Title/Storyline
(Marvel Now) Avengers Vol 5 1-3
Publish Date/Year
2013
Creative Team
Jonathan Hickman
Jerome Opeña
Publisher
Marvel
Story
Jonathan Hickman is a master story-teller and I have had the pleasure of enjoying his work on the EXCELLENT run on Fantastic Four & Secret Warriors.
The Avengers (all 6 of the movie - Iron Man, Thor, Cap, Hulk, Hawkeye & Black Widow) intercepts an alien probe and traces it back to Mars. They go investigate but all of them were defeated in the very 1st encounter with the aliens - Ex Nihilo (Latin for "out of nothing"), his sister Abyss, and their "parent" a robotic being called Aleph.
This is their 1st appearance in the Marvel Universe and they are seemingly all-powerful and unstoppable. They are so powerful and confident that they send the defeated Cap back to Earth to announce of their coming to the rest of Earth's people.
Of course, predictably, Cap assembles a brand new team that includes never-before-seen in Avengers members such as Smasher, Hyperion, Captain Universe, Manifold (Eden Fesi of the Secret Warriors) and a few more familiar looking ones like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, Sunspot & Cannonball (from X-Men/New Mutants), Shang-Chi & Falcon (from Secret Avengers)
True to Hickman's style, he's introducing many story elements that are new to the Avengers franchise but yet they are sort of rooted in Marvel's rich historical tapestry. Eg: A brand new human Smasher (from X-Men's famed Shi'ar Imperial Guard), A brand new female Captain Universe we've not seen before, Hyperion (from the Parallel Universe' Squadron Supreme - yup, he's another one of Marvel's version of Superman, the other being Sentry) in the same Universe as Avengers, and other bits that we can't really tell until Hickman tells it. He just drops tiny morsels to taunt & tease readers. We just have to wait about 12-18 issues for the sub-plots to be fully revealed.
Issue 2 basically shows fans the entire recruitment process for all the new members.
Issue 3 has the new members kick the supposedly all-powerful alien butts but apparently the new members are even more powerful. It's a little too quickly resolved and a little anti-climatic. By the last page, it poses more questions than answers. Of course, this could all be part of Hickman's grand plans.
We'll just have to be patient, have faith and see.
Art
Jerome Opeña is a MASTER of his craft. I'm a little disappointed in myself for not having caught any of his earlier works before this. This guy's work is worth every penny spent buying his books.
So I will definitely go and look for his other works which include Uncanny X-Force & Vengeance of the Moon Knight.
Here are a couple of his beautiful pieces:
Conan
Fear Agent
Overall
I really enjoyed #1 simply because there were a few things going on that were deliberately kept vague and knowing Hickman, that only means that they would lead to bigger things. He's injecting new elements into not only the Avengers lore but also X-Men and the Marvel Universe.
However, it does seem like the Avengers is now the entire Marvel Universe because their members basically has everybody!
I personally was happy to see characters like Hyperion, Smasher and the reappearance of Captain Universe (an old character that first appeared in the early 80's).
Another reason why I'm happy is also because I'm an Avengers Alliance player and that means I can look forward to playing these characters at some point in the future =).
Captain Universe
Hyperion
Smasher
Manifold (Eden Fesi)
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