After everything the Avengers have been through, it’s nice to see them get a break. Avengers Annual #1 steps back from Jonathan Hickman’s intergalactic space opera,and allows the greatest hero team in comics to take a breather. This is a Christmas issue. It’s not devoid of a plot, but it is an issue that focuses more on fun and humor than the coming end of humanity.
It’s Christmas Eve. Shang-Chi, Master Of Kung Fu, is giving a tour of the Avengers Tower to a group of troubled but brilliant teens. Within the Tower, the Avengers are getting ready for Christmas. Tony Stark is heading towards a tropical getaway, Bruce Banner is on the hook for a Geneva Convention, Black Widow has a luxury hotel to get to, and Captain America, as you’d figure, is doing charity work. The crux of the story is Cap, and how he deals with the holidays after his incredibly tough few months.
Writer Kathryn Immonen does a great job of keeping a holiday spirit to the story. In particular, is Cap’s conversation with a WWII vet. Working a soup kitchen, Cap meets someone who can identify with him better than most. Their interaction is subtle and candid, with Immonen never allowing the meeting to become overly sentimental. Cap is also written better here than he has been by Rick Remender. The brooding self-doubt is replaced with the quiet confidence we all love about the character. Immonen’s Captain America is upbeat, with a touch of realistic melancholy. It’s an effective blend for a Christmas issue.
Outside of Cap, an action subplot is taking place. One of the troubled teens, a young girl named Zamira, breaks into the Tower to try and find an answer to her issue. Zamira has voices in her head, voices that manifest themselves as physical forms, each with a different personality. These aberrations get the best of her, and all hell breaks loose. Thankfully, the Avengers are much closer than originally thought, and all ends well. It’s a Christmas Avengers Miracle.
Helping keep this Annual jolly is Dave Lafuente. I’ll be honest, in a standard comic, I wouldn’t be a fan of what Lafuente does, but it is perfect for this story. The pencils are cartoonish, almost over the top in their attempt to be animated. Tony Stark is a bit angular, and Banner looks like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. Interestingly, Lafuente brings his over-the-top style down a few notches during the conversation between Cap and military vet. The art fits each aspect of the story perfectly.
(4 Story, 4 Art)
