This
review is of the prose novel “New Avengers: Breakout” by Alisa Kwitney, not the
graphic novel.
The
book starts off as Natasha Romanova/Black Widow invades the S.H.I.E.L.D.
helicarrier, catching the attention of Agents Clint Barton/Hawkeye and Jessica
Drew/Spider-Woman. Upon her capture, Commander Maria Hill and current head of
S.H.I.E.L.D. tasks the agents to bring Natasha to the maximum maximum security
prison for super villains or other prisoners who can’t be contained in a
regular prison, the Raft, off of Ryker’s Island in New York City. Hill gives
Clint the nuclear option of hitting the kill on Natasha should she try any
resistance. Clint and Jessica meet with S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison Luke Cage, a man
with unbreakable skin and super strength, as Jessica’s powers are currently
inactive. As they attempt to bring Natasha to her cell, super villain Max
Dillon/Electro stages a breakout. Steve Rogers/Captain America, Tony Stark/Iron
Man, and Peter Parker/Spider-Man all head to the Raft in an attempt to contain
the prisoners. The heroes all fight together, but forty-two super villains and
Natasha are able to escape.
Commander
Hill demotes Clint and Jessica, Jessica secretly discovering her powers are not
as inactive as she had been made to be believed. Steve is reminded of the
assemblage of the original Avengers, the original team having disbanded
following Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch’s breakdown, and decides a new team is
needed. Commander Hill is not happy with this and does not recognize the New
Avengers’ status as a superhero team, but Steve defies her wishes.
The
New Avengers assess the damage caused by the Raft breakout and get a lead on
the true mastermind behind the breakout, the super villain Karl Lykos/Sauron,
now in the surprisingly tropical region in Antarctica the Savage Land,
populated by Mutates (artificial mutants) and dinosaurs and other prehistoric
creatures. The team heads to the Savage Land and meets opposition and a few
surprises S.H.I.E.L.D. has been attempting to keep secret.
As
far as the novel goes, I rate this as a 6/10. Having read the graphic novel, I
had slight disappointment with the adaptation. The rewrite of history of Clint
as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and having erased any story with Natasha was an
interesting choice, but still I felt it detracted from my enjoyment, having
been a fan of the graphic novel, which had no inclusion of Clint and Natasha,
and lacked the inclusion of Logan/Wolverine, who was a surprise but welcome
addition. During the breakout scene, I felt that some of the villains, such as
my favorite super villain Carnage, were perhaps defeated too easily. Some of
the story in the Savage Land, to me, felt a little drawn out. As far as
accessibility to casual readers of the comics or those who have never picked up
a comic in their entire life may have difficulties reading this novel. Several
of the super villains have never been presented in any other form of medium
such as film, and even before this graphic novel, I had no idea there was a
Spider-Woman, whose prominent storyline may seem perhaps hard to accept. Luke
Cage had his own Netflix series, but his storyline in the novel has no
correspondence to the series, so it may seem alien to inexperience readers.
Some of the humor was a little dull or lacking. The slightly unrequited love triangle
between Clint, Jessica, and Natasha didn’t detract from the story, but it
perhaps just didn’t add too much to it. If you are a fan of the graphic novel,
I really can’t exactly recommend it directly, but you may want to pick it up.
The changes with Clint and Natasha were interesting, but purists may find
offense to it. All-in-all, it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t stellar either. It
was a good effort, though, and I appreciated it enough, but I still feel that
the graphic novel was better, but again, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read
the novel, but it was relatively interesting, so I can recommend it to you if
you have knowledge of the comics, but if you don’t, this book might not be for
you.
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