Some thoughts about New Warriors #1

The heroes from the 90's are back in 2014!

Justice and Speedball are trying to recapture the original image of the New Warriors but unfortunately they still can't find a reason why their team should exist in a world rule by the Avengers. However, a new menace outside earth is coming to put in danger the life of one of the classic members of their group.

The New Warriors has been a concept that had several volumes in the past, each of them featuring different characters and objectives. This time, the series falls into the hands of author Christopher Yost, is he able to put his own spin into the franchise.

Well, yes and no. Yost manages to include staples of the New Warriors like Justice, Speedball, Nova (Not Richard Rider though) and Scarlet Spider while adding new additions like Sun Girl and Hummingbird and all of them receive a decent share of characterization.

The main problem here is the plot. For an issue that is supposed to give us a reason why this team is formed and present an interesting direction for the ongoing title is pretty barebones overall and an overly simplistic beginning for a team book, is as basic as you can get.

Other problems are present in the portrayal of some characters. Yost does a good job on Scarlet Spider (after all, he wrote a series featuring that character) but it seems like he dropped the ball on Speedball, it seems like neither Civil War nor his time as Penance helped him to learn about his mistakes.

I must say that the best aspect of this issue was the art. Marcus To delivers one of his best works in years, is expressive, vibrant and brilliant, it reminded me a lot of Stuart Immonen in the best ways.

This is a pretty elementary first issue and one that sadly doesn't give the readers enough reasons to remain interested.