By Jake Weatherill from Lewisham Branch
In the beginning there was nothing.
Then there was everything.
This is a story about the beginning and the end. About time and space. Survival and destruction.
Life and death.
This is Avengers by Jonathan Hickman.
Hello, tis I Jakuthulion (I am considering rebranding for my 30's).
Long-time no see. Or maybe not, who knows when time has become increasingly meaningless after the last year and a bit.
Anyway, by my own standards that was quite a dramatic introduction. However I feel that if anything warranted a little bit of the old flair then quite frankly this is it.
I suppose to start off with you can call this the antithesis of 30B430. If that was about exploring new books, and setting myself a challenge then this is about exploring something I love in depth. Hell, if you're a regular reader you've probably heard me mention Hickman once or twice. You will almost certainly have seen me talk about The Avengers before. You might even have heard my barely veiled hints that I might even do a series on this specific run of Avengers. Well the time is now.
So let's get a rocking and a rolling.
Before we get into the minutiae of the series and story first we must have a little background. Prior to writing Avengers for Marvel, Hickman had been carving out quite an impressive bibliography, having worked on a SHIELD miniseries, a big new title launch in Secret Warriors with the then Avengers macdaddy Brian Michael Bendis.
Hickman was so highly regarded that after writing a Fantastic Four Miniseries he was offered the main title to play with. Just to show he wasn't scared of big storytelling he killed off the Human Torch in his very first story arc.
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| Entry for the Journal of Graphic Comics from Access to Research |
Anyway time passes, things change. In 2012 Marvel were wrapping up their biggest crossover event in a generation in the form of AVX (Avengers Vs X-Men). After this Bendis headed off from Avengers to take over the X-Men titles. Hickman was given the big chair and headed up Avengers. This would see him overseeing the main Avengers series, and the New Avengers Title. This is important because through these two sides of the same story.
When I talk of Hickman's Avengers I am talking of not one title but both.
Luckily for me (and us) Marvel have published its entire run in one (relatively) easy to follow omnibus which will be serving as my source material.
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| Jake's copy of Avengers |
It starts with an idea. A feeling. A sense of impending doom just laying out of sight. It starts with two men. Tony Stark AKA Iron Man, and Captain America AKA Steve Rogers. Both feel that uncomfortable feeling in their gut. The hairs standing up on the back of their neck. There’s something coming, and they need to be ready. When bioweapons are fired at Earth from Mars it’s up to the current team of Black Widow, Thor, Hawkeye, Hulk, Cap and Iron Man to deal with this. However the Avengers are hopelessly out gunned, out manoeuvred and thoroughly beaten.
A bruised and bloodied Cap is sent back to Earth to act as a warning. Times up humanity.
Mr Rogers is no quitter. The plan he and Tony crafted was elegantly simple. ‘We have to get bigger.’ And get bigger they do. New faces like Hyperion, Cannonball, Smasher and Captain Universe join Earth Mightiest Heroes for the first time. Old hands who have served previously such as Spider-Man, Spiderwoman, Falcon, Wolverine and Captain Marvel to help create a support structure within the team.
Just to put this in context we’re only two issues/chapters in by this point and Hickman has not only presented us with a threat unlike anything we have really seen before, but he is reconstructing the entire machinery of the Avengers. Familiar faces peppered with this mixture of absolute curveballs as well as complete unknowns. Hickman builds an AVENGERS MACHINE. Yet the size of the team doesn't feel bloated with so many members. It feels like Hickman is, well, building something. Every team member is a part with a role to play, even if that isn't immediately clear. If Avengers is BIG, the book of life, light and hope in this dual narrative the New Avengers is the book of death, darkness and despair.
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| Jake's copy of Avengers |
Here Hickman creates the opposite side of his epic. While technically an Avengers title, New Avengers focuses on the Illuminati. Not the Bavarian Secret society, and not the group that terrorises the Vatican in Dan Brown' Angels and Demons. This is a super powered cabal consisting of Iron Man, Mr Fantastic, Captain America, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, Beast, and Namor. In secret they influence the world of superhumans and mortals alike.
Summoned by T'Challa, The Black Panther, they are made aware of a grave threat. The multiverse is dying.
All universes are dying at an accelerated rate, triggered by events called Incursions. An Incursion is when two different earth's appear to each other at the same time. Once this happens the clock starts to tick. 8 hours. The options are simple. If the two Earth's touch then both planets and universes are gone. Poof. However should one of the Earth’s be destroyed then both universes cam be saved. With a captive world destroyer called Black Swan the Illuminati face the ultimate choice, can they kill world's to save universes? Or will everything die because they lack the will to do what is necessary?
One thing that’s clear from both titles is that Hickman does not lack ambition, and that this is going to be story as much about duality as it is superheroes. Both titles will tell an interlinked story, but we are essentially getting to see both sides of this playing out from different perspectives. From the gleaming halls of Stark Tower to the catacombs of the Necropolis you sense very, very early on Hickman is clearly planning something big, and has been picked by Marvel to head their premier superhero team because of the faith they place in him. Avengers early on lays down a sense of epicness, while New Avengers feels clandestine. Light and dark. Life and death. Everything and nothing. This continuing contrast between them is only made more distinct when you realise just how intricately this was all planned, but I am getting ahead of myself. One things is very clear by the end of volume one however. It’s an Avengers World, and we’re all just living in it.
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