Heroes Reborn #1
- WRITER
- Jason Aaron
- Artist
- Mark Morales, Ed McGuinness
- Letterer
- VC's Cory Petit
- Cover Artist
- Ed McGuinness, Dean White, Sunny Gho, Rafael Fonteriz, Mark Bagley, John Dell, Matthew Wilson, Leinil Francis Yu, Espen Grundetjern, Nolan Woodard, Jeffrey Veregge, Joshua Cassara, Al Vey, George Perez, Iban Coello, Morry Hollowell, Carlos Pacheco, John Tyler Christopher, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Stanley "Artgerm" Lau
- Publisher
- Marvel Comics
- Price
- 5.99
- Release Date
- 2021-05-05
- Colorist
- Matthew Wilson
Just as the dust settles from the latest Marvel crossover event King in Black, the entire history of the Marvel Universe appears to be radically rewritten in its latest crossover event Heroes Reborn. Spinning out of the events of Jason Aaron's Avengers run, Aaron reunites with longtime creative collaborator Ed McGuinness to pick up plot threads and use them towards reimagining the Marvel superheroes and villains in new ways in a sort of alternate reality tale in the vein of House of M or "Age of Apocalypse." This particular crossover event is off to strong start, paying off longtime readers of Aaron's Avengers run while staying accessible to those jumping into this story relatively fresh.
Blade awakens to a world where the Earth's Mightiest Heroes never existed, at least not how the Daywalker knew them. In their place, the Squadron Supreme of America stands as the undisputed, greatest superhero team in the Marvel Universe, protecting the country from all manner of reimagined supervillain threats. And as Blade scrambles to learn what exactly happened to each of the Avengers prior to the wholesale revisions to the Marvel Universe, the legendary vampire hunter may have just inadvertently become the most important figure on Earth.
Marvel has clear about this in the months leading up to the crossover event's launch but it certainly bears repeating: This particular story has nothing in common with the previous 1996 publishing initiative by Marvel also titled Heroes Reborn but instead stands very clearly as its own thing. Blade has become the surprise breakout character of Aaron's Avengers run his strong handle on the character continues here, with the new reality that Aaron and McGuinness have crafted seen through the Daywalker's eyes. And while this opening issue handles a lot of world-building, by the very nature of the overarching premise, the creative team packs this oversized issue with plenty of action set pieces and more than enough mystery to keep readers riveted from cover to cover.
McGuinness, working with inker Mark Morales and color artist Matthew Wilson, had co-launched Aaron's Avengers run years ago now, jumping back in occasionally after previously working with Aaron on several other Marvel titles. The art team's work here feels very much like a natural extension of their past work bringing Earth's Mightiest Heroes to life, but they are given noticeably more real estate to bring their artistic vision to life. This means bigger panels and splash pages can really stretch out and breathe, with the various redesigns of familiar faces and action sequences really allowing McGuinness, et. al the chance to lean into some of their fan-favorite strengths; this may be a world with the Avengers but there is something bombastically welcome about this brave, new world.
While Marvel has delivered plenty of alternate reality tales to memorable effect, Aaron and McGuinness deftly know just how much to change up and how much to keep familiar for readers. And while this opening issue pays off on years of comic book storytelling by Aaron, the creative team has provided a clean jumping-on point for those that may not have kept up with the Avengers ongoing comic book series. This big, colorful superhero storytelling at its best and is quickly shaping up to be a good time, as the long game threads converge together in this intriguing shift to the status quo.