Young Avengers 15
Gillen (w) and McKelvie, Cloonan, Doyle, and Quinones (a) and Bellaire, Wicks, and Wilson (c)
The final issue of YOUNG AVENGERS, again, brings a multi-part story in the same general structure as YOUNG AVENGERS 14. This one starts with Noh-Varr lamenting his place in this world in a nice little look at his DJ abilities (and Broo's, in a slightly different way) drawn by Becky Cloonan with Jordie Bellaire colors. Story two shows David following Loki outside of the party to learn that Loki had paid for all of this and that he's leaving before they have a chance to forgive him, as they would because they're nice people. He makes a possibly-joking pass at David and sets out on his new journey, playing the role he's built for himself even if he doesn't really want to any more, in pages drawn by Ming Doyle with Maris Wicks colors. The story (and Maris Wicks) easily then moves into Joe Quinones-drawn David being joined by the Patri-not out on the lawn and trying to figure out who he is. Though the Patri-not doesn't give many answers, David reasons that he's someone from the future created by whatever it is Billy does down the road sent back to ensure that whatever it is that needs to happen to create that future happens. Furthermore, David speculates that he's one of the Young Avengers, who sacrificed him or herself to make sure the world was okay. David also believes that it's him. He doesn't totally care about any of this, though, he just wants to know where Tommy is. In a bit of a strange turn, he kisses the Patri-not who disappears and is replaced by Tommy, who isn't as into the kissing bit and, sensing a party, rushes off to join it. All the storylines from the past two issues converge as the team leaves the party in the new year and decides to go to breakfast.
Another very sweet issue and one that so nicely wraps this incredible series up. A series that was built on mystery and interdimensional drama and feelings ends in much the same sort of portmanteau. This series really couldn't have ended any other way, which is so odd in this day and age. The team didn't fight a big bad or stop any world-ending evils (today), they just went to a party and celebrated a big year. There's no better way for this book to end. I don't have a lot more to say on the subject because I think the book speaks for itself and my previously-formed opinions all hold true. Go read this book. I think it changes the game for comics. Also make sure to check out this last issue and read the various blurbs from everyone who had a hand on the book. Very sweet and nice to see everyone so genuinely care about the book. Really sad to see this one go but an extremely fitting ending for
one of the best series of 2013.
Avengers World 1
Hickman and Spencer (w) and Caselli (a) and F. Martin (c)
It's a new day for the Avengers as they've made themselves more accessible to SHIELD. They still don't, per se, answer to SHIELD or, you know, necessarily like SHIELD, but an Avengers team this big allows them to kind of splinter and go after not-quite-Avengers-level threats but also fairly big threats. So AVENGERS WORLD is like having three or four tie-in Avengers titles all in one. This issue finds Captain America and Bruce Banner meeting with Maria Hill on the helicarrier and monitoring the smaller teams on the ground, including Hyperion, Thor, and Captain Marvel investigating suspicious happenings in Canada, Black Widow, Wolverine, Falcon, and Shang Chi trying to find the root of an uprising and riots in Madripoor, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Starbrand, and Nightmask searching for answers after the residents of an Italian town straight-up disappear, and Smasher, Cannonball, and Sunspot looking to find out why AIM Island is physically growing. Are all of these events linked? Can the Avengers stop them all?
I'm very onboard with the idea of this series and this first issue is living up to the expectations. There's a lot to like here as we learn the foundation of this book (through the nice little dialogue between Banner and Cap), see our players (it's a big Avengers team but it's extremely manageable in these small pieces), and get a feel for the way this book will go. My biggest complaint about AVENGERS, as it stands, is that we don't really get enough of a look at the personalities of our core team because there are simply too many of them and too big of a plot to deal with to get up close and personal with any specific characters. This book may change that and I have to think that any people who are lamenting the current AVENGERS title (I don't know any, but I could see people being mad about the main book's scale) would find themselves enjoying this book a bit more. Good characters, good writing, good art, fun first issue.
Avengers AI 8
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)
Dimitrios' quest to destroy the human race continues from the Diamond as he explains to Alexis that he's doing it to try to find the creator of humanity. Elsewhere, Victor and his new friend Gibson flee from those hunting them in the Diamond. Back in the real world, Cap meets with Pym to try to figure out the length of Dimitrios' reach and to ask Pym if he really has this under control, given his recent erratic behavior. It also seems as if Cap was coming in to take the reins on the AI business (which is leading to official laws that would make artificial intelligence property) when Cannonball phones up to say that riots are breaking out all over the world. Vision, Pym, and Doombot trace the source of the riots to a smartphone app that seemingly everyone has that finds the cheapest available gas, particularly useful since Dimitrios destroyed an oil refinery and caused gas prices to skyrocket. The app has been controlling people in very low doses but now that everyone has it, it's leading to widespread riots and the AI Avengers link the app's servers to the Diamond's server map that Vision won from Dimitrios in their last encounter. The only way to stop this is to go inside the Diamond.
Things are starting to heat up a bit for AVENGERS AI and it's coming at the right time. The book has certainly spent a lot of time treading somewhat familiar ground (artificial intelligence taking over Earth, is artificial intelligence sentient and does it therefore deserve its own rights, robot-hunting, etc) but this new wrinkle is pretty interesting as we get a little more modernized with Dimitrios' engineered attack on the oil refinery leading to people's reliance on a smartphone app that he's able to use to manipulate their fear and panic and cause riots. By itself it's a pretty interesting idea and it's helped by Alexis plot line, which has its own appeal already. Pretty good stuff working together and the art is really working for the tone of the book. I will say that the book occasionally drags and gets a little hung up on all of the explaining that it has to do but it's balanced nicely by the artwork and an inherent desire to make these characters human (even the AI). Sometimes that adds a little much to the wordiness of the book but I think it's necessary in keeping the book from getting dry. Should be fun going forward.
No comments:
Post a Comment