New Avengers, Vol. 4: A Perfect World

New Avengers (2013) (Collected Editions)

by Jonathan Hickman, Valerio Schiti (Illustrator), Kevin Walker (Illustrator)

Collects New Avengers (2013) #18-23.

In all creation, only one Earth has successfully met and triumphed over each Incursion that has threatened it: the Earth of the heroes of the Great Society! And guess which Earth is on a collision course with ours? Now, the New Avengers must take on the combined power of the Great Society, and only one parallel Earth can survive! But how far is Dr. Strange willing to go to protect the Marvel Universe? Which New Avenger will find the strength to press the button that destroys a world? And what will come in the aftermath? It's the battle you didn't know you wanted to see! And as the Illuminati shatters under the weight of an exploding planet, follow the broken would-be world-savers through their last day on Earth.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

142 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 25, 2014

About the author

Jonathan Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for creating the Image Comics series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as working on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, FF, and S.H.I.E.L.D. titles. In 2012, Hickman ended his run on the Fantastic Four titles to write The Avengers and The New Avengers, as part the "Marvel NOW!" relaunch. In 2013, Hickman wrote a six-part miniseries, Infinity, plus Avengers tie-ins for Marvel Comics. In 2015, he wrote the crossover event Secret Wars. - Wikipedia

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Namor haters - this one’s for you!

He brought his trident (Where’s he been keeping it? Did he swipe it from Aquaman?) to a “discussion” and put “escalate” in “escalator of life, top floor of the human mall”*: Super-Hero Armageddon – Ladies Underwear – Galoshes – Thunk!



“Anyone else want to negotiate?”

Duck or you’ll get hit in the face with a stray, ill-fitting, pop culture reference.

It seems that another universe of heroes has come up with an inelegant solution for saving their Earth during the incursion of multiverses and it’s now showdown time with our Earth (616).



They brought the Hulk and the aforementioned ass with a trident, so when all else fails, it’s rock-‘em, sock-‘em time…



…and death. Bunches of death.

So who gets to press the button on the Earth 616 universe destroying bomb?

If you said, Namor you’ve been paying attention.

Namor can’t stand the other lily-livered Illuminati (read: bunch of pussies), so he disses them (with a major slap in the face to the Black Panther) and forms his own pro-active kill squad.



Bottom line: This is a volume of Hickman’s Avengers saga that really works on a number of levels. Smash and bash? – yes, but, you really agonize as the Illuminati dither about who gets to press the kill switch and, in essence, become a mass-murderer of billions. Hickman likes to slightly tweak moments that you’ve seen before and shade them with the reader’s accumulated knowledge and it works well here. If only the whole event was this consistently good.

* that one's for karen5000, who's all about the '80's.

Bonus: For you Dr. Strange/Cumberbatch haters, the good Doctor loses a tad more of his soul.

[Baba]

I read the comic books Avengers #13-23, and Endless War. Hickman's flagship Avengers book really picks up in New Avengers, Vol. 3: Other Worlds and then in this volume, where the Captain America led team finally, truly, get involved in a pan universal war. Meanwhile Warren Ellis's Endless Wartime is a great comic/movie Avengers hybrid with the team out to stop some sentient Nazi war machine that appears to be owned by SHIELD! 7 out of 12, Three Stars for these overall.

2014 read

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a gigantic THUD. That was my expectations hitting the ground hard after being so high.

Where to start...OK, first off, the art? HORRIBLE. Apparently every character has to have eyes wide as saucers and be surprised by anything remotely active. Even talking scenes seem to feature horribly large eyeballs.

TOO MUCH of the hand-wringing, should we or shouldn't we kill off another planet stuff. If anything, this book made me think that Namor is perhaps the only honest one in the group. They all took part, but he isn't pretending it is something it isn't.

Black Panther is whiny as fuck here...ugh, grow a set man. You're supposed to be a strong somewhat silent type (not Black Bolt silent, but still...) I don't need endless "what should I do for Wakanda?" "Am I a good man? Blah."

I would have Loved to see what Doctor Strange got up to, but nope. Instead we get woe-is-us moments from everyone.

Bruce Banner shows up to join the gang (that shot him into space last time...if I recall correctly) and now he's a little wussy kid who's too scared to talk around the big brains? I'm sorry, Hickman, go and read Mark Waid's Indestructible Hulk run. THAT IS BRUCE BANNER NOW! Marvel, don't ever change him...ugh, and yet, they drop the ball huge.

Even Storm shits on Black Panther, which was funny. Hank finally gets called out on losing the plot by the only person who ever influences him.

The art was just ugh. Did I say that? Ya, it was that bad. Enough to mention twice.

Also, Tony mentions to Reed at one point that Cap remembers what they did to him in volume 1, and is coming after them with great vengeance and furious anger...yet we never see him arrive.

Maximus has more to do in this volume than most of the rest of the gang. Seriously, such a misfire...ugh.

Oh and when the shit goes down? Only one of them is actually ready, and everyone turns on him for it....typical bullshit I usually associate with DC...not impressed here. Also kinda silly with the obvious DC Justice League stand ins that Hickman uses here, the Batman avatar is even called WAYNE! Ugh...Oh and the super mystical one? He's a little kid...hmmm Billy is that you? Ugh. Just so not worth it.

Jason hit the nail on the head with his review, Hickman is so concerned with plot that he throws character development out the window, and the reason most people read comics is the CHARACTERS and what they do, not what happens and how it fits into the larger plan of Hickman for the next 37yrs of storylines...

Give it a miss, unless you are doing a read through of the whole storyline.

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Avengers is Jonathan Hickman's take on the Illuminati, a shadow circle of the world's best minds and power movers, who took it themselves to save their universe (616) from premature death during incursion events; when two parallel earths occupy the same space at the same time.

All the past issues were leading into this: what if the Illuminati encounter a populated earth with virtuous heroes, how would they decide which earth had to go?

These Great Society heroes are actually Justice League and its hard not think that Hickman may be auditioning for another gig after his Marvel exclusivity ends; but that is not case if one would read this story. This may be slightly spoilerific but its an Avengers book after all, but the Illuminati find a way to beat them and it isn't nice.

[The Lion's Share · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was brilliant. The best of the lot!

This is where EVERYTHING goes utterly tits up and Namor really really fucks things up big time.

[Subham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh boy this is probably the most fun I have had reading a comic!

The Illuminati engage the GREAT SOCIETY and they fight and some philosophical debates are to be had until we arrive at the choice and the fight is on. Sun God vs Hulk and what not, Illuminati seems to be losing until we finally see what Dr Strange is upto and he unleashes the Black Bible and everything seems to be getting destroyed and finally the moment comes when they have to make the choice: Do we destroy the world or do we not? And will someone? Who will it be? Its the moment the heroes finally realize that they have crossed the line and there is no going back and as they ponder over it someone does and the fight that happens between Bp and Namor is some of the best ever and then when men with weak convictions fall, who will rise to take their place? The fallen? The cabal.

This volume gave me so many chills like the way whats supposed to be the JL and Avengers fight and just shows how darker the whole thing is, there is no black or white and the things some heroes do just wow. Like. wow. Namor had some cool moments really and the way his character totally becomes a villain is something and finally the art is amazing. Some of the best and finally the reveal of the Cabal and whose in it pays off so many past storylines. Time finally runs out!!

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's all been building to this.

The Illuminati reach the point of no return and one of them has to cross the line - they have to kill a world.

There's been a lot of questioning of morality in New Avengers. Because of the incursions, the team have long been debating if destroying a world is worth the price to save their own. It's handled very well, and I have to be vague because I don't want to spoil it.

With Hickman comics, you do have to stick with them. If you read them in singles, sometimes you'll read an issue and it feels you're not getting much story. But when he gets to the payoff - it's so worth it.

New Avengers has always been the better of Hickmans Avengers books. It's more consistent in quality and a little easier to follow. The art suffers a little here, because it changes around more than usual. It would be good if the book could keep a regular artist like it did when it began.

So excited for what comes next.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review probably contains spoilers. I’m not going to bother with spoiler tags, go read another review. You have a good chance that the reviewer will have a better idea of what is going on than I do.

New Avengers (2013) is an Avengers spin-off focusing on the Illuminati. A bunch of egg-head superheroes trying to stop the entire universe from ending. It’s basically the smartest people in the Marvel room taking it upon themselves to act in secret to stop this cataclysmic event from happening.

This volume is sort of the culmination of their attempting to stop an incursion from happening. What is an incursion? It’s one Earth colliding with another Earth both being destroyed (I think). Why is this happening? Because some beings in the universe feel that the Earth is a problem and that for the sake of all of existence it needs to go. Or it’s just the universe dying prematurely. Or a bit of both. Or it’s part of the ongoing confusion of builders and mapmakers and dark priests from the whole Infinity debacle.

Each instance of the incursion seems a little different. And for a while, each issue was just let's see another world end with its slightly different version of champions… like on this Earth Psylocke is actually Captain Britain.

I couldn’t explain the logic of how some of the incursions stop. I think some that is my fault because my brain was glazing over at times during this whole run. I’m pretty sure some of the reason is that Hickman’s story is kinda sorta a convoluted mess.

Here’s a spoiler…

Iron Man and company (the Illuminati eggheads) realized that there might come a time when they need to destroy the other “Earth” set on an incursion path with their Earth. So they created all sorts of doomsday weapons.

And like Chekhov would have said, you make some doomsday weapons in book 1, you’ll be seeing them being used in book 3 (or actually book 4).

Creating world-destroying weapons is sort of a Pandora’s Box.

You know what else is a Pandora’s Box?

Creating multi-universes in storytelling. They are neat when you first use them, and they are kind of a “Hey, that’s a cool way of getting out of whatever storytelling dilemma we were in.”

Sort of like the hatch or something in “Lost”. But then they quickly turn into the wheel thing a couple of seasons later in “Lost”. Turn it and off everyone goes into nonsense!

This arc ends with the Illuminati having to save the world from an incursion from an Earth of actually good heroes, granted as far as I know this is their only appearance so we don’t get to see the warts of their world, but they seem like a good noble people.

The Illuminati, not so great in the good and noble department.

The two sides face off. Someone on the other Earth picks up that the nerds are packing world-destroying weapons, and they are like “What the fuck is wrong with you people.”

So they fight.

And Dr. Strange turns into a Cthulhu like creature that scares the shit out of everyone and saved the Marvel nerds from having their asses completely handed to them, and their world being destroyed (although I have this feeling that maybe the other dudes would have figured out a solution, they are sort of old hands at ethically delaying incursion invasions, except against Cthulhu).

Iron Man shoots Dr. Strange to bring him out of his summoning of the old God’s trance and they are left with a dilemma of what to do now.

All of a sudden they all are like, “I can’t do it, I can’t blow up a whole other world” (which made me try to remember how they stopped all these other incursion events, and why my memory seems to be missing chunks of the story). One of the nerds steps up and uses their Weapon of World Destruction, the others get all high and mighty against him and they go immediately find out that there is another incursion about to happen and they say “Fuck it”let's just let the world end.

I don’t know, I assume, but I don’t know, if the ‘universe’ this is happening on is the same one where the X-Men arcs of House of M and Mutant Messiah took place. If it is, and Hank McCoy would be aware of this (he’s in the Illuminati, too) but it seems like it would be fairly irresponsible if a choice had to be made between “this” world and one that isn’t a fucking shit show, to let this world continue to exist with the dystopian horrors and mass destruction awaiting them all in the future. Maybe that’s part of a different universe though.

All of my snide comments aside, this was actually some of my favorite issues from this Hickman run. Maybe it’s because I could more or less follow what was going on and there was finally a bit of a pay-off from a bunch of the issues leading up to this.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

The battle with the alter Earth obvious DC-homage characters was fun-ish. But this whole story-line is dragging. I skimmed the last few issues. Just...dull. I have no investment in the characters or what's going on. Hickman bores the crap out of me and runs a story into the ground.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

At least the story concludes decently.

It was predictable that Namor would do the dirty work while all the others were whining and pulling out their hair.

In the end everybody gets blood on their hands and have crossed a line. A definite line.

At least that was interesting even though nobody but Namor could go through it to the end, which kinda spelled pussy after all they'd already done. But that would have obviously  been a commercial suicide.

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

There may be spoilers. I dunno.

In one issue, the Black Swan is talking to Mad Max(imus) and tells him, "It really is stunning how much you love to hear yourself talk, Maximus."

Well, that could apply to just about anyone in a Marvel comic today, especially the Avengers and X-Men titles, but, hey, I digress. Lots of yakkity-yak-yak as usual, plus preening, whining, complaining, getting mad, and eventually the various Illuminati have built themselves up to be these bad-ass heroes ready to make the hard choices, only to wuss out at the end. I guess that was a good thing, because I was about to throw down if all these guys ended up being murderers, although I guess that's the in thing nowadays, eh?

What these guys are, though, are evil. Pure and simple. They can no longer put themselves above Dr Doom and Red Skull, etc., when they're at least willing to think about killing billions and billions of people instead of working to find a solution. I guess maybe finding that solution to a universe-wide calamity is too comic-booky or something, and now we get these angst-ridden would be murderers as "heroes." Yeah, sure. PASS.

The art is uneven because there are so many artists. I think these books were coming out every two weeks, so that may account for it, but it's still sucky.

Makes me want to go read some Stan Lee Avengers and hold my teddy bear tightly against my chest. After a bath, of course.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

​They finally did it.

Finally had the stones (or not) to save their world, which in this case comes at a damnably high price.

And when that price is too damned high for nearly everyone to stomach, it leads to some of the most melodramatic acting I've seen in a long time from a book where I've come to expect good writing. The silly CW-style soap opera proclamations make for an issue or two that are hard to get through. And yet strangely, they're the ones I didn't put down in the middle - like I was watching an episode of Arrow, and while I hate everything about that show, I still end up watching every damned last one of them.

So was this a good book? Not notably so. But necessary, and will likely reflect on the rest of Hickman's Avengers run until Secret Wars, because that's how it has to be.

But that ending is marvellous. The one dude you always suspected - Namor does a full heel turn and forms the Cabal - which is a delicious twist that makes the next book worth looking forward to.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what it's all come down to: the question of whether the Illuminati are heroes or villains. The answer is a really wonderfully told story that takes the incursions and makes them into a deeply personal moral question. Hickman does a great job of addressing that, and then takes us to the next step. I'm looking forward to what happens as Time now Runs Out.

[Bryan Fischer · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a shocking twist, a book in this series I actually loved! Start to finish, the writing and plot were amazing. I considered dropping it to 4 stars due to the art work not being anything too special, but I felt the writing was too strong. If you’re reading this series and are waiting for it to pick up, it’s here. Hope the last 4 books of Hickmans run can match this one.

In my opinion, it’s not worth reading the series up to this point just for this book. And it would be quite confusing to pick up only this book with no context. But nonetheless, I enjoyed it greatly.

[ShamNoop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every page of this is perfect

[Mantis (¯ ³¯)♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,6/5 ⭐️

🇵🇱
Wydawałoby się, że to koniec ale to dopiero początek.. bardzo dobra część

🇺🇸
It would seem that this is the end but it is only the beginning... a very good part

[Judah Radd · Rating 5 out of 5]

****second read****

Sweet baby jeebus this is good. Oh man, it’s so good. SO FUCKING GOOD!! Holy hell... I don’t even know what to say. If they ever capture even a sliver of this story in the form of a movie, I swear it will win an Oscar.

So many subversions, but like... the good kind. Where, when you find out what happens, you’re like gaaadaamn!!!

10/5

******first read******
The Saga continues.

This is a good book for people who love, hate and love to hate Namor. He really shines as a fallen one.

The stakes just keep rising! This has slowly and steadily become one of the most mind-fucky stories in all of Marvel. Each issue leaves you needing the next.

The art is spectacular. It’s so bright and incendiary. So many pages are awe inducing.

This is must read material, no doubt... but you WILL be lost if you haven’t read all Avengers/New Avengers material by Hickman. You also have to read Infinity.

You should read Original Sin and Starlin’s Infinity Revelation/Relativity/Entity/Finale series... but they aren’t essential.

Basically... this is not for newcomers, which is unfortunate. I’ll say this: putting in the time to get caught up is certainly rewarding.

[Travis Duke · Rating 4 out of 5]

a strong book from Hickman. He is concise with the story and delivers some great action. The incursion is here and the Avengers are faced with some tough choices. The great society (heroes from the other earth) have been fighting off their own incursions but are now matched up with Avengers earth. Its a great battle and some pretty good art captures that. We also see the Namor and T'challa feud boil over which is long over due. A fun highlight was watching Dr. Strange basically show everyone up with the dark arts.


small recap with spoilers....


Namor is the only one with the balls to destroy the other earth which I found refreshing with how clean marvel usually is. At first I was thinking wow the Illuminati have guts but slowly they all start wussing out and cry, except Namor. he destroys the other and rubs it in T'challa's face. Meanwhile the avengers face anther incursion but find out something is off when it doesnt happen. Maximus is busy building his super team of villains now with Namor, Black swan and Thanos because they dont want to sit by idle.

[Michael Church · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another installment knocking it out of the park. This incursion is the most interesting one we've seen as we got to watch the other Earth survive another incursion. It's not some random beings that are taking advantage of the situation, but actual people. It humanizes the whole situation. This is also where everything really comes to a head. All of the philosophizing and hypothetical conversations actually have repercussions now.

It's a perfect no win situation. Everyone who reads this book is going to have an opinion on how to handle the situation which means you can empathize with one or more of these characters. The whole thing is crazy interesting to watch play out and it ends up going in a totally new direction at the end which only means the next volume is going to be a whole different kind of interesting.

I can't wait to see how this keeps playing out.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

New Avengers volume 4: A Perfect World. A continuation of my Avengers reread.

The Illuminati whose members include: Black Bolt, Namor, Mr Fantastic, Iron Man, Beast, Doctor Strange, Black Panther and recently the Hulk must face off against a superhero team from a parallel world.

The superhero team in question are The Great Society from the previous volume, a pastiche of DC characters. Personally I really liked this team in the previous volume so it was great to see more of them.

Artwork wise it is an improvement over the previous volume.

The fight scenes here are really good. Especially as we get to see what Doctor Strange has been up to. Unfortunately once the main conflict is resolved the story fizzles out and turns into a woe is me contest with the fate of the universe in the balance. It seemed an odd time for our characters to find their morals after crossing the line previously. Black Panther especially I found disappointing.

What I did like was how this was eventually resolved and what it sets up going forward for the story. As both this and the normal Avengers title combine to become the Time Runs Out storyline. But before that there is the small matter of the Original Sin, and Axis events.

[Tesutamento · Rating 3 out of 5]

Illuminati artık kitle imha silahını kullanmak zorunda yoksa kendi dünyaları yok olacak. Bombayı yerleştirmek istedikleri dünyanın süper kahraman takımıyla dövüşüyorlar ve ruhunu satmış Strange gücünü kusuyor. Illuminati üyeleri şu noktaya gelene kadar kendilerinden pek çok ödün verdi ama bu kez birinin bombayı çalıştırması gerekiyor. İş buraya gelince hiçbiri cesaretini toplayamıyor tabii biri hariç. O ana dek bombanın gerekliliğinden, hayatta kalma içgüdülerinden ve birçok sebep sunarak kendilerini ikna edenler bu kez ağlıyor. Namor düğmeye basıp kendi dünyasını kurtarınca işler karışıyor ve en sonunda ekipten atılıyor. Bir noktada Illuminati'den ayrılacağı belliydi zaten. Hele ki Wakanda-Atlantis savaşı da tazeyken kaçınılmazdı. Şimdi Namor da yokken düğmeye basacak kimse kalmadı fakat dünya çarpışmaları devam ediyor. Namor artık Thanos, Black Order ve Black Bolt'un kardeşi Maximus'tan oluşan Cabal'ı kuruyor ve çarpışmalardan önce dünyaları yok etmeye başlıyor. İlginç bir ekip açıkçası. Umarım editörler güzel faydalanmıştır ilerleyen sayılarda. Bir yanda Avengers bir yanda Illuminati diğer yanda da Cabal. Evrenler sona yaklaşırken bu üç grup nasıl hareket edecek merak ediyorum.

[Hrishi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely smashing face off between the Illuminati and the Justice Society analogue. This story is getting really interesting now. I didn't see the final panels coming as the heroes gave up and made their peace with the incursion in progress... But what a great ending that was. Very happy with how this is getting heavier and heavier

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant Avengers book from Jonathan Hickman. Perfect World deals with the consequences of choices superheroes make. Too often, comics let heroes off the hook. Not Hickman. Here, the Avengers are forced to make massive decisions that affect not only them, but the entire universe. Amazing.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

2 gems: an Illuminati v. Great Society 4parter & an apocalyptic 2part epilogue

[Aildiin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not have many kind words for the current Marvel production but there are however in my view 4 titles that stand head and shoulder above the mediocrity. They are Hawkeye by Fraction, Thor by Jason Aaron, Avengers by Jonathan Hickman and finally New Avengers by Jonathan Hickman ( Uncanny X-Men by Bendis is ok, but mainly because of Bachalo's art, the writing isn't that amazing there).
Hawkeye is probably the best combination of writing and art but it is barely a super hero comic as it deal with very mundane problems. There is however no doubt for me that New Avengers is the most epic title. Over the last 23 issues it has been telling a long epic story that has only become better as it progress to the point that this is now one my favorite Avenger story. Although you could argue that the New Avengers are all but Avengers, they are smart, powerful but as this book shows it, they do not share the same values as the Avengers and Hickman take them where no Avenger has ever been.( the ongoing subtitle of the story is "Everything dies" and this issue deals with how far will you go to save earth)
Highly recommended but you need to have read the previous 3 volumes to understand everything that is happening.
For those on the fence, I have no doubt that one day Marvel will gather this story in a huge Omnibus.

[Alex Sarll]

After getting away with it for too long, Marvel's brightest minds finally have no choice: will they have the determination needed to destroy a world so that two universes can live? Making matters harder, the world overlapping theirs this time is quite a nice one, bearing a suspicious resemblance to DC's core Earth pre-New 52 miserification. Inevitably, it turns out that some of the Illuminati were just playing at ruthlessness, while others really have the ice in their soul. Much is made of kings, and how they are different to other men after having been raised for command from birth; British readers may think of Prince Charles, and chuckle.

[Sonic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy Sh!t! This is intense!

Even as the art begins to get rendered by less superb hands and gets more cartoony and exaggerated, the intensity of the writing and the character development still make this a powerful shocker!

[Lionel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might just be the best book of Hickman I ever read. Real epic here

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Po lekturze szóstego tomu Avengers spodziewałem się wielkiej konfrontacji Iluminati z grupą dowodzoną przez Kapitana Ameryka, a tymczasem Hickman postanowił pokierować fabułę na całkowicie inne tory, jednocześnie oferując nam jedne z lepszych zakończeń w swoich dotychczasowych kontaktach z Mścicielami.

Nadchodzi kolejna inkursja, przy której grupa złożona z Dr. Strange’a, Czarnej Pantery, Iron Mana, Namora, Beast’a, Black Bolta, Mr. Fantastic’a czy nowego nabytku w formie Bannera, tym razem będzie musiała dokonać czegoś, co oznacza śmierć kogoś, kto na to nie zasłużył. Często pada tu pytanie, czy nasi herosi to aby na pewno ciągle bohaterowie, a nie już potwory z jakimi do niedawna się mierzyli. Na dobrą sprawę prawie każdy Iluminat na tym etapie przechodził jakiś konflikt wewnętrzny.

Nie podobała mi się ta nagła zmiana wektora, bowiem wcześniej „bohaterowie” nie brali pod uwagę konsekwencji czy praw moralnych. Liczył się tylko cel, a ten przecież uświęca środki. Pozbycie się z ekipy Rogersa była aktem wyzbycia się sumienia. Tutaj w pewnym momencie jednak się to zmienia, co widać zwłaszcza po Czarnej Panterze. To na nim ciąży spuścizna, która warunkuje podejmowanie pewnych czynności. Dodatkowo ma na głowie wiele niespokojnych dusz przodków, którzy żądają aby były król Wakandy kierował się dobrem swojego ludu za wszelką cenę.

Z kolei Dr. Strange postanowił desperacko poświęcić swoją duszę w zamian za maksymalną moc magiczną. To było tak szumnie prezentowane w poprzednim tomie, a tu… Puff. To tak jakby z całkiem sporej armaty wystrzeliła mała wiązka serpentyn. Nie znaczy to, że Doktorek tu MOCARNIE nie zamiesza, ale ta wcześniejsza pompa zapowiadała coś epickiego (finalnie do transakcji nie doszło). Po co to było? Z Hickman'em momentami jest jak z każdą polską partią polityczną. Niby obiecują przed wyborami bombki na choince, a jak już wygrają to wykazują się pamięcią godną chorych na Alzheimera…

Problem moralny jest powiązany z inkursją, jaka stawia wersję Ziemi 616 z inną, na której występują ci „lepsi” bohaterowie (zupełnie przypadkowe skojarzenia z herosami DC są wypadkiem przy pracy. Najpewniej). Teraz jest wybór: mamy zginąć my czy oni? Ale czy to właściwe, bo przecież oni są podobni do Iluminatów, tyle że lepsi moralnie. Mają ten sam motyw. Ratować swój świat. Musiało dość do walk. Dalszy rozwój wypadków jest dość nieprzewidywalny, przez co czytało się to znakomicie. Ale i tak największe wrażenie robi zakończenie tego tomu, bowiem w czasie gdy Iluminaci robili swoje, na uboczu działał m.in. brat Black Bolta, Maximus. Efekt tych działań jest…
Świetny.

Co do warstwy wizualne. Kolory są świetne, ale kreska mocno nierówna. Miejscami ocierała się o geniusz, a od czasu do czasu nie wybijała się nawet ponad przeciętność. Może wynika to z nadmiaru artystów pracujących nad tym tytułem. Nie mniej ostatni tom tej odsłony New Avengers uważam za udanym, a całą serię za kawał dobrej lektury, zresztą podobnie jak "zwykłą" serię Avengers. Gdybym miał tu skalę od 1 do 10 to dałbym pewnie z siedem, ale tak to "słaba" czwórka. Zakończenie zdecydowanie winduję całość w górę.

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seguimos adelante con los superhéroes de toda la vida, después de la pausa alternativa, y lo vamos a hacer con los dos siguientes arcos de los Nuevos Vengadores y la Saga de las Incursiones, que siguen formando parte de esa gran historia-río que es esta colección en manos de Jonathan Hickman. Así que ahí tenemos, después de Infinito, como tras acabar con Thanos y la amenaza de los arquitectos, los Illuminati tienen que continuar haciendo frente a las Incursiones de otras tierras, con cada vez menos tiempo entre ellas, y sabiendo que pronto tendrán que tomar una decisión: o permitir que su Tierra muera, o destruir otra Tierra.

En el primero de los dos arcos, Otros Mundos, vamos a ver como la secuencia de los Illuminati luchando contra las Incursiones se repite en otras Tierras, con otras alineaciones y otros trasfondos, pero con secuencias parecidas. y también vamos a descubrir diferentes tipos de incursión en función de qué especie vaya a aprovecharse de ella, si los Cartógrafos o los miembros de la siniestra Orden Negra. Y Hickman va a aprovechar también para que conozcamos algo más a Cisne Negro. Y el segundo arco engancha con este, pues justo al final, a través del Puente que construyera Richards en la saga de los Cuatro Fantásticos que fue la primera incursión de Hickman en la Primera Familia, van a conocer la Tierra de la siguiente incursión... y va a estar defendida ni más ni menos que por la Liga de la Justicia.

Bueno, no es literal, claro. Pero Hickman aprovechó las infinitas posibilidades que le ofrecían sus infinitas tierras para algo tan clásico en el Universo Marvel como versionar a la Distinguida Competencia. Así que vamos a poder ver a los Illuminati, con Hulk como nuevo miembro, tener que enfrentarse a las versiones Hickman de Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, J'onn J'onnz... etc; poniéndoles en la difícil tesitura de tener que hacer frente a otro grupo de héroes que protegen una tierra habitada, no una tierra muerta ni destruida por los acontecimientos previos a las incursiones... Y van a tener que tomar la más drástica de las decisiones. Lo que por cierto, va a llevar a la recreación de una nueva Cábala, un equipo de villanos dispuesto a hacer lo que sea necesario para que su mundo sobreviva... Y con los que Hickman plantea una interesante dualidad sobre los héroes y qué los convierte en eso.