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A review by crookedtreehouse
Avengers, Volume 1: Avengers World by Jonathan Hickman
3.0
The second part of Hickman's Avengers run ([b:New Avengers, Volume 1: Everything Dies|17251112|New Avengers, Volume 1 Everything Dies|Jonathan Hickman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1409500228l/17251112._SY75_.jpg|23840560] being the first) is a mess of continuity, and is a terrible place for a new reader of comics.
A race of aliens called The Builders who destroy planets, in order to rebuild them as stronger biopsheres, focuses on Earth and The Avengers go to Mars to stop them. But they can't do it. So Captain America goes back to Earth and recruits a ton of new Avengers, including some of The New Avengers (Wolverine and Spider-Man), a member of The Squadron Supreme from The Ultimate Universe (Hyperion), some tertiary Avengers, and some completely new characters. From there, it's tough to follow what's going on. Not impossible, but tough.
Hickman's flipping back and forth from flashback to current time works well enough when you're following characters you know, but when you're trying to learn the origin of a new character, and you're following their current space adventure, only to hop back to their first space adventure, and then back to their current, similar looking, space adventure. It's a tad much.
I trust Hickman, as his Fantastic Four/FF run was also complicated, but worth it in the end, but if you don't already enjoy HIckman's work, this volume isn't going to make you a fan of his.
I also didn't enjoy the way Opena's work was colored in the first three issues. It made for some odd facial grammar, and some uncanny valley issues. I enjoyed his aliens and landscapes, but his humans didn't look right to me, and his Hulk looks like the live action The Grinch hit the buffet too hard.
By contrast, I loved Deodata's art on the final three issues, and am glad his style will be the focus going forward.
I only recommend this to people who can invest time in reading the whole Avengers run. As a stand-alone volume, it's mythical gibberish featuring some of your favorite Avengers being overshadowed by people you've either probably never heard of or definitely never heard of. But if you're willing to read the whole run, I'm pretty sure it will all make sense. Eventually.
A race of aliens called The Builders who destroy planets, in order to rebuild them as stronger biopsheres, focuses on Earth and The Avengers go to Mars to stop them. But they can't do it. So Captain America goes back to Earth and recruits a ton of new Avengers, including some of The New Avengers (Wolverine and Spider-Man), a member of The Squadron Supreme from The Ultimate Universe (Hyperion), some tertiary Avengers, and some completely new characters. From there, it's tough to follow what's going on. Not impossible, but tough.
Hickman's flipping back and forth from flashback to current time works well enough when you're following characters you know, but when you're trying to learn the origin of a new character, and you're following their current space adventure, only to hop back to their first space adventure, and then back to their current, similar looking, space adventure. It's a tad much.
I trust Hickman, as his Fantastic Four/FF run was also complicated, but worth it in the end, but if you don't already enjoy HIckman's work, this volume isn't going to make you a fan of his.
I also didn't enjoy the way Opena's work was colored in the first three issues. It made for some odd facial grammar, and some uncanny valley issues. I enjoyed his aliens and landscapes, but his humans didn't look right to me, and his Hulk looks like the live action The Grinch hit the buffet too hard.
By contrast, I loved Deodata's art on the final three issues, and am glad his style will be the focus going forward.
I only recommend this to people who can invest time in reading the whole Avengers run. As a stand-alone volume, it's mythical gibberish featuring some of your favorite Avengers being overshadowed by people you've either probably never heard of or definitely never heard of. But if you're willing to read the whole run, I'm pretty sure it will all make sense. Eventually.