Posted in: Avengers, Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: David F. Walker, deadly nightshade, gabriel hernandez walta, hawkeye, Marvel Comics, nighthawk, Occupy Avengers, red wolf, skrulls, super skrull, wheels wolinski

Occupy Avengers #7 Review – A Van-Tastic Voyage Into A Skrull Conflict

The premise for Occupy Avengers is definitely one of the best things to come out of Civil War II. However you may feel about Hawkeye killing Bruce Banner, the idea of Clint Barton going on a "discover America" tour across the country, helping people as he goes, is a pretty neat premise for an Avengers book.

It's been a very unsubtly political book. The first arc mirrored the Standing Rock/Dakota Access Pipeline dispute and introduced Red Wolf to the book. The current arc deals with a town full of Skrulls attempting to live in peace away from the wars the Skrull Empire wages. It mirrors the Syrian refugee crisis so blatantly that Nick Fury shows up and actually uses the phrase "undocumented aliens whose race has waged war against us."

Comics shouldn't shy away from touchy or political subjects. It's good that David F. Walker brought that to the table in this series. Many readers do prefer super hero comics for escapism, and some get upset when the problems of the real world start leaking in. That's not the healthiest of responses. This isn't to say that every book should be a Nick Spencer or Benjamin Percy polemic. It's just to say that it's not bad that people like Spencer, Percy, and Walker work in the industry, because it helps keep us grounded even while we read about people who can fly.

This issue finishes the aforementioned Skrull story with Hawkeye, Red Wolf, Deadly Nightshade, and "Wheels" Wolinski, the nominal Occupy Avengers (whatever that actually means), caught in the crossfire as Skrull soldiers, led by the Super-Skrull, have come to execute the members of their race who escaped to Earth to live a peaceful life in Dungston, Iowa.

Notably, Wheels manages to hook himself up to a super-tech van that Hawkeye stole from S.H.I.E.L.D. He becomes able to control it, and it's practically a Transformer.

This has been a series that has managed to balance its serious themes with an appropriate amount of humor. That's how Clint Barton copes with most things, so one would have to be able to pull off that balance if they were to write a book like this. Thankfully, Mr. Walker has mastered this art.

The action sequences are good, with Hawkeye firing his arrows, Red Wolf being a brawler, Nightshade a weapons master, and Wolinski punching Super-Skrull with a giant van-fist.

The pacing is a bit off, as this is one of those multi-issue story finales which feels one giant climax and a short third act. There is almost nothing but action as well as an explanation for the super-van. This is an issue that many comics share with this style of serialized storytelling, but it still manages to be a bit of a detriment to this tale.

It manages to stick the landing of its message with Clint convincing Nick Fury to allow the surviving Skrulls of Dungston to continue their lives. He also calls for someone who can handle this sort of complex diplomatic situation and can work with the Skrulls. The ending feels like a nice closing to the story, which doesn't leave its victims out in the cold.

Gabriel Hernandez Walta's artwork is superb. It's grainy and even dirty looking. It's arguably too dark looking for this kind of upbeat and humor-heavy book, yet the grounded nature of the style jives with the "back-to-basics" heroism which has been the driving force for Occupy Avengers. All-in-all, Walta is a good fit for the book.

It is a giant disappointment that this book will be cancelled in just a couple of issues. It hasn't had a lot of space to explore all of its ideas, and it is yet another Walker book that is being tossed aside in its early days, like Nighthawk.

This is a great addition to a great series. It's almost advisable to simply wait for the trade paperback collection at this point, but if you can't wait, it's out on shelves now. It also has a fighting robot van in it, which is van-tastic. Occupy Avengers is definitely worth your time.

(Occupy Avengers #7 is now available at your local comic shop and on Kindle/Comixology)

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