This is the kind of first issue I like.  We start in the middle of a crucial mission, and then get some quick snippet flashbacks of how this team was formed.  And what an awesome team it is.

The color pallete is a bit too dark, especially given that The Heroic Age banner is supposed to signify a lighter Marvel Universe.  I get that this is a shadow team, but the metaphor is as heavy as the ink in this issue.  It’s colored like the early Dark Reign books.  The pencils themselves are decent.  But I’m going to turn in the All Hail Deodato card I picked up a couple of weeks ago, and say his work is servicable here, but inconsistent.  There are some really unintentionally creepy facial expressions here.

Lighten up the colors and tighten up the pencils a bit, though, and this could have been a five star book.