It’s an Avenger’s World, we just live in it.
What They Say:
On Mars, the Battle between The Avengers and the Garden comes to a dramatic conclusion.
“If you want LIFE and all the good things living entails, then you’ll have to earn it.” –Ex Nihilo
Creators:
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Jerome Opeña
Color Artists: Dean White & Frank Martin with Richard Isanove
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
The Review:
Mars: the Red Planet suddenly turns green as a biosphere miraculously blooms in a matter of seconds, creating a garden. Missiles are shot from this garden, hitting densely populated areas on Earth and transforming the people into inhuman creatures. The Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and the Hulk) travel to Mars to stop the invasion at its source and are completely outclassed by three individuals: Ex Nihilo, the Aleph, and Abyss. They are The Garden—representatives from the first sentient race birthed by the universe. The Aleph is a robot whose only goal is to judge worlds. If they are worthy then it terraforms it and its creatures into a new, supposedly perfect form. It was mother, father, and incubator for the two creatures Abyss and Ex Nihilo, who represent destruction and creation, respectively, and are charged with reforming these worthy worlds. The three easily route the Avengers. They capture all but Captain America, who they send back to Earth as a warning of things to come.
Thankfully, Cap has a plan. He and Iron Man crafted a contingency plan in case something like this happened—in case they needed to get bigger. He recruits Wolverine, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, Falcon, Shang-Chi (Master of Kung-Fu), Sunspot, Cannonball, Manifold, Smasher, Captain Universe, and Hyperion and takes them to Mars to rescue his fallen comrades and save Earth.
Jonathan Hickman is known as the writer with Big Ideas. His natural inclination seems to be to play with as broad a canvas as he possibly can. We’ve already seen this with his great run on Fantastic Four, and it looks like The Avengers is going to be even larger. Two of the members alone—Captain Universe and Hyperion—could give the Avengers a run for their money any day, and their presence necessitates a higher level threat.
Part of the fun of The Avengers has always been its rotating roster. It seems like everybody has their favorite incarnation of the group from the original team of Iron Man, Wasp, Antman, Hulk, and Thor, to the less-dignifiedly nicknamed “Cap’s Kooky Quartet” where Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and The Scarlet Witch were included. Whichever team you prefer (I tend to go with the movie team, but I’d add to it Falcon and Beast), the joy comes from seeing these very different people interact with each other and work together for a common goal. You’ve got your heavy hitters like Thor, your skilled fighters like Black Widow or Shang-Chi, and everyone in between. They don’t often get along—because that would be boring—but they put their egos on hold for the greater good. It’s a great lesson that we often need to relearn, and it makes for quality drama.
This issue is the first time this new team has worked together, so there is a lot of backstory that will unfold in later issues. Possibly the biggest surprise inclusion is Hyperion—a Superman-esque powerhouse that lead The Squadron Supreme: a fascist supergroup in a parallel Earth that was basically a Justice League parody that The Avengers fought on more than one occasion. How he’s here, why he’s here, and why he decided to work with The Avengers is a huge question mark.
There’s also the question of who the Garden is and where they came from. It could be that they are throwaway villains whose only purpose is to necessitate Cap’s calling in the reserves, but I doubt it given how the issue ends.
The mysteries are a good hook for keeping readers coming back, but they wouldn’t be enough to overcome a lackluster story. Thankfully, this issue fires on all cylinders. It’s basically just a fight episode, but it’s a fun one. Jerome Opeña’s art style is fluid and easy to follow. His fight scenes are dynamic and convey speed and strength very well, and his character models look very nice. I think so far he’s done the best drawing Captain America’s new costume (although John Romita Jr. comes close).
Opeña’s art is nicely complimented by White, Frank, and Isanove’s coloring. I don’t have a good background in color theory or visual art in general, so I’m sure I’m not giving them enough credit, but I really like the muted nature of the colors and how everything has a bit of a red tinge. The shadows are nice and deep and the light effects are powerful.
In Summary:
While this issue won’t be breaking any new ground or remaking the wheel, it’s a fun comic full of big ideas and big characters, and sometimes that’s all you need. Hickman is pulling a really cool and diverse group of characters from all over the Marvel U and it will be fun to see how they interact in future issues. Overall the writing is solid and the artwork great. The first issue of this story arc was called “Avenger’s World.” If that’s true, then it’s a good world to visit once a month. Recommended.
Grade: A
