*of course, huge spoilers ahead*
New Avengers #19
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Valerio Schiti
Coloured by Frank Martin
Cover by Dustin Weaver and Jason Keith
Dated August 2014
Finally, we get to see the inevitable happen. The Illuminati touch down on Earth 4 290 001 and meet the Justice League Great Society. They’re all heroes, so they don’t want to get into a rumble if it can be avoided. Either one Earth dies, or both do, they all know this. Unfortunately, the GS has the grumpy/hot-head Rider on their side and he wants only to point fingers, telling everyone there is no solution and eventually they’ll all have to fight. Namor agrees and chucks a spear at him. Let the rumble begin!
But of course, this is a Jonathan Hickman comic book. He wouldn’t set up and execute a fight in a single issue. Here, it’s all set up. You want the fight, you buy the next issue. Chances are, it will be nothing but a fight (and we’ll find out soon enough).
What else happens in this issue? Bruce Banner decides he’s going to send little electrical shocks to his brain so he can better control his Hulk-iness. Beast lends him a hand and they chat about primal urges and stuff.
Reed Richards talks up Black Swan, who just got chewed out by Iron Man. Reed wants to fixed Swan’s little broken heart, but she’s emo and proud. Iron Man lets Reed know that Captain America is mad at him and the Avengers will probably come and kick all of their butts.
Maximus the Mad has for some reason been left alone in the Illuminati’s secret headquarters, so ignoring the past 50 years of history with his villainous ways, the good guys must trust this lunatic for some reason. Hickman has been setting him up as sort of a wild-card anti-hero, but Maximus usually proves he is nothing but bad to the bone. I like the direction, but I don’t buy that he’d been allowed to roam free when the heroes are away. I mean, in these pages he decides to drill a microscopic hole into the carbonite block that houses Thanos and his crazy-evil generals. This is bad news, people! Lockjaw should know better…
One neat/frustrating tidbit we learn from the endless prattle between the GS and Illuminati: the GS has held off three incursions in the past. We know about one; a few issues back we saw the GS take on the Mapmakers. Another time, they held off the incurring Earth with their version of the Infinity Gauntlet—a cube made of six sides of “forever glass”. Cool. The annoying part? When prompted about the third event, they respond by saying “we don’t talk about that”. That’s called a pointless mystery; either it comes out in a future issue and we all say “why didn’t you tell them that before!?” or it gets ignored and we’re teased for no reason. Or I could be wrong and Hickman is actually setting up something interesting—but if so, don’t expect it to payoff anytime soon.
Beast–passionate about triage.
Now the good news: Valerio Schiti draws this book and it’s absolutely amazing. I mean, there aren’t any huge, standout panels that make your jaw drop, but this is work of the highest calibre. Every single panel is spot on. Every single character looks exactly right (if not a tad too young). Every expression, every detail—it’s all gold. Schiti makes the best of this rather uneventful book and impresses me even while the plot and dialogue are withering away my interest. His Namor alone is worth the cover price—and that’s the last thing I ever expected to say.
So, you ready to rumble? Cough up four more dollars.
New Avengers #20
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Valerio Schiti
Coloured by Frank Martin
Cover by Dustin Weaver and Jason Keith
Dated August 2014
Hey, remember how Dr. Strange went to some crazy astral realm and decided to trade the entirety of his soul for absolute power? Well, it turns out he didn’t have a full soul, so he couldn’t receive full power. He did, however, decide to swap whatever was left for whatever he could get.
We pick up on the battle between the Great Society and the Illuminati, and I must say it’s thoroughly enjoyable. Sure, I’m not crazy about the pace or pretentious dialogue that’s so prevalent in this series, but every once in a while we’re treated to something genuinely gratifying. As far as Hickman’s Avengers go, I’m not sure we’ve had anything this agreeable since Infinity.
Black Panther takes on the Rider and the two duke it out with gadgets and agility. Sun God and Hulk trade punches like it’s the mid-nineties and a Superman/Hulk showdown is the coolest thing on the block. Namor tries to impale The Jovian, only to find a squid on the end of his stick. Dr. Spectrum takes off the disable the anti-matter injection bomb, but Blackbolt nips at her heels. The best comes with Boundless (our female Flash) as she unscrews every bit of Iron Man’s armor with sass.
It’s the Dr.Strange/The Norn showdown that really turns the tables, however. The Norn seems to have Strange beat as he mentions the Black Priests and shows off his fancy mask. Strange, however, has a trick up his sleeve and chants a few magical words (and in a neat twist, we see The Norn disabled and revealed as a teenager—he’s more a Timothy Hunter than a Dr.Fate!).
Finally, we get a taste of the kind of power Dr. Strange bought with his soul. Apparently it’s all very Cthulhu-esque and he can make huge tentacles come down from the sky—whatever, it’s awesome. Unfortunately, that’s where the issue ends. And just when we were starting to have fun!
Schiti is still on art duties and his still rules the comic book world. Now that he finally has some toys to play with, he goes all out. It’s a very pretty book that’s also very professionally put together. All around, it’s top-notch stuff.
So the Great Society and Illuminati are finally fighting—who will win? Which earth will be destroyed? How many issues will it take for us to find out?
