Avengers #19 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan (Artists), Sunny Gho (Colorist)

The Story: Captain Marvel is captured by the builders as the Avengers and the Galactic Council rest after their battle, tending to their wounded. All the while, a traitor is in their midst…

The Review: It’s an usual and unfortunate thing that event comics drag some other titles in their large plot. It doesn’t always mean it’s a bad thing, but plenty of titles have seen their momentum being a bit lost as several elements of a story that isn’t integral to their own plot and subplots gets shoved in the way. This can destroy the flow and sometime even mean that the readers shall suffer through some plug-ins of other characters and elements alien to their book, which makes it much less enjoyable for those that don’t want anything from those events to begin with.
There are also those that are integral to the story structure, those that actually add something to the whole event or use them in ways that feel organic to the whole narrative. Those are rare, to be sure, but much appreciated, like Journey Into Mystery for Matt Fraction’s Fear Itself or Guardians of the Galaxy for War of Kings. Instead of having to contend with these elements, those stories included them naturally, making them that much stronger for the duration of the event.

What Jonathan Hickman has done with Avengers is even more rare, as he has built up a whole lot of plot points and conflicts throughout his tenure on the title, resulting in an event comics, Infinity. The event, having its own book, is split up in two fronts which are covered by the same author with each of them being in one of the two books. This has caused the main Avengers book to receive a much-needed shot in the arm after what was basically seventeen issues of foreshadowing as Hickman shows full cosmic actions in this title.

Continuing where the last issues of Avengers and Infinity left off, the team is divided in two as those with Captain Marvel are in captivity while the rest are with the Galactic Council. While the comic switch from two perspectives, it juggles very well with both plots at it manage to connect the two together. The pacing is good as there are multiple events in this comic, with many great development brought to the forefront as well as some good character moments.

Infinity #2 – Review

Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Jerome Opeña, Dustin Weaver (Artists), Justin Ponsor (Colorist)

The Story: Things heat up as Corvus Glaive wants to claim a tribute from the Inhumans and the Avengers are off with the rest of the Universe against the Builders.

The Review: Cautious optimism is an attitude that many readers learn to have when dealing with a great many things. Sometimes, despite the fact that many elements are lining up together in a way that feels too good to be true, it is normal to have some kind of defensive mechanism against too much hype. This kind of position is one that is very connected to event comics, as those type of stories are usually much hyper, with key sentences like ”nothing will ever be the same again” or ”this will have key repercussions across the whole line and the future of the shared universe”. With so many events failing to actually live up to their potential, it seems normal to adapt our desires to being a bit disappointed, as many events begins on a strong note only to falter in its own conclusion as each chapters reveals flaws that just kill the hype for its readers.

By having this attitude, a reader can also receive something that is not the norm to see, yet is always utterly pleasant when it arrives: surprise. This issue of Infinity definitely fits that very description, as the strong, yet mysterious direction does serve the story and the themes quite well. As the two fronts are given some attention, both of them receive either a ton of action and emotions, while the other receive mystery and revelations that really do make for two distinct stories that never really clash against each other.

The first angle being covered is the one on Earth, as Thanos and his Black Order are invading and seeding chaos everywhere they can. Opening up with a scene featuring Abigail Brand and Sydren of S.W.O.R.D., the comic swiftly switches to the Inhumans, then finishes up with the Illuminati. The second angle, all the while, features the Avengers and the Shi’ar with favourites like Mento and Gladiator fighting against the Builders. If there’s one thing that Hickman is doing right in this event so far, it’s selling the point that this is a story encompassing the Marvel universe, with a special emphasis on the universe part.

Avengers #3 – Review

By: Jonathan Hickman (writing), Jerome Opena (art), Dean White, Frank Martin, and Richard Isanove (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story:  Cap brings his new recruits to bear on the Garden, fighting the good fight on Mars to save both his friends and his planet.

The Review:  Usually when you think of a book like Avengers or Justice League, or what have you, there’s a bit of an expectation for good old fashioned superhero comics in a very specific mold.  Hickman’s Avengers is anything but.  It’s chock full of ambition and there really isn’t anything else like it on the stands.

A key reason for this is Hickman’s emphasis on scale.  Hickman makes it clear that the sheer scale of the stories and conflicts in his Avengers book are greater than they are in perhaps any other Marvel title.   As such, you could say that with ridiculous powerhouses like Hyperion and Captain Universe on the team to go along with Hulk and Thor, all of them battling entities which are, in essence, gods of a sort, Hickman’s book has taken the old line about the Avengers’ being focused on “foes no single superhero can withstand” to heart.  Here, they are battling gods and as the scale of the threat goes up, so must the size and power-level of the team.  That’s the core concept of Hickman’s run and it shines here, so while Hickman’s run feels very different, you could say that it also is perhaps truer to the core concept of the Avengers.

Avengers #2 – Review

By: Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Jerome Opeña (Artist), Dean White with Justin Ponsor & Morry Hollowell (Colorist), Cory Petit (Letterer)

The Review: I feel like I’m going to be taking a deep breath before opening each issue of Avengers for the next few months – I’m hoping that it succeeds that much. I love the fact that we have Jonathan Hickman writing a head-of-franchise Avengers title, one where he’s holding nothing back, going for grand sci-fi concepts and a brave reworking of the team’s roster and purpose. The first issue promised all of this and more. It’s a shame then that the second gets a little bit bogged down in doing some early stage housekeeping; the great experiment continues, but for the moment we’re still setting up the Bunsen Burner and test tubes.