The Good
If you read UNCANNY AVENGERS 1, then you know Red Skull has seized Charles Xavier's brain, and he's going to use it to kill off all the mutants in the world. The rest of the team deals with the fallout of Avalanche's attack on New York City.
The big push with this new series is that Red Skull is ultra-powerful. He's always been a number one Captain American bad guy, but he's never really felt like a big threat in the Marvel Universe outside of that, even with the Cosmic Cube. This issue of UNCANNY AVENGERS really establishes Red Skull as a credible threat for the first time. This is a character to be feared here. We get to see him in action here, and it's pretty frightening how powerful he has become. He's manipulative, creepy, and dangerous. This issue gives us numerous reasons why Red Skull is a top tier villain.
UNCANNY AVENGERS feels less like a super hero comic book and more like a suspense-thriller. Writer Rick Remender strings together these incredibly intriguing scenes that are a great set-up for future events, especially the scene featuring a man on television talking to the world. It will be one you remember for sure. By far, my favorite scene in this issue features Rogue. It's a quick little action sequence that showcases who she is and what she can do that flows incredibly well.
Red Skull using one of his powers, at the end of the issue, is awesome. I love how it was drawn. It reminded me of Jim Steranko's work on Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The Bad
Because this book is so split up between characters, this doesn't feel like a team. It just feels like separate stories happening in the same book. Sure, there is an over-arcing story building up, but everything seems a tad splintered.
There is a longer scene featuring Scarlet Witch and Red Skull and in the back of my head, while reading this, I kept thinking "why hasn't she killed him yet?" He's credible threat to some level in the 616 Universe and she's going to listen to him? The first half of this scene was incredibly frustrating for me, and while what it led up to was great, the lead up, itself, was angering.
In the opening of this issue. we get to see Captain America helping clean everything up. I'm pretty picky with what Captain America looks like, and in this issue, I really didn't like how Cassaday drew him. Captain America is overly scaly here. They really pop out here and it makes Cap look a bit buffy and weak. Overall, Cassaday's work, on this issue, isn't really doing it for me. I usually like his work, but this feels like it was rushed.
The Verdict
Overall, I'm down the middle on this one. I think there's a lot of potential here for greatness, and this issue features a lot of great stories within a larger one, but it really doesn't flow together. Everything feels a tad disjointed. I really hope and believe this will all come together nicely because it's a dynamite set-up for Red Skull.
I gave X-Men: Legacy 1 the same score, but if you have to choose between those two, you should definitely go with this one. Uncanny Avengers has much more potential for greatness here. There's a lot of good here, but there's just as much bad. I give this a mild recommendation, but I wouldn't say the average person should pick this up on a whim. I'm a bit disappointed, since I am a fan of Cassaday's and Remender's work in the past. We'll just have to see how this plays out in the future.