Have you met America’s Alpha Flight?
Flatman, Doorman, Big Bertha, Mr. Immortal, and newcomer Good Boy make up the Great Lakes Avengers—also known as the most incompetent super hero team to ever exist. Yes, even compared to Nextwave. But through some legal chicanery, Flatman owns the tenuous rights to the Avengers name, so he and his crew get to be Avengers in exchange for letting Tony, Steve, and company keep their branding. So they set up shop in Detroit to fight super villains and corrupt politicians.
Zac Gorman’s take on the GLA is an ensemble comedy first. Think of it as a wacky sitcom with superheroes as its leads. It’s full of punchlines and call-backs, and Gorman sets up a lot of moving pieces. Unfortunately, that long-form planning proves to be a double-edged sword; while he pulls it off well, what was supposed to be an ongoing ended after seven issues. So a number of plotlines remain unresolved—and given these characters’ relative obscurity, resolution probably will not come in other titles.
Robson, Chabot, Bonvillain, and company’s art has a glossy, animated style. It’s fun and upbeat, and it shines at its most exaggerated. And at its most chaotic, it remains clean. It’s a great fit for GLA.
If you enjoy wacky superteam books, you should check out Great Lakes Avengers. The book is a lot of fun, even if it suffers from its abbreviated run. If you’ve already read it and are looking for more, check out Dan Slott’s GLA mini-series.
Collected in
- Great Lakes Avengers, Vol. 1: Same Old, Same Old (#1-7)
Writer: Zac Gorman | Artists: Will Robson (1-3, 5-7), Jacob Chabot (4) | Additional Inks: Scott Hanna (7) | Colorists: Tamra Bonvillain with Marissa Louise (4) | Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna | Assistant Editor: Alanna Smith | Editor: Tom Brevoort