Savage Avengers by Gerry Duggan, Vol. 1

Savage Avengers (2019) #1-2

by Gerry Duggan, Chris Claremont, David Finch (cover_art)

Collects Savage Avengers (2019) #1-12, Savage Avengers Annual (2019) #1, Savage Avengers (2019) #0 and Free Comic Book Day 2019 (Avengers/Savage Avengers) #1.

The most vicious team of antiheroes in the Marvel Universe assembles! Wolverine! Venom! Elektra! Punisher! Doctor Voodoo! And in their midst - Conan the Barbarian! Together, they are the Savage Avengers, here to take on the terrifying threats no other team can handle - like when the deadly ninja army known as the Hand teams up with the evil wizards of another age to summon a death god from a celestial hell. From the Savage Land to Latveria, Conan's travels unite him with suitably savage warriors - including the Black Widow, Daimon Hellstrom…and even Doctor Doom! But as the dreaded secret of the sorcerer Kulan Gath's power is revealed, can Doctor Strange and Elektra deal with this unbelievable horror? Or are they otherwise occupied? Something is killing the Shuma-Goraths!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels Comics

392 pages, Paperback

Published July 23, 2024

Reviews

[Machiavelli]

What a mixed bag, and I mean that in the most roller coaster way possible. The concept is awesome: Wolverine, Venom, Elektra, Punisher, Doctor Voodoo, and Conan the Barbarian thrown together against the sorcerer Kulan Gath. The first few issues are bumpy while Duggan assembles the team, but once everybody is on the board the book starts finding its path. The early Wolverine and Conan fights are fun, though I like it best when Conan takes the lead and drives the story. There's also a fun little arc with Frank Castle along the way.The height of the whole book is the big Kulan Gath arc with Conan, Doctor Strange, and Doctor Voodoo. Kulan Gath is a genuinely fun Big Bad and everything clicks there. Patch Zircher was my favorite artist of the bunch and I hope he comes back and stays on.Then the collection makes a baffling choice and drops in Savage Avengers #0. I am a huge Greg Smallwood fan and his half of the story is beautiful, but it just doesn't fit what the book is doing. Worse, it reprints two Chris Claremont Uncanny X-Men issues to give Kulan Gath's backstory. I typically love backstories, but this was brutal. So many words with nothing happening at all. I bailed on the first one, skipped the second, and just read the last few Smallwood pages. I would have been a lot happier if none of it was in here. Thankfully issue 12 gets right back on track, with the team fighting Kulan Gath and needing to get Conan. Good setup for the end.Definitely a roller coaster, and tough to score since I wanted to give one star to #0 alone. But the highs are real, and it's fun and worth reading. My advice: skip #0 entirely and the overall story reads a lot better. Here's hoping Vol. 2 just keeps telling Duggan's story. 3.5⭐️

[Matthew McElroy]

Bleh. I guess this had a shot at two stars until it fell apart with a weird detour into a story from the Claremont run on the X-Men. Just because a story shares the same villain doesn't mean it is linked in any way.

But overall, this is bad. I read this because my son checked it out of the library and it was due AND I was going to be in the car for ten hours. I am not an anti-hero guy. I like my heroes to be admirable people. It's why I (used to) root for Cyclops, and Spider-man and Luke Cage. I want people to have a moral code and an understanding of the rules.

I despise Punisher and Venom and only recently have I come to appreciate Wolverine as a character. But maybe this could have had a fun Suicide Squad thing going on. Nope, it's just bad, and boring and self-serious. There's no fun banter about killing bad guys, or Conan's fighting style compared to Venom's, or Elektra and Dr. Voodoo dressing entirely opposite to do the same thing.

In all seriousness, I'm not sure what incentive there is to read this. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of a plan or a story here. If there is more to come, we have no idea where it's going. I'm glad this was a library book, so I can get it out of my house.

[Krzysztof Grabowski]

Jeżeli kochasz postać Conana i nie podoba ci się, co z nią robią, to... Sobie daruj i nieco żałuj. Osobiście do takiego pomysłu byłem sceptyczny już od kontaktu Scarlet Witch w jednym z tie-in'ów do masywnego eventu Secret Wars, ale muszę przyznać, że początek jest piorunujący...

Bo Conan od razu wskakuje w akcję i robi to, w czym jest dobry. Tnie. Duet z Wolverine'm jest to coś, czego nie oczekiwałem, a dostałem i chcę więcej. Bomba. Potem też jest nieźle, kiedy w walki z czarnoksiężnikiem ze świata Conana dochodzą: Venom, Elektra, Voodoo czy Punisher. I się dzieje. Jedna kwestia z Castle'm, która dotyczy śmierci jego rodzinny mną nieco wstrząsnęła i jestem ciekaw, czy to się potwierdzi, czy to tylko perfidna zagrywka wroga...

I niestety to co dobre się kończy po masywnym mordobiciu, kiedy to Conan podróżuje po świecie, najpierw w towarzystwie Punishera, a potem łączy siły z Dr Strange'm i Dr Doomem. Tak tym... I choć to nadal dobry kawałek lektury, tak traci coś, co miała pierwsza część tego zbioru. Niemniej niektóre interakcje postaci to nadal perełka. Duggan się tu spisał.

W kwestii grafiki mamy tu podział na dwa segmenty i ten pierwszy bardziej pasuje do zabawy, bo jest dużo bardziej 'mroczniejszy', pasując do konwencji. Dalej kreska jest ładna i ostra, ale to nie to samo, co na początku. Na szczęście nic tu nie spartolono. Reasumując - fajny zbiorek.

[Ross Cudmore]

The opening story arc that saw our heroes drawn together ro face the sorcerer Kulan Gath was at times exciting, but also confusing. For those not familiar with the cast of characters, they may be disappointed with a lack of characterisation other than the fact that they are "heroes" who are savage in nature.

The second story arc opens with a focus on Conan and the Punisher, as they travel together through the Savage Lands. At this point the story becomes much more focused on Conan and the smaller cast of characters he encounters as he explores the modern world. I really liked this aspect of the story. With a smaller cast each character felt more developed, and the fish out of water aspect really worked with Conan.

Overall a fun adventure through the Marvel Universe starring Conan the Barbarian.

[Troy-David Phillips]

I was not sure how I would like this book. To be honest, I was hesitant to the idea of blending Conan into the Marvel Universe, considering he would only be a licensed character.
That said, the use of Conan and Kulan Gath was actually good.
The ensemble of Wolverine, Doctor Voodoo, Elektra, Punisher, Doctor Strange, and Dr. Doom worked pretty well. Bringing in Damion Hellstrom and Black Widow as guest stars also worked.
There is more to this story than this volume: it is worth finishing the series.

[Brendan Ferraro]

I enjoyed the first 5 or so issues with Wolverine, venom and Conan but after they separated it got boring

[Cagdas Ilter]

Ok read