All New All Different Avengers #6 Review

All New All Different Avengers #6. We get the follow-up to Vision’s heel turn in the last issue where he took steel chair shots to Ms. Marvel and Nova knocking them out of the Avengers. In this issue, we have Kang split up and the one left in our time is unable to shift through time himself. But, he can shift anyone else through time. So, Kang plucks an army of Equinox’s throughout time to battle the ANAD Avengers. Ms. Marvel and Nova decide that they cannot abandon the team despite being kicked off the team.

Words: Mark Waid
Pencils: Mahmud Asrar
Colors: Dave McCaig

Story Rating: 3 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10

Ms. Marvel and Nova rejoin the fight. We get a long fight scene that culminates with the ANAD Avengers defeating Kang and Equinox. Equinox is captured and Kang makes an escape. At this point, Vision apologizes for being controlled by Kang and for turning on his fellow Avengers. Vision asks for forgiveness from Nova and Ms. Marvel. Vision then says he needs some time alone to process what happened to him. Vision then flies off. We end the issue with Sam visiting Jane Foster at a cancer treatment center while Jane is getting her treatment. Sam says that Jane’s secret is safe with him. Sam asks if they can talk about why she wants to keep this a secret from the team. End of issue.

The highlight of this issue? Equinox?! I love this guy! I remember reading Marvel Team-Up #23 from 1974. I picked up this issue from the back issue dollar bin at my local comic book shop when I was a kid. Marvel Team-Up #23 featured Human Torch and Iceman in a team-up together to take on a character armed with both of our heroes’ powers. It was such a cool 1970’s goodness by the powerhouse creative team of Len Wein and Gil Kane. So, obviously, I geeked out when I saw this little used villain from the 1970’s.

All New All Different Avengers #6 also gives the reader plenty of action. This issue is mostly just one large fight scene. The story certainly moves at a fast pace. Waid never meanders about with this issue. The story is also clearly plotted as Waid moves the story forward in a straight forward fashion.

All New All Different Avengers #6 suffers from the same defects that have plagued prior issues. This issue is extremely thin. There is little in the way of actual substance for the reader to digest. The lack of depth makes this issue not worth the hefty cover price. Also, Waid employs rather conventional super hero story beats and techniques to deliver an issue that feels uninspired and generic. Conventional super hero plot devices and techniques are acceptable when the story being delivered has some creativity and depth to it. Unfortunately, Waid’s story is so thin and unexciting that the use of such conventional approaches simply serve to make All New All Different Avengers #6 read like a generic and unimaginative issue.

The dialogue continues to be atrocious. All New All Different Avengers #6 gives the reader yet another heaping helping of mind numbing unintelligent dialogue. The dialogue is bland and generic at best and outright dumb at worst. The character work also continues to be non-existent. All of the characters are nothing more than either cardboard cutouts or stereotypes. Neither make for appealing and interesting characters. The lack of character work and poor dialogue lead to a complete absence of any chemistry between the characters on this roster.

All in all, Waid gives absolutely nothing for the reader to get excited about. Waid fails to engage the reader and give the reader any reasons to become invested in the story or the characters. This first six issues of this title have served as a rather uninspiring opening story arc for this new title. Again, it feels that All New All Different Avengers was simply the result of an editorial mandated idea rather than a unique and interesting story proposed and pitched by Waid.

There are numerous stupid moments through out All New All Different Avengers #6. But, the moment that had me laughing the most was the opening scene between Ms. Marvel and Nova. It was hilarious when Ms. Marvel had Nova turn his back to her so she could put on even more clothing. I have heard to female characters asking a male character to turn around when they are getting undressed and changing clothes. But, when a female character is fully dressed and begins to put on even more clothes? Priceless. And the best part is that Ms. Marvel is trying to hide her identity from Nova with her tiny spaghetti string style mask. Sweetheart, if you really want to conceal your identity then you might want a more substantial mask.

Now, the most entertaining aspect of All New All Different Avengers #6 was the letter’s column. No doubt about it. Of the seven letters that were published, four of them were critical of the All New All Different Avengers and the roster in general. Honestly, I cannot remember the last time I read a letter column page where the majority of the letters were highly critical of the title. My first thought was why Marvel would willingly publish a letter column where the majority of letters were critical of the title. It is possible that majority of letters sent to Marvel were critical of the title so Marvel had no choice to publish some. But, a majority? Now, I have to give credit to Marvel for publishing these letters.

But, what made this even more entertaining were the responses from the assistant editor which were cheery and willfully obtuse. The assistant editor came across like a brain-dead stewardess cheerfully serving drinks to the passengers while the airplane is crashing. Even better was that the cheery responses failed to address any of the criticisms in any intelligent fashion at all.

Regardless if you agree with Mr. Alderman or not, the fact is that he writes a long and detailed letter listing his criticisms with the All New All Different Avengers roster. And what is the response? A joke that plugs the New Avengers title! What a hilariously tone-deaf response.

Mr. Beyerstein delivers an extremely short and to the point letter concerning his views of the roster for the All New All Different Avengers. The response? You will like this roster that we are shoving down your throat! Essentially, the assistant editor’s response is that we are going to keep shoving this roster down your throat until you fare beaten into submission and have lost all hope and must accept this roster. This is like how the WWE has been booking Roman Reigns. The crowds hate Roman and boo him louder and louder with each show. The WWE’s response? To push Roman even harder down the crowd’s throat with this maniacal belief that sheer force of will shall eventually get the crowds to cheer Roman. Here, the assistant editor’s response implies that Marvel will shove this new roster down readers’ throats even harder and the result will be that readers will love this roster as much as the classic Avengers.

Mr. Kalibabky pays some praise to Alex Ross’ pretty cover and then delivers his criticisms with the All New All Different Avengers. The response? A joke about gimmick covers! The sheer avoidance of any of the criticisms and the cheery tone is what makes this response so hilarious!

Here Mr. Fortner delivers a clear criticism of the All New All Different Avengers. The assistant editor’s response? Once again, more tone deafness in the form of a joke about Secret Wars #9’s late shipping schedule.

Honestly, you cannot make this kind of stuff up! The mind-boggling attitude of the assistant editors response is a wonderful insight into the mind-set of Marvel’s editorial staff. Marvel’s editors believe they alone have all the answers and their clients, the readers, need to shut up and eat what they are served. Brilliant.