Originally Posted by
Will
This is the problem with not being able to buy your books on a wednesday, everybody's already done discussing!!!
But serious, how do you go about assessing Hickman's Avengers? I was going to say I'm in two minds about it but I think my opinion is much more multifaceted then that. Ultimately, it was above average, but I do think there were a lot of rushed ideas and brushed over opportunities to make this book what it should have been. I know some people are complaining about length, but really I think this should have been given probably another 6 months to a year to let the third act breath, or at least make a lot of the subplots feel like subplots and not just background tablaeus to May's big event.
My opinion about the run as a whole:
Year 1 (Mars to the end of Infinity) - Fantastic Building Blocks to a Whole New Universal take on the Team
These issues, not only did they feel different to any superhero comic on the stands, they felt like they had character to them, a life of their own. The way that dialogue was paced, Hickman's trademark white title pages, the unique character graph, the overarching cosmic setting. It felt like I was reading a Marvel book, but instead something crafted from Hickman's Image catalogue. Each issue was paced episodically, you could understand the rhythm of the book and you felt there was a specific narrative theme throughout each issue, almost like little pieces were fitting together to make one meta arc. Yes, the Builder War was a little bit of a non-threat, but the status quo that it looked like was going to be shaped -- Universal Avengers and a Multiversal Illuminati -- really got me excited. Much to my dismay however, after the builder threat the book departed from its cosmic side and, strangely in my opinion, focused solely on Earth till its conclusion.
Year 2 (Rogue Planet - Original Sin) - Slowly Losing the Books Identity but still Strong
The evil avengers arc was extremely bland. Nothing more really needs to be said. I would have rather had those issues focusing on the newer recruits, or fleshing out the Rogue Planet one shot which felt so rushed. Conversely, I thought the Original Sin arc was fantastic. Yu is a perfect fit for Hickman, and I loved the non-linear story telling mechanic. Did we ever get an answer to "When you see Tony in his cell tell him ... "? Also another plot thread that never got resolved was Ultron Cap, and him winning the war through time with the bomb eye destroying AI Black Widow. All in all a mixed year, though it ended really strong despite not living up to the Universal Avengers hopes of the first year. The craft of the issues did lose its Hickman-esque voice during the Evil Avengers arc but the stoic methodical authoritarian Hickman personality came back during Original Sin so I was still optimistic.
Year Three (Time Runs Out - End) - Rushed, Disjointed and Left Me Really Wanting More
Very much the weakest year. The first issue of time runs out was fantastic. The following issues started to slowly lose Hickman's identity on the title and just begin to sound like standard superhero fare. Whereas with the earlier issues, I can remember the beginning, middle and end of probably each issue by looking at the covers, these issues lack the episodic nature we had at the start of the books and just feel muddled. Also, probably the fact that I am really not a fan of Deodato effected my enjoyment of the latter part of the series. Deodato is fine for dialogue driven issues but he can't draw a fight to save his life in my opinion. The fight between the Avengers, Illuminati and Sunspot Avengers was static and artificial and the death of Starbrand was drawn with literally no tension whatsoever to the point where it made me feel annoyed more than anything. Finally, everything felt very rushed, I mean what's up with Cannonball's child, what is Shang Chi gonna do, what about Validator? These are all things I was hoping we'd address before the big Secret Wars finale. We shouldn't need more ground work during the event itself. Finally, the Galactic Council's attack could have been a fantastic way to finish the book off, give it a nice bookend with Infinity, but that too seemed rushed and a little fillerish.
That being said, I really enjoyed he final issue. I just wish there was a little bit more. We spent so much time at the start world building and moving at a slow (however enjoyable speed) that it felt really jarring that everything moved at such a blistering pace at the end. I really wish that Avengers and New Avengers would have run with Secret Wars because 8 issues isn't really enough to wrap this series up. I know Secret Wars is going to be great but there will obviously be a lot left to be desired, and, looking at Waid's direction post-Hickman, we're probably never going to get closure for a lot of this team.
My assessment: Hickman's Avengers started with a bang but ended with a me ultimately wanting more. 7/10