writer: Jonathan Hickman / aritst: Stefano Caselli
One of the weirdly cool things about this Avengers title specifically during this Time Runs Out storyline, is that you actually don’t have any idea where Hickman is going to put the spotlight at from issue to issue. Whenever I expect we’ll get the (former) Avengers traveling to the origin point of the Incursion disaster, we get S.H.I.E.L.D. chasing the Illuminati. When I think we’re going to get more S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff, we get A.I.M. and what they plan to do in rebuilding the Avengers. I’m sure the lateral movements may prove a little fatiguing in time, but for now, I’m enjoying the wide angle on this story. I mean, there are like 2000 active Avengers characters at this point.
Make no mistake, this a chatty ass issue with basically no action and all dialogue, but it is at least, pretty interesting. There are about three different backdoor conversations being had as the incursions are out in the open and now on the table for everyone’s theories. Everybody seems to have a mole of some sort and who knows who will ultimately be betrayed and who might benefit most from the double dealing. The inclusion of Scott Summers was nice and a welcome wildcard into this issue too…as if we didn’t have enough tennis balls to keep our eyes on. But you know what the comic book gospel is, Hickman never gives us more than we can handle.
The art is on point for this one too. The pencils in particular are clean and accommodating for the straight forward structure, yet complex maneuverings of this issue.
A lot of chatter and textbook Hickman set up, but still an interesting issue that move the chess pieces closer to their ultimate destination.