Scan barcode
captwinghead's review
3.0
*Sighs*
"You could've been great, you know?"
I hate tie-in books. In the time I've been reading Marvel comics, I can count on one hand the number of tie in books I actually liked. Not sure if Civil War: Frontline counts but Iron Man's Civil War tie ins and Cap's were pretty good. I enjoyed Ms. Marvel's Secret Invasion tie ins and the Power Man and Iron Fist CWII tie ins were pretty great. Aside from those, tie in books are a huge disappointment for me. And an even bigger bummer because Marvel likes to do events every two weeks it seems.
EDIT: Having read Infinity now... this still isn't great. All it did was give me more context for the stupid event ruining this book.
Hickman is doing something really interesting with Namor and T'Challa. I am not entirely sure why Atlantis attacked Wakanda before the start of this series but it's causing some conflict. T'Challa has to meet with Namor to discuss how to stop the incursions and for some reason that means meeting in Necropolis. Which leads to some situations that inadvertently (or intentionally?) give the impression that T'Challa's sort of having an affair with Wakanda's Most Wanted. T'Challa would like nothing more than to kill Namor but the rule of the Illuminati prevents this and he also knows he needs Namor.
So here we have this intriguing conflict within T'Challa as he has to reconcile the needs and protection of his people with his alliance with Namor. It's wonderful! I love the way Hickman writes Namor's dialogue; he's so smug but clearly vengeful because he ends up losing something great during this conflict.
So, this is a wonderfully complex plot and Infinity is running straight through it because Marvel. It's a bummer.
So, the arc with Namor and T'Challa is 5 stars. The arc with Thanos is 1 star. Together, it evens out to 3 stars.
"You could've been great, you know?"
I hate tie-in books. In the time I've been reading Marvel comics, I can count on one hand the number of tie in books I actually liked. Not sure if Civil War: Frontline counts but Iron Man's Civil War tie ins and Cap's were pretty good. I enjoyed Ms. Marvel's Secret Invasion tie ins and the Power Man and Iron Fist CWII tie ins were pretty great. Aside from those, tie in books are a huge disappointment for me. And an even bigger bummer because Marvel likes to do events every two weeks it seems.
EDIT: Having read Infinity now... this still isn't great. All it did was give me more context for the stupid event ruining this book.
Hickman is doing something really interesting with Namor and T'Challa. I am not entirely sure why Atlantis attacked Wakanda before the start of this series but it's causing some conflict. T'Challa has to meet with Namor to discuss how to stop the incursions and for some reason that means meeting in Necropolis. Which leads to some situations that inadvertently (or intentionally?) give the impression that T'Challa's sort of having an affair with Wakanda's Most Wanted. T'Challa would like nothing more than to kill Namor but the rule of the Illuminati prevents this and he also knows he needs Namor.
So here we have this intriguing conflict within T'Challa as he has to reconcile the needs and protection of his people with his alliance with Namor. It's wonderful! I love the way Hickman writes Namor's dialogue; he's so smug but clearly vengeful because he ends up losing something great during this conflict.
So, this is a wonderfully complex plot and Infinity is running straight through it because Marvel. It's a bummer.
So, the arc with Namor and T'Challa is 5 stars. The arc with Thanos is 1 star. Together, it evens out to 3 stars.
skolastic's review against another edition
4.0
I think you can take basically everything I said about Avengers v 4 and apply it here as well - Hickman did a good job with Infinity, and the Illuminati scrambling for control as Thanos wreaks havoc is great stuff. Again, I was skeptical of Infinity, but it seems logical for what's to come looking back now.
booknooknoggin's review against another edition
3.0
Wasn't as good as part 1. Seemed as though an explanation for what was going on was missing.
miguel's review against another edition
3.0
New Avengers has a terrible premise and a misleading title. The boring hand-behind-the-throne machinations of the Illuminati are altogether uninspired and unengaging. If not for containing crucial story elements (for understanding the Infinity event) and an uncharacteristically brisk pacing by New Avengers standards (as a consequence of the Infinity event), I would recommend steering clear of this volume at all costs. Worse, still, is that in relation to the otherwise well-attuned Infinity, New Avengers feels pretentious and disingenuous in its aspiration to engage with complex truths. Rather than providing insights into the nature of superheroic morality, it bungles the opportunity with ham-fisted cliches and needlessly complicated nonsense.
Beyond the fundamental problem of the premise, New Avengers is an opportunity to showcase everything Hickman's run of the Avengers isn't. These characters are poorly developed, and not for lack of trying. The crucial issue here is that the "willing to get one's hands dirty" mantra of the Illuminati is fundamentally at odds with the sort of universe that Marvel is. Because of the grandness of the fiction and the immensity of the powers wielded by the given characters, moral compromises lose their value when they can be corrected with ease. Compounding the lack of weight of the moral dilemmas present in the book, the characters themselves don't behave in a way that is consistent with the mandate of their organization. Reed glibly comments on his willingness to, if all good solutions fail, destroy various other worlds in the multiverse to save his own. However, little is done to characterize the mental toll this takes on Reed — if there is one at all. The rest of the cast behaves similarly, with Tony Stark's personality being the most incongruous and Dr. Strange's being the most bland. It's almost as if these characters know whatever great weight they take upon their shoulder in the form of unethical behavior, the consequences will be undone at the whim of a future writer.
New Avengers tries to showcase the ugly, uncompromising, and immoral truths of superhero-dom and the Marvel universe, but instead feels contrived and inconsequential.
Beyond the fundamental problem of the premise, New Avengers is an opportunity to showcase everything Hickman's run of the Avengers isn't. These characters are poorly developed, and not for lack of trying. The crucial issue here is that the "willing to get one's hands dirty" mantra of the Illuminati is fundamentally at odds with the sort of universe that Marvel is. Because of the grandness of the fiction and the immensity of the powers wielded by the given characters, moral compromises lose their value when they can be corrected with ease. Compounding the lack of weight of the moral dilemmas present in the book, the characters themselves don't behave in a way that is consistent with the mandate of their organization. Reed glibly comments on his willingness to, if all good solutions fail, destroy various other worlds in the multiverse to save his own. However, little is done to characterize the mental toll this takes on Reed — if there is one at all. The rest of the cast behaves similarly, with Tony Stark's personality being the most incongruous and Dr. Strange's being the most bland. It's almost as if these characters know whatever great weight they take upon their shoulder in the form of unethical behavior, the consequences will be undone at the whim of a future writer.
New Avengers tries to showcase the ugly, uncompromising, and immoral truths of superhero-dom and the Marvel universe, but instead feels contrived and inconsequential.
More...