Avengers #23 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Leinil Francis Yu (Artist), Sunny Gho, Paul Mounts (Colorists)

The Story: The Galactic Council gives one last push for the Avengers to reach Earth and save it as the titular team needs to save the day.

The Review: It’s always a bit disheartening to see something done wonderfully in one aspect, yet somewhat fails in another one. Enjoying anything is to accept its strengths and weaknesses, letting both get together for a cohesive experience. However, when there are two extremes, it leaves for a somewhat confusing experience, neither knowing it was superb, weak or simply acceptable.

This is pretty much what happens in this issue of Avengers, as it pretty much close to the bigger cosmic parts of the storyline attached to Infinity, doing it in a way that does feel satisfactory.

Giving one final focus on those cosmic characters for this event, Hickman present how these characters have evolved during this storyline, with one last hurrah given to them. With a few choice lines said by them and a particularly memorable action scene near the very end of the issue, Hickman does more with those beloved characters than most did with them in the last two years. Those that really liked the Giffen and DnA era of cosmic Marvel will be pleased to see Gladiator, Ronan and Kl’rt being so preeminent and awesome here.

Avengers #21 – Review

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

The Story: The resistance against the builders gains a lot of momentum as the Ex Nihilii tries to create a miracle.

The Review: Infinity is cosmic done right. As Jonathan Hickman advances with his larger story in the main title, the books tied to it also deals with the main themes without letting it own go away, creating a symbiosis of sort in terms of storytelling. The threats are huge, the players numerous and the events occurring in the pages are simply gigantic in scope.

Readers who were fans of Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Keith Giffen cosmic corner shall find much to love here, as many a great things are referenced directly from their contribution to the larger Marvel cosmology. The Annihilation wave, Annihilus, Gladiator, Kl’rt the Super Skrull, Ronan, the Imperial Guard and Ikon the space knight all appears in some manner in this tale, adding to the large tapestry weaved by Hickman. Not all of them receive meaningful moments like Ronan or Gladiator, though, with most of them being set in the background or participating in the action silently. Still, fans of the older cosmic stories will probably feel like Christmas came early this year with how those elements are handled.

Another element that is handled in a very competent manner is the tone, which makes the actions and the setting even bigger than it seems. Most of the tone is set in the narration and the dialogue itself, which may comes a bit cold in some places, yet for the most part it really set the mood of war and the tides turning for the heroes. It’s a space opera, a war comic, a super hero comics and a cosmic one, which makes this issue works really well when it deals with its stakes and with grandeur.

Avengers #20 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan (Artists), David Curiel (Colorist)

The Story: Captain America may have found a new strategy in order to deal with the Builders as Ex Nihilo goes on to see just what is going on with his people.

The Review: From what we’ve seen so far, Hickman seems to have rejuvenated this title with Infinity, his big event that ironically enough was build up from pieces introduced in this very title. With a much more focused plot and very clear stakes at play, the strengths came to the forefront that much easier, but with the story moving forward with almost every week of the month, does the book continue to be relevant to the event while keeping its own plotline and a modicum of quality?

So far, so good from what can be seen, as many of the plotlines and characters introduced in this title continue. Many of the threads are played with here quite aptly, with some of them moving the story forward in ways that really do bring surprising twists. One of them would be the scenes featuring Ex Nihilo, a character created by Hickman especially for this series, who deals with the Builders. For quite a long time, the motivations of the Builders to destroy and kill around the whole cosmos was pretty vague, much to the event discredit. In this issue, though, we do get an evolution and some explanations as to the problems that plagues creators that are turning into destroyers and killers. It is a fascinating development that makes this conflict a bit more interesting and that promises to make it even more so in the upcoming issues.

What’s also handled with care and gravitas would be the Galactic Council and how they are trying to pursue this whole conflict. The decisions, the in-fighting and how Captain America is portrayed makes for a rather suspenseful read that put the readers right into an impossibly large conflict. There are twists and a good use of those featured in the main event book without letting it lessen the impact of this book. It’s a neat use of the event, which is central to the book, without destroying the importance and the ongoing subplots of the book. It maintains its identity while it adds up to the whole experience.

Infinity #3 – Review

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

The Story: After the attack of the Builders, Captain America decides he’s had enough. All the while, Black Bolt gives a definitive answer to Thanos about the tribute question.

The Review: Things gets dire before they get better. This is something that writers knows very well to do, as tension and drama adds much more to a story instead of an even-level or smaller happenstances. Considering the cyclical nature of most stories in our general culture and how superheroes comics really do stick out in terms of cycle, it rings even more true when it comes to events.

In the tie-ins and the main book, the war against the Builders and the arrival of Thanos on Earth had not exactly been without any struggle for our heroes, which built up the importance and the level of the conflicts rather sharply, which is good when it comes to event comics. However, something that many writers try to accomplish, with varying results, would be something I’d like to call the ”Oh snap!” moments. Those scenes are usually the result of build up, resulting in the payoff being immensely surprising or satisfying to the readers. While those moments are subjective to the readers, there are perhaps two of such moments that could very well be established as such in this issue alone.

However, to arrive at those moments of pure super heroic pleasure, Jonathan Hickman makes good use of the two fronts he has established with both of his titles. This time, the issue is divided exactly in two, with one portion completely devoted to the Builders cosmic war and the second half delegated to the Earth, with special devotion to the Inhuman side of the conflict. The pacing for both of those scenes is especially well done, as the comic has a forward momentum that never allows it to spin its wheel incessantly. There is a good balance between exposition, narration, development and action that do bring out the grandeur of this tale that unfolded in the pages of both Avengers and New Avengers.

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.

Avengers #18 – Review

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

The Story: Many of the empire and civilization of the entire Marvel universe gathers together, Avengers included, to prepare the battle against the builders.

The Review: Infinity is finally here, with the build up to it being behind us as 17 issues of Avengers were needed in order to prepare for its arrival. Now that the event has started, though, does it mean that the book has gotten the shot in the arm that it needed most of the time?

The answer, thankfully, is a resounding yes as this issue brings many interesting concepts and do something that the series hasn’t done for quite a while: go big in a very explicit way. While the earlier concepts of that title always hinted at big things, those were mostly teasing or hint at what was to come. Now that the very event has arrived, the comic benefit as it brings us many new elements into play while using some of the older one.
The first one and best, in my own humble opinion, would be the very cosmic tone of the story as the scope of the story gets incredibly bigger. It’s no secret that I have a particular fondness for stories set in space, yet this one really bring a lot of the best of what these stories are about, as Hickman use the galactic council created by Bendis to great effects, showing a cohesion of the major empires to vanquish a greater threat. Many of the cosmic favourites are present, as the Shi’ar, Brood, Kree are present as well as characters like Ronan, Gladiator and Annihilus.

Another race that Hickman plays really well with are the Skrull, who gets a welcome reintegration to the larger Marvel universe as the writer use both what happened in Annihilation and Secret Invasion to build up from there, showing us a race that is on the brink or death, yet fight will all of its might to survive and stay relevant. The scene featuring Kl’rt, another fan-favourite, and the other warlord as they try to fight the builders shows a human side to these aliens as well as some nobility that really heighten the whole race. I sure do hope that Hickman will continue writing them during the tie-ins, as the rejuvenation of these aliens and the cosmic aspect makes for some interesting comics.