Savage Avengers vol. 1: City of Sickles

Would you care to take a guess which “Avengers” series isn’t present (save for one issue) on Marvel Unlimited?  I blame Conan since the Cimmerian’s other Marvel-published comics aren’t on that app either.  So that means I had to buy this volume to see what kind of threat would have him team up with Wolverine, Elektra, Brother Voodoo, the Punisher, and Venom.  Said threat turns out to be Evil Wizard Kulan Gath who has teamed up with the Hand and some Other Wizards to summon Jhoatun Lau, The Marrow God, to Earth.  The idea is that after The Marrow God has feasted on humanity, his acolytes will join him in the temple in the stars.  Unfortunately for them, the only people standing in between these wizards and their goals are some of the most kill-happy antiheroes in the Marvel Universe.

“Savage Avengers” is written by Gerry Duggan, and I was feeling optimistic about this fact after his excellent work on “Marauders.”  What he delivers here isn’t on the same level, but it still has its moments.  Logan and Conan bond after fighting and beer, while the latter later uses the former and his claws as an improvised weapon at one point.  In fact, the barbarian gets most of the interesting material in vol. 1 as he has a close encounter with one of Venom’s siblings and even gets to bond with the Punisher by telling him about Crom at the end.  Everyone else feels more or less in character, even though none of them get to do anything to make them stand out here.

Art for this volume comes from Mike Deodato Jr., and this was his last Marvel project before departing for creator-owned pastures.  While I’ve liked a lot of what the artist has done over the years at Marvel, I don’t think this represents his best work.  There’s a clunkiness to his storytelling as a lot of his action sequences don’t have a smooth flow to them and wind up feeling staged as a result.  There are still some memorable sights, such as a double-page spread of Wolverine taunting his attackers after he’s been stuck with over a dozen arrows and a sword.  So with the writing and the art only offering occasional flashes of genuine entertainment, I’m left feeling ambivalent about buying further volumes of this series.  I’d certainly read more of it if it was “free” on Marvel Unlimited, but since it isn’t we’ll see how long it takes me to get around to seeing how Conan acclimates to the Marvel Universe with  his new friends.