New Avengers has proven to be a sales success for Marvel, due in part, no doubt, to a variant cover ordering scheme but also thanks to some exciting plotting and snappy scripting. The publisher has clearly opted to milk its new cash cow dry, and it's to be expected. Spider-Man's whole life (and line of titles) for the next few months seems to revolve around the New Avengers. It makes sense, I suppose. What I don't get is why Marvel has decided to cram the plotlines from New Avengers down Peter Milligan's creative throat. The traditional super-hero riff isn't a good fit here, and we're left with a rather generic rookie-hero story as a result. The creators fail to hold my attention here for a number of reasons; my hopes for the rest of the series aren't high at all.
Ex-cop Pat Mulligan finds himself in a rather extraordinary and uncomfortable position: he's the host for the alien offspring of the symbiotic creature known as Carnage. The new lifeform has taken the name of Toxin, and it seems far more willing to work with Mulligan toward a greater good rather than adopting the bloodthirsty and cruel personality of its daddy. For his first mission, Mulligan decides to help to track down escapees from the recent superhuman prison break in New York, and the first target on his list is King Cobra. To get some insight and a lead, Mulligan approaches Cobra's disgruntled former partner: Mr. Hyde.
When I looked at the credits on the first page, I was pleased to discover that this comic brings together the same artistic team that collaborated on Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan. Their work here pales in comparison with their landmark efforts on Transmet, though. First of all, the title charactewr doesn't look nearly as fearsome and alien as he should. Mind you, Essad Ribic sets the bar pretty high, and they don't get there. I did like the artists' take on King Cobra, though. I don't know if the tweaked design is a new development or something that came before, but it makes the villain seem much more inhuman and menacing.
Not only does Toxin not look fearsome in this comic book, but he doesn't sound the part either. In fact, there's far too friendly and colloquial a tone to the banter between host and slimy alien parasite. Mulligan and Spider-Man seem awfully chummy as well; I would have expected that Spidey would be more suspicious of the latest symbiote. The notion that Mulligan could get access to a superhuman holiding facility, even if he used to be a cop, is a bit much to swallow as well.
I like the central conflict here. It isn't about a new super-hero trying to prove himself by chasing down villains. It's about a guy who has to sacrifice everything he holds dear in order to protect that part of his life from the weirdness that's encroached upon it. The problem is that Milligan doesn't show us what the danger is. Mulligan seems to have the symbiote under control; in fact, the Toxin creature seems quite polite and benevolent. 5/10
