This article contains SPOILERS for All-Out Avengers #1
Marvel Comics' new All-Out Avengers is exactly the restyling that the Earth's Mightiest Heroes needed. The series drops the team in the middle of frenetic, action-packed scenarios with no explanation, and focuses a lot on banter and funny dialogue, which is a huge step away from the creative direction taken by the ongoing Avengers series.
All-Out Avengers brings to a whole new level the style of Non-Stop Spider-Man, a series that also emphasized immediate action with little context. Marvel readers have a basic familiarity with certain heroes, which means they do not require knowing years of backstory to enjoy a breakneck adventure packed with high-octane action. At the exact opposite of the spectrum sits the ongoing Avengers series, written by Jason Aaron, who has been building a huge storyline revolving around Mephisto's attempt to conquer the entire Multiverse by traveling back in time to kill the Earth's protector before the Heroic Age could blossom. After more than forty issues, the story is still slowly building up to the final confrontation, with an impressive amount of side plots and new characters being constantly introduced.
In All-Out Avengers #1 by Derek Landy, Greg Land, Jay Leisten, and Frank D'Armata, readers are immediately welcomed by a Carol Danvers that has been corrupted by the alien Dark Tide. Captain Marvel tries to kill Iron Man and Thor, while the rest of the Avengers assault the alien mothership to stop the threat. There is little explanation of why the Dark Tide is on Earth and zero backstory on how Carol got infected, and it just works perfectly. Readers just don't have time to ask questions as they're caught up in a vortex of action, banter, and funny dialogue between the characters.
The tone of this story is very reminiscent of some of the most successful Avengers eras, and at the same time is very different from what can be found every month in Aaron's Avengers. While both titles are focused on action, the development is very different. Avengers drags the team from one big crisis to the other, while trying to develop an overarching, slow-burning Multiverse plot that can feel very frustrating. All-Out Avengers, on the other hand, has no pretense to be painting a huge picture (even if there are clues of an underlying plot), and more importantly corroborates its action sequences with that type of witty and funny dialogues that have always been one of the Avengers' strong points.
Black Panther telling Spider-Man that he was only pretending to let him pilot the spaceship is incredibly funny and a callback to some of the most entertaining Avengers runs, including Brian Michael Bendis' one. It's also strikingly different from what goes on in Avengers, where interaction between characters has been sidelined to make room for a huge plot that seems to be going nowhere. While Marvel has something for every taste, and each series should be judged on its own, All-Out Avengers is a really refreshing take on the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and one that the team sorely needed right now.
All-Out Avengers #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.