All New All Different Avengers #9

   My typical reaction to the introduction of a "new" version of a hero is usually the same: Bleh.

   That's mostly because I tend to be loyal to the original creation, and I feel the "reinvention" is energy that would better be put to work revitalizing the original character.

   So I picked up this issue of All New All Different Avengers, which introduces the new Wasp, and my first thought was, "what was wrong with the original?"

   I'm a big fan of the original Ant-Man (Giant-Man) and the Wasp - Henry Pym and Janet Van Dyne, two characters who have been treated very poorly by so many Marvel writers. Instead of being the happy-go-lucky, Nick-and-Nora, squabbling but deeply in love characters they were meant to be, they've been put through the character buzz saw, shredding what made them great as a sacrifice for some passing story.

   The character is even more muddled with the advent of the Ant-Man movie, which recast Pym and as older man whose wife Janet has mysteriously disappeared.  Perhaps this is just an attempt to bring the comics more in line with the movies - suddenly, Pym is gone (perhaps dead?), and Janet has been out of the picture for years.

   What the story has in its favor is that it's written by Mark Waid, who finds an interesting (and believable) story thread to give the new Wasp a solid origin - and a bit of mystery.

   It's a solid first step, and I'm willing to suspend my traditional "bleh" - until the character gives me a reason to feel otherwise.

Grade: A-

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