reality. Too much like doing the right thing. Don’t want to be seen or heard pushing a team led by a black man.

If the creative team consisted of the big guns, then all hell would’ve broken loose. Imagine If Bendis, David, Fraction, Yost, Ramos and Stegman were on the this title, and there was a rare variant by Quesada.

• Comic Book Resources and Bleeding Cool would have neverending threads of people giving praises.
• eBay would be loaded with hundreds, if not thousands, of not only the book but those rare variants. And don’t forget about Young’s baby variants.
• Comixolgy would have crashed on the release date like it did for Marvel 700+ free digital issues.
• The lines of Yost and Stegman would wrap around the building at Detroit Fanfare next month. Stegman would have to turn fans away because of his overwhelming sketch load, and they wouldn’t even complain about the $150 that he charges for commission sketches (I’m not one of those complainers. I proudly gave him my $150 for my Superior Spider-Man sketch a few months ago).
• CGC would get a shipload of Mighty Avengers #1, some of the owners of these comics would have already created a listing on eBay, having already guessed its’ grade. CGC would be totally exhausted from witnessing and processing Signature Series at conventions.
• The crowd and lines at comic shops would be record-breaking. I’m sure that belligerent guy at the comic shop last week that I blogged about (I now call him Flint the Flipper) would have put on a much longer show.

I have read comics with either crappy stories, so-so art or both. Some of them I didn’t read past the first issue. But when I read the reviews, nothing but praise was given. That’s because popular names were attached.

What if Marvel had put a black creative team on this comic? Retailers would have sliced their numbers in half, and many of them wouldn’t have ordered at all.

My employer started a mandatory sensitivity training for all employees. There’s a lot of people out in this world that needs this training as well.

VERDICT (drum roll please)

I highly recommend this title.