Avengers #1 Advanced Review – Marvel NOW!

Writer:  Jonathan Hickman
Artist:  Jerome Opena

The Avengers are expanding!  Marvel has decided to take a page out of the Justice League Unlimited animated handbook and increase their roster.  Now, a specific team will be assembled according to the type of threat they face.  It has already been revealed that the roster will grow to 18 heroes, including old and new additions to the Avengers.  The opening arc sees the roster from the smash hit The Avengers movie face an entirely new enemy called The Garden.  When Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are not enough, a new battle cry rings out to the farthest edges of the globe….”Assemble At Dawn”.

What I Liked

I like the idea of expansion amongst their ranks and selecting a team based on the mission at hand.  This makes sense because you would want the best team possible when facing an enemy.  Thor or Iron Man may not always be needed on every mission.  Plus they could be busy with their own adventures.  It allows for new characters to be showcased to an audience who may not have become familiar with them otherwise.

This issue does a good job taking the reader back down memory lane with a few flashbacks, which is helpful to new readers.  Jerome Opena is one of my favorite artists now, after his stellar work on Uncanny X-Force.  Opena illustrated great heroic images of Bruce Banner, Thor, Hawkeye and Black Widow.  Everything about Jonathan Hickman’s writing conveyed the epic feeling you get while reading this book.  Big ideas, big action, and big characters.

What I Didn’t Like

As grand as Hickman’s writing was, it originally sounded corny to me upon my first reading.  Seeing as how the villains are first introduced here, the only one that felt fleshed out was their leader Ex Nihilo.  He wants to destroy our world and build a new one in his image.  Not an entirely new concept, but we need a reason as to why this is his goal.

There is a point in the story where The Garden sends Captain America plummeting back to Earth in a Quinjet (the fight took place on Mars) and right before impact, Cap jumps out the jet.  Now I know Captain America is a super solider, but I don’t see him surviving after slamming into the ground at what had to be over 100+ mph.  At the end of the book, we get a glimpse of some of the new additions to the roster.  Unfortunately, I did not recognize all of them.  I blame some of that on Opena’s art and the other on not being familiar with every character in the Marvel universe.

Also, this issue does not include a recap page listing the entire creative team.  It would have been nice to know who all helped Hickman and Opena get this book out on time.

After leaving his long run on Fantastic Four, I am anxious to see what Hickman has in store for The Avengers.  With a set of rotating artists, the plan is for Avengers to be released twice a month.  Hopefully Marvel can stay on this schedule.

This review is written in partnership with Pop Culture Network.  They can be found at their website http://www.popculturenetwork.com/

#ComicBookChronicles @CBChron founder. Editor-in-Chief of @thekliqnation. Comic book reviewer, podcaster #RABBLERABBLE