When a series begins with the line “This world is ours, you said. It falls under our protection. Remember that now,” you just know bad things are on the horizon. The Avengers, they’re like the Rodney Dangerfield of hero teams, no respect. Still winding down from Infinity, now they’re faced with the repercussions of their intergalactic battle with The Builders. Somebody in the universe is pissed, and they’re taking it out on the Earth.
Avengers World #1, a flagship for the whole All-New Marvel NOW launch and a collaboration between Jonathan Hickman and Nick Spencer, wastes no time in getting right to the action. First off, the tepid relationship between the Avengers and SHIELD is straining under the gleam of the public eye. Captain America and his team are not used to shilling for the press, but SHIELD is demanding it. To make matters worse, new SHIELD director Maria Hill exists to make sure everyone knows who is in charge.
The Earth has fallen under attack. Not from the Terrigen Mists being dealt with in Avengers, New Avengers and Inhumanity. No, this is something much different. Meteorological and seismic disturbances, driven by an unknown source, are causing mass destruction across the planet. The city of Mardipoor is burning under riots from its own people. In a small town in Italy, the entire population has vanished, and whatever took them leaves the Avengers a bizarre calling card. As if that wasn’t enough, the new leader of The Hand is stirring up trouble. Multiple problems, on multiple fronts, stand before the Avengers.
Hickman and Spencer light the pack of firecrackers and toss them right into gunpowder storage room. As always, everything is connected in these stories. The triumph of Infinity, if you could call it that, was how Tony Stark managed to turn the Avengers into something bigger than the sum of its parts. With that in play, Hickman and Spencer turn around and ask the question, “Who would be unhappy at this idea?” The answers come both locally and universally, and none of them are good. Avengers World #1 is another slam-dunk in the canon of the Avengers. I guarantee you’ll want to read issue #2.
Stefano Caselli’s artwork is a strong, if flawed, element in Avengers World. For the most part, the pencils are wonderful and really capture the emotion and scale of the piece. Hyperion, Thor and Captain Marvel landing in a rainstorm to help survivors is a wonderful example of that. Caselli works with thin lines, but uses them to give the panels a strong sense of movement. There is weight there, such as with Captain America, but these are definitely thinner pencils. Flaws emerge in some of his character drawings, such as Bruce Banner, who looks like the dad from 101 Dalmatians, and the random odd scale of Spider Woman’s head. Outside of that, the work is first rate.
Avengers World is another check in the win column. Hickman and Spencer do more with one issue than most can do in an entire run.
(5 Story, 3.5 Art)
