Uncanny Avengers: Unity, Vol. 5: Stars and Garters

Uncanny Avengers: Unity

by Jim Zub (Writer), R.B. Silva (Illustrator), Manuel García (Illustrator)

Wanda Maximoff has returned to the Avengers at last! But not everyone on the team is happy about it. Will the team be split down the middle by the arrival of the Scarlet Witch? And as the Unity Squad faces this challenge to group harmony head-on, an old enemy makes their explosive return at the worst possible time! The lives of our heroes will be turned upside down by friend and foe alike!

Collecting: Uncanny Avengers 26-30

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

112 pages, Paperback

First published February 27, 2018

About the author

Jim Zub is a writer, artist and art instructor based in Toronto, Canada. Over the past fifteen years he’s worked for a diverse array of publishing, movie and video game clients including Disney, Warner Bros., Capcom, Hasbro, Bandai-Namco and Mattel.

He juggles his time between being a freelance comic writer and Program Coordinator for Seneca College‘s award-winning Animation program.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some interesting choices for this last volume of the second season of the Uncanny Avengers. I feel the entire series has been about the growth of Rogue, and indeed the character development of some of the cast, such as Wanda, Wasp, Brother Voodoo, Deadpool and even the Human Torch! It's a rarity in this age to have such an optimistic non-cynical series. This volume merits a 7 out of 12 Three Stars from me, as Jim Zub proves he might have been a better bet for the entire season!

2019 and 2017 read

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a ho-hum wrap up to the "Unity Squad" Avengers era, livened up by some team-up hijinks between old buddies Wonder Man (now a Pacifist, but an invulnerable super strong one nonetheless) and the bouncing blue-furred Beast.



There was a smattering of new romantic entanglements established by the end but honestly since I am not an Avengers superfan I don't really know if any of them amounted to anything in the long run.

One nerdy quibble: in issue #28 Rogue puts her ungloved hand on Johnny Storm's bare shoulder panel after panel after panel without any effect...I thought it was portending some story element, but I guess it was just lazy editing. Boo, true believers.

[Subham · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

Its alright.

Its pretty much the wrapping of this volume as the Avengers are attacked by Graviton its upto Rogue to save the team meanwhile Beast and Wonder man team up to stop Whirlwind and well talk about the mess their lives have been and rekindle the friendship they have had and well then the big story when Juggernaut attacks and what happens with Synapse and the discord in the team and new beginnings and romances. Its a very dull volume tbh and besides the team facing random villains and heroes thinking of new beginnings its nothing new and Johnny arguing semantics and wealth spending with Rogue but the art is nice I guess. Skip this volume, its nothing new and is just "ehh"/

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim Zub and Sean Izaakse bring this series in for a landing as it cruises into No Surrender. Izaakse's art is very good. Jim Zub uses his turn to showcase his talents at characterization. He shows that even throwaway issues of Avengers can be entertaining when they are written well. I'm hoping Rogue sticks around for the next incarnation. I really like her as the leader of an Avengers squad.

[Travis Duke · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5) I guess this is the end of this series, I'm never sure. It does make a jump from volume 4 through the dark force event (which I need to read) so that was a head scratcher. It is a pretty short volume and it basically wraps up the remaining plot lines like who's leading this team and where everyone is going.

On one hand its nice they choose to wrap it up nicely, on the other hand its a really simple ending with a couple of bad guy cameos. I will say I liked the issue I like the Rogue leadership stuff, scarlet witch rejoin, Wonder man and Beast team up. There are some good fights which I wont spoil but I liked the villains. The art is really good too, sharp details and great colors.

As a series this was a better than average series for me. I really liked the team and the villains they fought. The civil war II tie in was one of the better. The Art is also very well done. I would recommend this series for sure!

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Read as single issues]
The Uncanny Avengers have disbanded, and are ready to go their separate ways - at least until Secret Empire strikes and they find themselves the only line of defense against the threats of the Darkforce Dimension. Plus, three Avengers return, but while Beast and Wonder Man get the welcoming committee, is anyone pleased to see the Scarlet Witch again?

Gerry Duggan left this title after piloting them through some pretty big storylines, so it feels a bit mean to throw new writer Jim Zub into the book as part of an event tie-in, but his Secret Empire issues are actually pretty solid. He picks up the threads of the characters that Duggan left dangling and writes their relationships as naturally as Duggan did. The new characters that join the fray for this arc are well used, like Scorpion and Shocker, and the artwork by Kim Jacinto is never less than great, even when everything is covered in darkness.

Then we head into a short-lived Marvel Legacy storyline as Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, and Beast return to the title just in time for Graviton to turn up and wreck the place. There are some surprising developments for the Human Torch in these issues too, and Zub balances the new additions to the book with as much ease as he did the slightly smaller cast. He's also joined by Sean Isaakes, who is definitely a talent that we need to keep an eye on. His visuals are perfect for superheroes, in the same vein as say Valerio Schiti, and the colouring is beauitfully done.

This book, along with USAvengers, was merged into the main Avengers book for No Surrender. Since Zub was only on these few issues before that happened, it'd make sense if he was left out of No Surrender's creative collaboration, but he proves himself easily here and fits right in. Uncanny Avengers survives the creative team transition completely intact.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Unity Squad was sacrificed on the altar of Secret Empire; Gerry Duggan left at the same time. Issues #24-25 of the comic weren't even collected in its own TPBs. This last volume by Jim Zub is thus pretty much just the appendix, as the non-team treads water, waiting for the next big mega-event, No Surrender.

It's OK.

The plots are dull: one big fight with Graviton, and he's CRAAAAZY, one big fight Juggernaut and he's MAAAD. Fortunately, the team gets better characterization, and that's what holds the comic together. In fact, the team gets quite good characterization, especially Rogue who is wonderful in her role as team leader. But Wanda, Pietro, and Johnny are all strong too, with fun guest appearances by the Beast and Wonder Man. Yeah, there's some Inhuman woman too; no one cared about her, though Zub tries really, really hard.

So, read it for the characters, not the storyline.

[Juan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not totally amazing but not totally a waste either.

First half of the story is forgetable although we do see the return of the Scarlet Witch to the "Avengers". We also see the return of Wonder Man, a character I personally know nothing about. The second half of the book is interesting. Wonder Man and Beast sharing a pint is entertaining enough. Seeing Johnny Storm cope with his new need to deal with bureaucracy is pretty funny as well. The Juggernaut make an appearance and I genuinely think his dialogue is hysterical since it reminds me of Bender from Futurama. The guy makes me laugh. What can I say?

So this ends the run on most Avenger titles at the time, setting up the No Surrender story arc. I look forward to it.

[Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the final volume in this run of Uncanny Avengers, this is a little bit odd. It wraps up some loose ends, but also hearkens back to another era with Wonder Man and Beast spending time together, and foiling a crime. While it isn't world-changing, and only hints about a future for the Unity Squad that never was, it was still satisfyingly written, and felt like it belonged, as more of a coda and conclusion to the series than as a big event. Comics series so rarely get to have these, since they are often just canceled out of the blue, so it's kind of nice, and emphasized relationships among characters, which was enjoyable.

[Mr. Stick · Rating 4 out of 5]

"USELESS QUESTIONS. POINTLESS ANSWERS. YOU'RE LOOKING FOR PURPOSE IN A WORLD WHERE NOTHING MATTERS. I'M AN AGENT OF CHAOS. WELCOME TO DEATH BY HAPPENSTANCE."
- (An especially deranged) Graviton answering Rogue's question as to why he's hurting her friends.

This series has been consistently good. Not outstanding. Not disappointing. Just good. However, THIS volume benefitted not only from Jim Zub's writing but Sean Izaakse's pencils. I don't know if I've seen his work before, but his female figures are appealing, bodies drawn with realistic proportions, and butt-tons of background detail. Rogue's attractive without dressing like a college girl at Mardi Gras and Wasp is actually cute. Not just flirty and squeezed into a rubber glove, but a genuinely adorable girl-next-door in functional attire. Holy hell, did I mention how much background detail this guy does? Like George Perez-level detail. Very busy one and two-page layouts and yet bodies were still to scale. It's like that woman who you think doesn't wear makeup but does. Less is more.
Overall, a good read with plenty of characters shooting the breeze over drinks, going on dates and such, but also beautifully drawn.
Three-and-a-half stars, rounded up to four.

[Alex E · Rating 3 out of 5]

After Remender's run on the title, Jim Zub slows things down with some great characterization work.

So this volume definitely is a downshift from the previous events, as we get a lot of downtime for the cast to really interact with each other and kind of iron out where they are at in life. It was smart for Jim Zub to do this and kind of reset the title overall. We get to see how characters are reacting, how some are connecting to each other, and how some are kind of breaking down entirely. I enjoyed this volume because it reminds me of those volumes in any team book where we focus on the cast more, so that we are more invested down the line.

The art was by Manuel Garcia and RB Silva, and while both are good, I really like Silva's work in this one. If fit the tone of the book really well and just looked damn good. Hopefully as Zub's run settles in, he can pick either Silva or someone in his caliber to be the main artist.

Overall, a good startup volume and good jumping on point for new readers.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

wraps up the series beginning with Remender's initial volume.
simon and Wanda have closure to a degree. they try to explain or excuse beast's recent actions over the past five plus years. zub is doing their best but is given crao to work with on that front.
rogue and cap make up. rogue is seemingly a more mature and open person. no doubt now a leader.

quicksilver and synapse break up due to his actions in the fight with graviton getting her severely injured.

izaakse art abd whoever colours them is great. I really love their work. once they're on a big title they'll get mainstream recognition.

[Christian Zamora-Dahmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently, Jim Zub is the writer on call to wrap things up in a book in disarray. Too bad his stance didn’t last long, but he did his best, which is characterization. The stories weren’t epic and I think that wasn’t really its goal.
Zub took hold of these characters and made some sense out of them, in a way that it felt okay to say goodbye.
At a time when Marvel is one event after the other, it’s hard to find a moment to let a book breathe its own air and find its own spot. And in a way, this book finally did it.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each of those are pretty good. Not great . . . . But pretty good.

The problem is that they're mostly unrelated. Everyone is going their own ways and so are their stories.

There's a scene where Rogue touches the Human Torch on the shoulder to comfort him. That's . . . weird!

And the Dr. Voodoo/Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver/Synapse pairings seem a little sudden. But I guess this is the book that brought us Deadpool/Rogue.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new creative team comes on to finish off the series. The Unity Squad is still disbanded, but they're trying to put things back together. (Things like Avengers Mansion.) Graviton, still mentally unstable, shows up and causes trouble. Johnny gets some news about the inheritance of the Fantastic Four. Jericho accidently summons the Juggernaut. Guest starring the Beast and Wonder Man, who apparently warrant the cover.

The writing is decent. The art is good.

[Madeline Rossell · Rating 2 out of 5]

While technically part of the secret empire collection issues 24 and 25 were some of the few I enjoyed most from the series. I especially found humor in the joke made about the shocker.

This collection though was a let down. Relationships that were teased at, and built up in the previous volume were dropped. But the writer seemed interested, however, in attempting to pair up most of the single heroines in this series.

[Joey Amorim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, this feels like a pretty superfluous epilogue volume. Quite literally nothing of major substance happens, except for everyone randomly deciding to date each other. Quicksilver & Synapse, Scarlet Witch & Doctor Voodoo, and Rogue & Human Torch. Pretty sure exactly zero of those couples are still a thing today.

[Apola · Rating 2 out of 5]

Diálogos forzados e historia básica, meh

[Clesias · Rating 3 out of 5]

All I know is Wanda Maximoff is the love of my life and she deserves all the happiness she can get

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wonder at what point they knew they were cancelled and just wasting pages before No Surrender.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun wrap up to the run with some cool art and colours. Nothing groundbreaking, but it was fun to read, and sometimes that’s all this reader is looking for.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
With the Unity Squad disbanded, the team is struggling to find a base, leadership, and purpose. Will they find it in returning member Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch? Not if Rogue has anything to say about it! In the midst of their bickering, an old Avenger villain returns, and the Unity Squad faces off against Graviton, who proceeds to use his gravity-altering powers to send Wanda off into the upper atmosphere. Jericho (Doctor Voodoo) teleports and saves her, and Graviton is felled by a power-stealing kiss from Rogue.
A man approaches... another villain? No, its an estate lawyer. He is handling the estate of Reed and Sue Richards (Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, two members of the Fantastic Four, currently rebuilding the multiverse off world) and is proud to announce that Johnny Storm is the recipient of Reed's patent settlement fortune: $5,196,353,518.41 !!!
Elsewhere, Beast and Wonder Man are enjoying a drink at a local bar while they catch up. When small time criminals try to rob a bank nearby, the two take care of it, while having fun and working together.
From the events of Secret Empire, the Avengers mansion is in a fair amount of ruins. Jericho thinks he has the answer in summoning a worker force: "The Servants of Cyttorak", but that unfortunately summons Juggernaut as well! The team is able to take him down, but poor judgement on the part of Quicksilver gets Synapse injured and in the hospital.
The Volume ends on a high note, as Johnny uses part of his money to have the Avengers Mansion restored. Captain America returns and thanks the Unity Squad for their loyalty and determination and reinstates the team. Out front, a statue of the original Avengers team is erected..... but wait, who's that woman immortalized as part of the first Avengers?
Overall, a fairly good Volume. Just not sure how much longer this comic can run with middle-of-the-road stories like this. Recommend, but only if you already like this team.

[Greta Yeager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually a review for the entire series, but I wanted to talk about the series in its frustrating entirety.

I really, really wanted to like this series more, but it unfortunately fell victim to the main problem of most Marvel books: the crossover "event". Every time Marvel decides to drag its newly established comic runs into Secret-Civil-War-Standoff the eighth, its characters and plot suffer. Not to mention that I have zero clue what's going on until they exposition-dump after the fact. Ironically, another problem I had with this series was how they assumed a little too often that the reader knows exactly what's going on with some characters from previous events before re-introducing them out of nowhere. A little context or reminder on who they are before they bust in would have been nice.

The underdeveloped plot points especially annoyed me with this series because I was actually getting to like all of the characters. I liked learning about Synapse, who was a completely new character to me, and I really liked how they handled Deadpool, making him a legitimate character with some depth instead of just comic relief. I also loved the focus on Rogue as a leader, although I think I missed the reason of why she hates Scarlet Witch-although, honestly, the idea that she hates her just because she's Scarlet Witch and screw her, that's why, made for a WAY more entertaining read. Overall, I really enjoyed this run (despite its setbacks), and the great dialogue and amazing art made it worth the read.

[Scott Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reset after the Secret Empire stuff and the resolution of the long-running Uncanny Avengers plotline tied to Axis and the continuing Red Skull has Xavier's brain problems. With those plots resolved we end up with an essentially character driven issue that seeks to reset things and establish a new ongoing status quo. Especially since Cap disbanded the unity squad and then they came back together specifically to defeat the Red Skull. This is the volume where they sit around and decide that they will stay together after all , who will lead them, etc. As well as what the terms will be under which they move forward. It's a bit slow, but the art is really solid, and there is at least one wonderful character moment in each issue. It seems like it could be a beginning of cool stuff to come. A long slow beginning that just barely finishes getting to square one by the end of the volume.

[Adan · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an odd ending to this series. It seemed to be gearing up for a new beginning, what with Beast, Wonder Man, and the Scarlet Witch joining the cast, Johnny becoming rich and rebuilding Avengers Mansion, and Rogue properly becoming the leader, but then it just ended. So yeah, odd.

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Using some very tired and played out tropes. Need to change the subject? Have a random guy attack them. Need to reset something you changed? Have money appear from nowhere. Lazy.

[Laura Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good. I like Rogue so seeing what is happening with her is fun.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unity Squad comes to an end...and honestly that is how it feels, that Zub was tasked to wrapping up the storylines so the Avengers can enter it's next phase.

[Nicole Westen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to see Doctor Voodoo get his own series.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This feels more like a X-book than the X-books I keep picking up in hopes of some Claremontian character development.