REVIEW: ‘Avengers: Tech-On Avengers,’ Issue #1

Avengers: Tech-On Avengers #1 is written by Jim Zub, illustrated and colored by Jeffery “Chamba” Cruz, and lettered by VC’s Travis Lanham. It is published by Marvel Comics. One year ago, the Avengers battled the Mad Titan Thanos, and in the process, the Infinity Stones were seemingly destroyed. However, the Red Skull has appeared and gained the power of the Stones-and uses them to strip the world’s heroes of their powers! Facing the Skull and his legion of followers, the Avengers turn to Iron Man-who gives them new sets of hi-tech armor to combat the power-mad Nazi.

Marvel previously released a series titled Avengers: Mech Strike, which featured Earth’s Mightiest Heroes piloting massive mech suits to battle an invasion of techno-organic beings. While Mech Strike is more in line with anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Mobile Suit Gundam, Tech-On Avengers owes more to tokusatsu projects like Power Rangers and Ultraman. Eiichi Shimizu, the writer behind the Ultraman manga that inspired the Netflix anime series, even provided the designs for the armor the Avengers wear and the covers. Said suits look AWESOME; folded plates of metal interlocking to form a sleek suit for each Avenger. Each suit also has a different color scheme and weapons matching their respective Avenger; Wolverine’s suit has a set of razor-sharp blades mimicking his lost Adamantium claws, while Captain America has a shield built into the left arm of his armor.

Though Shimizu designed the suits, Cruz illustrates them and the majority of the issue. Seeing a manga-inspired take on heroes like Spider-Man and Thor is extremely cool. Some heroes like Captain Marvel and Black Panther have power sets made for anime—Captain Marvel’s especially, as her ability to generate and absorb energy is similar to how Goku powers up in Dragon Ball Z. However, Cruz’s best design is the Red Skull. The Skull is sporting a demonic look, with his trademark crimson visage resembling that of an oni‘s and his S.S. uniform transformed into armor that has curving horns and a long flowing cape. Cruz’s art also boasts the bright colors one would expect from a superhero project, even extending to the “Throoms” and “Kooms” consisting of Lanham’s sound effects which come in a fiery red or cool blue.  The opening page, which features the Avengers charging into battle against Thanos, is worth the cover price.

The art is also backed up by a good story, courtesy of Zub’s scripting. Zub is no stranger to the Avengers or anime-inspired stories, having co-written the Avengers: No Surrender storyline and the Japanese mythology-inspired series Wayward for Image Comics. Here he uses the hook of heroes losing their powers to set up the armor upgrade and explore what makes the heroes of the Marvel Universe…well, heroes. Even though the Super-Soldier serum is no longer coursing through his veins, Steve Rogers makes his stand against the Skull. Even though he doesn’t have his arachnid abilities, Peter Parker still manages to use his scientific know-how to help the Avengers.  I like stories like these because it shows that even when the chips are down, some people will do the right thing—even if it kills them. And that’s truly admirable.

Avengers: Tech-On Avengers #1 mixes the action one would expect from a Marvel title with anime and tokusatsu-themed elements, setting the stage for a unique story. The next issue promises to pit the newly armored Avengers against Venom, and I look forward to seeing what their armor can do.

Avengers: Tech-On Avengers #1 is available now wherever comics are sold.