Avengers by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 3

Avengers (2012) (Collected Editions) #5-6

by Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Salvador Larroca (Illustrator), Leinil Francis Yu (Illustrator)

Captain America and Iron Man plan for the next version of the Avengers, but they soon discover that a runaway planet is on a collision course with Earth! And as A.I.M. brings a corrupt version of the Avengers into the Marvel Universe, Bruce Banner puts together the pieces of the Illuminati and confronts Iron Man. The collision of the Avengers and the New Avengers is imminent! But as teammate faces teammate, the Time Gem suddenly reappears and takes the Avengers on a peril-filled journey into days-to-come. Collecting: Avengers #24-34

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

288 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2016

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

[James DeSantis]

Holy fuck man I kind of wish I was around reading comics from 2011-2014 because this is some epic shit. I took a break from comics, who knew the best Avenger arc began then?

So Cap and crew begin to deal with new issues. The first part of this book's main focus is Captain America finding out the truth. It actually is Bruce Banner who finds out what Tony is up to first. After these "evil" avengers come to 616 and the good avengers deal with it Banner does some sneaky background shit to get more information from them. By the time he meets with Tony shit is about to go down.

The later half deals with Steve going through different future time plots. From 50 years to 5,000 years in the future and it's so he finds the truth of it all. Of what the Illuminati is up to. One thing you know about Cap is he is very prideful. What do you think he'll when he finds out his best friend and co are planning to blow up worlds? Yep.

Good: Once again the art work is fucking amazing. However, it's the plot that steals the show. Complex and enthralling, this is Avengers at it's finest. Watching Cap come to the realization of what happened to him and his friends is so good. Then to see them jump future time lines was perfect way to show who cap really is. Also the bruce and tony scene was damn nail biting.

Bad: It can be jumpy and hard to keep up. You must read all previous volumes of this run to really appreciate this one.

Overall this will probably go down as the best run ever for Avengers for me. With Infinity jumping up my love for this series this volume solidifies it. Now to go read New Avengers that ran side by side with this title. Hoping for the same love!

[Relstuart]

Hickman's high concept Avengers story continues as the collapsing multiverse crisis deepens. Several Avengers figure out that Tony has brought the illuminati together to figure out how to destroy worlds that may threaten ours. And they are not happy about it.

Bendis and his New Avengers run is the only other author to vie for best Avengers writer of the modern age (IMHO). If you like the Avengers this series should be on your shelf.

[James]

3.5 stars. The first half of this book was where it really shines. There’s a lot of stuff going on, like a different Avengers team from a different universe making their way to the 616 and all the stuff they get up to. However, two things make this first half really hit hard. One is when Bruce does some investigating and finds out about the Illuminati and what they are up to. That seen was crazy with some very high tension. The second part is when Cap “remembers”. Oh man that was another crazy sequence. The second half of the book gets a little confusing. I was lost from that point till we get to the end of the book. Luckily, Hickman brings everything back to where I at least was somewhat aware of what was happening. But I was still like, damn Hickman, you really had to get that intricate to get is back to square one?

[Aaron]

I can't get enough of this Hickman run! I was realizing as I put this down that it's all coming to an end, and I got truly sad. Avengers: Time Runs Out is the only real Avengers title left in this epic (unless you count Secret Wars, which I kind of don't), and once it's over, I don't know what to be excited about in Marvel anymore.

Throughout this entire Avengers/New Avengers run, every time I've gotten to the next book in the series I've snatched it up and read it in a couple of hours. Hickman just nails the tone. The senses of dread and patient, rising action he conveys are unparalleled in recent superhero storytelling, and I never feel manipulated or sold out by any of his plot machinations. Everything builds and leads perfectly into the next obstacle, everything connecting and intertwining between New Avengers and Avengers.

Like I said, I don't know what to look forward to next in modern mainstream comics. I'm enjoying the smaller charactery stuff like Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk, but the stuff that really gets me excited is this huge, world-shaking stuff that Hickman's doing. I hope Marvel can find their new Hickman soon, otherwise I might just... what?

What am I gonna do, threaten to quit reading them? Pssh. I have no power here. Whatever. I'd just like to see more stuff like this, ok?

[Sud666]

This story starts, as many often do, with time travel. But Hickman pulls this one off well. A truly epic tale of multiverses, multiple Avenger teams-some evil and the re-formation of the Illuminati. It seems as if there is a world hurtling towards Earth- Stark re-forms the Illuminati to solve this problem setting up a chain of events that creates multiple timelines. The Avengers are sucked into the mess running into versions of themselves from 50, 500, 5,000 and then 50k years from the future. An epic and complex story that is well handled by Hickman and the artwork is wonderful. I really enjoyed this epic, time-spanning story of duplicity. There is quite a bit going on here and I find I will have to get Vol 1 and 2 as well as Vol 4 to round out the story. A must read for any Avengers fan or just people who like a good comic story. But, I suggest you go in order of volumes-it will help with the story.

[John (JP)]

Captain America is the moral heart of the Avengers in particular and the Marvel universe in general. In this story Cap is faced with the hard choice of saving our universe at the expense of other universes .In this choice Cap is opposed by Tony Stark AKA Ironman and the Illuminati Marvel universes cabal of the best and the brightest of which Cap was a member. This unnecessarily complex plot has the Illuminati having erased Captain America's memory of the creation of and membership in the group. On this weak foundation the whole story hinges. That would be almost ok but the readers are subjected to a series of tangentially related that subplots that obfuscate the main story.What saves the book from being totally worthless are the scenes where Cap debates with the Illuminati over the morality of their proposed actions. This redeems the story by encouraging the reader to think about morality of the use of weapons capable of annihilating. worlds and the complex choice of saving your own world at the cost of others. Caps journeys to the future also are compelling. They show the consequences of the Illuminati's actions and ask the question can beings from the future influence events of their own past? The story does not come to a conclusive decision on these questions, and sets the reader up for a probable Cap and Avengers battle with the manipulations of the Illuminati. Your classic brains versus brawn fight.

[Rodney]

I only read the first comic in this collection and then put the entire thing away, before finishing it in a day or two. Volume 3 really ramps up the internal stakes, again pitting Steve Rogers against Tony Stark as the consequences of the latter reforming the Illuminati come to light.

I absolutely love this story and how Hickman treats the moral quandary inherent in defending Earth from the incursions. As the Time Stone has disappeared and sporadically reappears to drag The Avengers into the future, the implications of defending the Earth become apparent. The art is amazing, the writing is good (of course it is: it's Hickman doing the writing) and the characterisation of The Avengers is superb. I can't wait to read the rest of Hickman's Avengers (and Fantastic Four).

[Jdetrick]

I've complained about Hickman's run on this book so many times and I'm tired of it. Suffice to say that I don't think he was well suited to the title at all.

[TAB]

Kept up the action and suspense after Infinity which was no small task in itself.

[Grace]

Volume 5- 3 stars
Volume 6- 4 stars

[Tri]

8

[Juha Soininen]

3.5 stars

[Sebastian Song]

The reader will be as confused as Captain America.

[Jacob]

Public library copy.

Parts of the story seemed very familiar to me. I must have read some aspects of the story in smaller trades.