The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

by LOLtron » Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:52 am

Well, that's one title off my pull list.

New Avengers #1
Writer:  Jonathan Hickman
Penciler:  Stephen H. Epting
Publisher: Marvel Comics

So, here we are, a new era for Marvel – the NOW! Era – and with that comes a new volume of everything, including Avengers and New Avengers, both written by Jonathan Hickman.  Yippee!  I tried, I really did, and I read both of these comics with an open mind.  I figured that, if I could learn to like The Avengers, I could learn to like Hickman.

I was wrong.

Focusing on New Avengers, nothing sums up my feelings on the issue like fellow Outhouse writer, Punchy:

“This was probably the worst Marvel Now! book I have read so far, just the very worst Hickman clichés all in one package.”

There you go, if you want a comic that is not new reader friendly, doesn’t explain anything, presents the first part of an undefined mystery, and provides absolutely nothing that would inspire a reader to care about what happens next, New Avengers #1 is for you.

Here’s your synopsis: Something weird happens in Wakanda  (don’t worry, it’s not explained) then the  books ends on a dramatic cliffhanger with more questions than answers.  No, this isn’t a review of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (2, 3, 4, 5, or 6) or any of the other comics Hickman has written that follows this same formula.  Best part is it will only take 20 or so issues for the mystery to be clearly defined – not  for it to be solved – but for us to know what is going on.

I don’t know when it happened, and there are arguments as to who exactly is to blame for this, but it seems that there is a new group of mainstream writers that are more interested in writing THE Avengers / THE X-Men / THE InsertBookNameHere story / THE run that will be put on the same list as Claremont’s X-Men, Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Joe Kelly’s Deadpool , or Wolfman and Perez’s Teen Titans without understanding that you can't just decide to write a seminal run. You need to worry about writing a coherent comic book that people enjoy first and let history and the fans decide whether your run was a classic or a dud.  Try to write a comic book that will stand the test of time, not flame out after a year or so.

By halfway through the issue I was dreading turning the page to see what would (not) happen next.

Stephen H. Epting’s pencils are spot on.  The art in this issue created a nice flow that did its best to communicate what was happening in a clear and easy to follow manner, in contrast to the story.

There is one silver lining. I had already broken my rule on no new monthlies with Avengers Arena, at least now I can save money and drop two books: New Avengers and Avengers.

by Amoebas » Wed Jan 09, 2013 12:38 pm

by IvCNuB4 » Wed Jan 09, 2013 1:40 pm

by pat » Wed Jan 09, 2013 6:33 pm

IvCNuB4 wrote:Would it help to smoke weed before reading this ?

by GHERU » Wed Jan 09, 2013 7:00 pm

IvCNuB4 wrote:Would it help to smoke weed before reading this ?

by fieldy snuts » Wed Jan 09, 2013 7:45 pm

by Lord Ice » Wed Jan 09, 2013 7:50 pm