Avengers Assemble #1 cover Earth’s Mightiest Heroes get a little bigger in Avengers Assemble #1, and a rotating cast of characters might just be what the doctor ordered.

Avengers Assemble #1 follows in the long tradition of secondary superhero titles created to address a common complaint among comic book fans: decompressed storytelling. If you’re nostalgic for the days of superhero comics when most stories were one-and-dones rather than months of one specific arc, then Avengers Assemble is for you!

But getting into more specifics, Avengers Assemble is one of several new titles launching out of this summer’s big event storyline, Blood Hunt. Deciding that the events of the vampiric assault on Earth proved Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have been spread too thin recently, Steve Rogers forms a new team — the Avengers Emergency Response Squad, or AVENG.E.R.S for short. (Love a dumb acronym like that.) Setting up shop at the classic, unused Avengers Mansion, Steve recruits a roster of familiar heroes to serve as reserve members who can be deployed for various missions depending on what’s needed of them. Some of thee names are who you would expect to see on the Avengers (e.g. She-Hulk, Wasp, Hawkeye), while others are a little more niche (e.g. Lightspeed, Night Thrasher, Lightning). It makes for a fun mix of dynamics that writer Steve Orlando is clearly having fun with.

As for this first issue, Avengers Assemble #1 is plotted somewhat shaggily, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. When Sin, daughter of the Red Skull, summons the power of a “Nazi god” in Germany to cause havoc, the nascent AVENG.E.R.S are called into action sooner than expected, forcing the late arrivals to congregate at the mansion while their allies are already in the field. (If you’re familiar with RuPaul’s Drag Race, this means the issue has the exact same setup as the season fifteen premiere, which I doubt was intentional but enjoyed all the same.) Something that gets lost in sweeping, multi-issue arcs that dominate comics nowadays (such as the currently ongoing flagship Avengers series) are the little moments like the ones seen here, such as the late arrivals playing poker and gently teasing one another. If the series at large has the loose, hangout vibe of this issue, then I think it could make for some fun stories.

As alluded to, writer Orlando seems like he’s enjoying himself on this series, an energy that transfers to the reader. I read a lot of Bronze Age Avengers when I was first getting into comics, and this title (thus far) gives me that vibe. Cory Smith, Oren Junior & Elisabetta D’Amico’s art here isn’t totally to my personal taste and comes across a little workmanesque, but it serves the script fine and they’re definitely given a lot of fun material to work with. I do wonder if there’s a plan to have revolving artists on this title, which would reflect the anthology-esque plotting it seems we’re being given, but a solid creative team who can deliver the material on time would also be great. In any event, Avengers Assemble #1 is a fun start to what should be an enjoyable, easygoing superhero comic.