New Avengers by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 1

New Avengers (2013) (Collected Editions) #1-2

by Jonathan Hickman, Steve Epting (Illustrator), Mike Deodato (Artist)

Collects New Avengers (2013) #1-12.

The Illuminati, Marvel’s most powerful and secretive team, must reassemble to stand against interdimensional incursions! Parallel Earths are beginning to collide, destroying one or both worlds — and when Black Panther, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Black Bolt, Mr. Fantastic, Sub-Mariner and Beast take on the task of preserving their planet, they soon realize they must destroy countless others. Their grim task is complicated by old wounds, lies and secret agendas as the cold war between Wakanda and Atlantis heats up into a full-scale conflict! Can Captain America and the Infinity Gems help save Earth? Will Galactus’ arrival prompt the Illuminati to do the unthinkable? Can the team turn the tide against a cosmic invasion? And what happens when Black Bolt faces Thanos’ forces? Jonathan Hickman revamps NEW AVENGERS in a multiverse-spanning saga!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Science Fiction, Ebooks

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

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

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Jonathan Hickman Marvel NOW! volume three of the New Avengers focuses on the Illuminati. #1-12, (New Avengers, Volume 1: Everything Dies & New Avengers, Volume 2: Infinity). Although it is a pan-universal style take on the Illuminati, it doesn't come close to the conspiracy layer-upon-layer genius of Brian Michael Bendis's Illuminati, although the Infinity stuff in the second volume shows improvement. So Avengers is now a scifi book! The more minimalist artwork really works, it's what holds up the story. Be really interested to see what I think of this if I ever reread it. 6 out of 12, Three Star read.

2014 read

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential companion to Hickman's Avengers, all culminating in his years-long Secret Wars buildup. New Avengers could be just as well called Illuminati, repurposing that 'secret history of the Marvel Universe' plot point into the current era. It's not quite as smart as it aims to be, with all these serious men deciding what needs to be done for the world's own good, but it is an interesting take on the moral question of what goes too far to save the world. Still limited by the superhero genre, yet that said, about as well done as could be with this premise.

[Maksym Karpovets · Rating 5 out of 5]

Значно, значно краще. Ран набирає оборотів, хоча й події розвиваються паралельно до попередніх арок у "Месниках". Так, тут досі багато діалогів, неспішності, якихось незрозумілих натяків і розмислів, але це все сприймається більш органічно й цілісно. Якщо мене раніше не полишало питання "до чого тут усе це" майже на кожній сторінці, то тепер Хікмен більш зрозуміло пише, але, повторюсь, однаково ще левова частина інформації і подій лишається за кулісами. Та й загалом подієвості стало менше, але, що цікаво, мені від цього історія тільки більше сподобалась. Справді, є от графоманство, яке взагалі не сприймаєш ніяк, а є великий стиль, який гіпнотизує попри тонни тексту. От Хікмен із останніх, із гіпнотизерів.

Це масштабне, епічне полотно прописане широкими мазками, тому для правильного сприйняття варто все ж віднайти правильну оптику, бо інакше усе розпливеться. Однак якщо добре розібратись у ключовому концепті (а ми пам'ятаємо, що Хікмен є майстром концептів і схем), то стає настільки цікаво й захопливо, що взагалі дивуєшься, як це все працює у форматі коміксу. Якщо коротко, існує безкінечна кількість земель, які знаходяться у безкінечній кількості світів (подібно до ідеї в "Кризі безкінечних земель" від конкурентної індустрії, що зайвив раз показує наскільки ця подія вплинула на багатьох авторів). На одній із земель сталася подія, яка спричинила передчасну загибель всесвіту. У результаті, ця незначна подія у мультивсесвітному масштабі спричинила певні зрушення у часі й, що найважливіше, зіткнення двох Земель. Це зіткнення відбулося у ключовій точці, звідки все почалося, тому далі одна Земля на іншу находять за принципом доміно, що в перспективі може закінчитись кінцем усього сущого.

Отже, Іллюмінати (кожен із них має по одному каменю безкінечності, що в цілому уможливлює зібрати й утримати реальність у цілісності) намагаються розібратись як врятувати Землю внаслідок якихось незрозумілих зсувів десь за сто мільйонів років від нашого часу, перебираючись від місця до місця Що цікаво, такі зсуви, перебої стаються кожні вісім годин, а отже від одного потенційного кінця світу до іншого не так вже й багато часу. Ключові лідерські позиції обіймають Рід Річардз із Фантастичної четвірки та Чорна Пантера, якого просто блискуче розкрив Хікмен. Вони й намагаються спрямувати команду в правильне русло, хоча не вся команда завжди дослуховується, не завжди вдається домовитись, та й жертви згодом стають надто високими. Виявляється, що із постійним відтермінуванням апокаліпсису волею-неволею вдалося привернути увагу більш сильних, невідомих сил, які вже описані у події "Безкінечність". Також більшість месників відправились у космос, щоб розібратись із масштабними проблемами, а отже на Землі нікого не лишилось. Це стало прекрасною нагодою для Таноса атакувати ключові місця, хоча його основна ціль - без спойлеру - зовсім інша.

Хікмен ламає мозок неодноразово, але робить це не спекулятивно, а логічно й виправдано. Скажімо, в одній сцені Річард і Кеп міркуються про те, що якщо у паралельних версіях Землі відбуваються ті ж самі події, тому чому паралельні версії їх самих не змогли досі вирішити усю проблему. Можливо, проблема зовсім в іншій площині? Раптом проблеми вже й нема, а отже паралельних їхній версій теж? А якщо їхні версії ще не зіткнулися з нею, то чи варто їх попередити? Зрештою, герої кажуть, що їм може доведеться пожертвувати іншими Землями заради того, щоб врятувати їхню (яка, до слова, є основною, ключовою у всій онтології мультисвіту). Тут можна фантазувати у різних напрямках, але саме це - можливість рефлексувати у межах масового жанру - вирізняє Хікмена з-поміж інших авторів.

Відразу зауважу, що читати окремо цей том не варто (тобто не робіть як я), а потрібно паралельно із подією, бо багато чого упускається. Тому туман загадковості може ще більше загуснути лише тому, що буде проігноровано порядок читання. Навіть із цим вже відчувається великий задум, точність у подачі й, напевно, грандіозний фінал у епохальному рані Хікмена. Помаленьку наближаюсь до середини, а там вже можна робити більш серйозні висновки.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This review is for the issue 1-6 since issues 7-12 are in Infinity and I’m currently reading that now.
So, for this part I was definitely into it. Love the concept and execution. There is a problem within the multiverse. Something had accelerated the happenings within and now the end comes way sooner. All the different Earths within the multiverse are converging with one another and destroying each other. The way this is discovered and the way Hickman breaks this down was dope. The Illuminati has come back together again to make some hard decisions and do things they never thought they would have to do. Definitely enjoyed this and I’m looking forward to finishing the story in Infinity.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collects New Avengers (2013) issues #1-12

I was immediately drawn to this Jonathan Hickman-written title in which the collapse of the Multiverse is imminent. The members of the Illuminati come together again in order to try to stop everything from dying. This is one of the starting points in the story that sets up the 2015 event, "Secret Wars."

I originally read these stories in a smaller collection, so here are my spoiler-free reflections on these issues.

New Avengers issues #1-6

Spoiler-free review:
Hickman brings in the Avengers characters that made up the Illuminati for this story that runs parallel to what he is writing in Avengers. The New Avengers is not an accurate title for this series, because they are not acting as the Avengers, but it is a title that will help them sell more books. The members of the Illuminati are:

Tony Stark
Captain America
Black Panther
Reed Richards
Namor
Black Bolt
Dr. Strange
Beast (in the absence of Professor Xavier)

They have come together, with the understanding that they are running the world in secret. They have good motivations, but Black Panther worries that they have given themselves too much power, making decisions on behalf of the rest of the world, yet without their knowledge. Black Panther, and at other times Captain America, are the voices of reason within this group.

New Avengers issues #7-12

This volume ties in to Marvel's major event of 2013, Infinity. I would not recommend reading this volume alone. You need the full story found in the Infinity collection. All of these issues are in that collection.

Spoiler-free review: This books opens one month after the events of Latveria seen in the previous volume. In the last month, the people of Wakanda and the people of Atlantis have gotten caught up in a war. This leaves T’Challa and Namor unable to work together for the Illuminati.

Also, the Avengers logo has the Greek letter Omega around it instead of a simple circle…pretty cool.

Again, this volume cannot stand on its own. The issues found in this volume are best read in the Infinity collection. Otherwise, you are not getting the full experience

Spoiler-free review of the Infinity storyline: There is a cosmic threat so big, that all of the Avengers are forced to leave Earth to address it. While in space, a Galactic Council made up of humans, Kree, Skrull, the Brood, the Shi'ar, Annihilus, and other aliens team up to address this seemingly unstoppable enemy. Meanwhile, with the Earth’s mightiest heroes away, Thanos launches a full-scale attack on Earth. He is acting with a purpose, however his goal is a mystery for the first half of the book.

SPOILER-FILLED REVIEWS START HERE:

Issue One: The book opens in Wakanda. Young Wakandans are in a competition to be the greatest of their generation, and T’Challa is happy with what they’ve accomplished. All of the sudden, a portal opens up near them, and when T’Challa travels through it to see what is going on, he travels to a parallel Earth, in which another Earth hangs closely in the sky, near collision. A woman is there with a team, all speaking a foreign language that even the reader can’t understand. We will come to know this woman as a Black Swan. She hears T’Challa speak English and because of this, remarks that it is, “one of those Earths.” She says that she is not causing the intrusion of the other planet. Rabum Allal, the great destroyer, is behind this. She seems to be trying to help, but the Wakandans are getting in her way, so she orders them killed. After killing the three kids that T’Challa was with, Black Panther wants revenge. Black Swan refers to one of her men as Manifold, and I believe that is the name of someone on our Earth-616. She gets mad at Manifold for some reason and kills him with heat vision eye beams, similar to what Superman uses. Black Swan then destroys the planet that is hanging in the sky, and the Earth that T’Challa stands on is saved.

Issue Two: The full Illuminati are then brought into the story, and it is revealed that each member holds one of the Infinity Gems. Together, these gems can shape reality itself.

Namor has the Power Gem
Reed Richards has the Reality Gem
Tony Stark has the Space Gem
Captain America has the Time Gem
Dr. Strange has the Soul Gem
Professor Xavier (before his death) had the Mind Gem

They have captured Black Swan, likely thanks to Black Panther, and have plans to interrogate her to see what is going on with this crisis of multiple Earths. Reed is in charge of the initial interrogation, and Black Swan talks about a wheel that must keep spinning. She confirms that the planet she destroyed is a parallel Earth, but it wasn’t her Earth. She has no home.

Apparently something happened between T’Challa and Namor, because T’Challa said that when his wants replace his needs, he plans to kill Namor.

This story reminds me so much of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Here is a quote from Reed: “We also know there is a multiverse of realities. An infinite number of Earths, inside an infinite number of universes, where any manner of divergent reality can exist. Endless possibilities…” He goes on to explain, what I believe will be, the main problem addressed over the course of this series. “I’ve learned that somewhere, on one of these Earths, an event occurred that caused the early death of one of these universes. That untimely, unnatural event then caused a tiny contraction in the multiverse timeline. Now, everything would die ever-so-slightly sooner. In addition that tiny contraction caused two universes to smash together at the Incursion Point of the initial event. And this is where you really want to pay attention. That point was Earth. They touched and destroyed each other – taking their universes with them – causing yet another contraction in the timeline. While in turn accelerated the smashing together of even more Earths and their respective universes.”

Hickman is awesome at making stories feel epic, by giving hints of future events, or even flat out showing us a future scene with no context. While Cap was giving a rousing speech during this issue, we saw glimpses of the violence that was awaiting them in the future.

They decide to reassemble the Infinity Gauntlet to stop the imminent crisis. Privately, Reed and T’Challa work out the fact and the question that if this is happening on multiple Earths, where alternate versions of themselves have existed to potentially address the problem, why hasn’t the problem been solved. They confess to each other that they may need to be prepared to sacrifice the other Earths in order to save their own.

Issue Three: This issue opens with Henry McCoy being added to the team. Professor X left him the Mind Gem, so the rest of the Illuminati have accepted him into the group.

With the Infinity Gauntlet now assembled, and an Intrusion in process, the team travels to stop it. Cap wears the Gauntlet because the plan to use it to push the other universe back to where it belongs was his. Unfortunately, all of the Gems shatter during the massive power usage, except for the Time Gem, which vanishes. Even though they stopped this Incursion, they have lost the tool used to stop a future one. Cap doesn’t believe they can consider the option of destroying other Earths to save our own. Captain America makes great points about the people that they will become if they go down this dark path, but the Illuminati has made up its mind. They already had a contingency plan if Cap didn’t agree, so they enact it and steal his memories so that he doesn’t try to stop them. He won’t remember ever being there, and he won’t remember the Illuminati.

Issue Four: At the opening of this issue, we learn that the Black Swan was using an Antimatter Bomb to destroy other Earths (again, very similar to the Crisis on Infinite Earths –plus, I haven’t even mentioned how the sky turns red during an Incursion).

Tony has designed a weapon based on using the power of the sun, and Reed names the weapon Sol’s Hammer. It is actually a Dyson Sphere.

During the next Incursion, a guy named Terrax shows up. He calls himself the Truly Enlightened. I believe he is this universe's herald for Galactus, because an alternate Galactus is also around on this other Earth. The more Terrax talks, I can’t tell if this is an alternate Galactus or if Galactus can travel to parallel worlds. Either way, the issue ends with the Illuminati attacking Terrax.

Issue Five: The fight is underway, and I realized how much I have enjoyed the Black Panther in this book. He hasn’t historically been one of my favorite characters, but he is awesome here. Along the same lines, I haven’t read a lot of stories with Black Bolt in them, but I love when his voice power is unleashed. The little that I know about him makes me respect and fear his extreme power. The Black Swan gives her mini-origin story which is a mixture of boring and interesting. The best part was the fact that her home Earth had access to a way station to the Multiverse (unfortunately, it was destroyed along with her Earth). She was raised by a sisterhood called the Black Swans. She tells the Illuminati that there have been different methods for avoiding the apocalypse, but all end in the universe being destroyed. She recognizes Beast and says that he is well-known in the Great Game of Worlds. Alternate Beasts have come up with a method called Shading the Apocalypse which makes an entire Earth’s population abandon their universe so that they can be spared. It is an evacuation strategy. She reveals that she has an early warning device for Incursions implanted in her eyes, and that the next Incursion will happen in minutes. It will take place in Latveria.

Issue Six: This is the final issue of the collection, and the Illuminati have brought the Black Swan along with them on their mission to stop the Incursion. She tells them that she is proud of them because they have created a machine to destroy the other Earth. When they got there, however, she freaks out because the sky isn’t red. It is dark blue! Blue is bad. Blue means Mapmakers are there! It was a little confusing, but it seems that the Mapmakers are using the Incursions to mark different Earths so that they can exhaust each Earth’s resources. They leave behind dead planets. The Mapmakers evolved in the Multiverse, and move between universes at will. Because the other Earth is already dead, the Illuminati felt less bad about destroying the world. Black Panther is the one that actually pulls the trigger by activating their machine, and he feels the weight of his actions. When all is resolved, Black Swan goes back in her cell, now next to Terrax. The two of them seem to have plans to work together some day, against the Illuminati. In the epilogue, Dr. Doom finds something that fell from the sky after the attack of the Mapmakers. I’m not sure what role he will play, but he seems to be being drawn into the story with the Illuminati.

Issue Seven: This issue is setting the stage for future stories. Doom asked Richards and Strange about the battle with the people from the other world, but they denied knowledge of this. Wakanda decided to go to war with Atlantis even though Namor offered a truce. Meanwhile, Reed has built a lot of Antimatter Bombs for future Incursions, although none have happened for 28 days.

Issue Eight: Black Bolt is working on something with Maximus, and it is confusing. I’m not sure what is happening, but Medusa doesn’t seem to like it because she slaps Black Bolt. Meanwhile, T’Challa tricks Namor into thinking that peace is an option, while elsewhere Atlantis is attacked. The issue ends with a worldwide invasion by creatures I don’t recognize. Not sure what is happening here. This volume is harder to follow than the last. I wonder if reading Avengers Volume 2 will help some of this to make sense, because I may be experiencing an Infinity tie-in story since that is the name of this volume. I was hoping that it could stand on its own two legs, but it appears that New Avengers is being sucked into the crossover.

Issue Nine I turned the page, and there was an in-depth explanation as to what has been happening in the Infinity storyline. I think I should set this book aside for now, and come back to this volume after I read Infinity. That way, I can enjoy that story as a whole, rather than as a small part of this volume. I read the first two issues of this volume directly after finishing my reading of Volume 1 for the second time. As I type this, today is Saturday, March 22, 2014. I’ll be back after reading the Infinity collection.

Issue Nine…continued: It is May 4, 2014, and I was finally able to pick up the collection of Infinity. Thanos reviews a stolen memory from Black Bolt’s brain. It is the Illuminati, losing the Infinity Gems. Thanos noticed that all were destroyed except one, which disappeared. He wants that one, and when asked why, he replies that even one Infinity Gem can make you a god. Thanos’ army attacks all the places where the different members of the Illumniati are, and Namor pretends to surrender in order to “admit” where the final Gem is. He then tricks Proxima to send all the armies of Thanos to Wakanda (you know, because he is at war with them). When it seems like things can’t get any worse, the Illuminati’s early warning system in their hands go off. An Incursion is about to take place! Meanwhile, Black Bolt’s mean bother, Maximus, is talking about things like he knows more than he should. Does he know why the Incursions are happening?

- Thanos’ team of generals is called the Cull Obsidian (which means Midnight Slaughter). They also go by the Black Order. The members are Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Black Dwarf, Supergiant, and the Ebony Maw.

-Issue Ten: The Illuminati was scattered, but they come together in Black Bolt’s secret hiding place (a pocket dimension, maybe?). It turns out that Black Bolt has discovered Thanos’ true goal for attacking Earth. He is looking for his son, and he plans to kill him. Apparently, the son he wants dead is living amongst the Inhumans, and is between the ages of 16 and 22. All of the members of the Illuminati, except Black Bolt, spread out to find the kid, but Doctor Strange is under the influence of the Ebony Maw. By the end of the book, the Maw has released Strange, but not before finding Thanos’ offspring.

Issue Eleven: The issue opens in the wake of the fall of Attilan after the explosion of the Terrigen bomb. Meanwhile, the Illuminati members are preparing to act in light of the latest Incursion, when an Aleph robot from the other universe approaches them. The robot brings them to two beings from the other side, a Builder and an Engineer. These two are joined by beings that look like Ex Nihilo, however they are the color red instead of yellow. Also, instead of an omega sign on their torsos, they have two circles. One of the Ex Nihili notice that something is wrong with Dr. Strange’s mind, and literally shoves his arm into Strange’s head to pull out the outside presence. While attacking Wakanda, and taking over Necropolis, Thanos’ army finds the Illuminati’s antimatter weapons cache. They also find the prison with the alternate Terrax and the Black Swan.

The alternate Builder explains that their kind used to be able to travel all through the multiverse until the destruction of their Superflow machine. They then explain that not just one Earth, but all the Earths of the multiverse must be destroyed because Earth is the axis point for the Incursions. The hope is that once all of the Earths are destroyed, the rest of the multiverse will be safe. Reed seems to agree with the idea, so they Illuminati are tasked with destroying their own Earth.

-Side Note: The cover of New Avengers Issue #11 is my favorite in the series so far!

Issue Twelve: This issue appears in the collection for Infinity, but it comes after the Epilogue. The story starts with T’Challa getting shunned by his Wakandan family and friends because he has been secretly working with their great enemy, Namor. Meanwhile, something mysterious is going on with Black Bolt and Maximus. It sounds like Black Bolt intends to lie about some things. Elsewhere, Dr. Strange plans to use the Blood Bible to stop the Incursions, but it is very dangerous. Back at Necropolis, Beast, Reed, and Tony are meeting with Black Swan about how they should proceed with trying to save the multiverse. She starts naming off all these people and, although we have never heard of them before, it is implied that they are extremely powerful. Comparing Thanos’ might to theirs would be like comparing a dog to a demon.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the past couple of years, I've become more and more enthralled with Jonathan Hickman's work in the Marvel Universe, and this book might be the best thing he's ever done. Every Avengers story ever seems to threaten the lives of everyone on earth and/or everyone in the universe. It happens all the time. And yet, I haven't read a book about a universe-threatening supercatastrophe in years that actually felt like it had genuine stakes. Hickman does such a great job of allowing the weight of the looming apocalypse to rest on the shoulders of the Illuminati (Iron Man, Reed Richards, Black Panther, Namor, Black Bolt and Beast), and dealing more with their personal struggle to justify their own actions in the face of it, rather than just trying to come up with the Craziest Problem Possible. And by keeping the cast relatively small (unlike the one in his other Avengers book, which is good, but not as good as this), he can juggle these character moments evenly and really drive home how dire the circumstances are.

This is genuinely why I read comics. Stories like this, where a writer can put together just the right scenario with just the right characters to really tell a story that doesn't feel like it's been told before, despite any derivations on old themes. This is great, great stuff and I can't wait to keep going.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hickman is one of the best writers currently in the Marvel bullpen, and I greatly enjoyed his take on some of the smartest superheroes on the planet banding together to face an enormous threat and impossible choices...that being said, New Avengers is maybe a bit of a misleading title for the series as the only traditional core Avengers team-member who features throughout is Iron Man, with a brief appearance by Captain America. Illuminati would have been a better title, but of course they would have lost a lot of the red-hot name recognition.

[Blindzider · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reread (although technically the digital copies of the individual issues and not the HC.) I really loved this when it came out and this time I read it straight through without reading the other Avengers title.

It still holds up, especially the first 8 issues. What I love is the sense of impending doom that's pervasive through it. Seeing Marvel's smartest superheroes struggling to solve the problem with the incursions is fascinating. Then, Hickman also adds the examination of just what would you do to save your world? How far would you go, including destroy another world? Are you still a hero? Discussing these ideas in the context of a superhero story is what I love about the medium and it's rare to find it done so well.

The other aspect that I like is that of Kings, and the weight they bear and the choices they make, specifically, the conflict between Namor and T'Challa. Namor's arrogance and attitude is perfect. The kind of guy you like to watch who doesn't give a crap, saying and doing whatever he pleases, but also someone you fear if he's not on your side. The interaction between these two is tense and only increases in the second volume.

Issues 9-12 crossover with the Avengers title and the Infinity event. This volume suffers slightly because of that with the story becoming less focused and there are gaps of knowledge unless you have read the other titles.

I'm still going to bump this up to 4 stars because I love the rest of it.

[Mohamed Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Very Nice Build Up For Infinity

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

The New Avengers builds on the Illuminati group and the slow death of every universe with earth as the linchpin of destruction in the multi-verse. I assume this is the years worth of story that is building to Secret War. It does contain some material that is contained in the Thanos focused Infinity event. But, it has enough additional material to be worth picking up.

The art by Epting and Deodato is really well done.

[Josh Bandstra · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Illuminati are an organization of some of the world's greatest heroes, allied to stop events of catastrophic proportions from occurring. When Black Panther discovers Black Swan, a lone survivor of her race and witness to an event known as an Incursion, he immediately brings her before the Illuminati. An Incursion occurs when two Earths from different planes of the Multiverse are on a collision course, and the only way to save both universes is do destroy one of the Earths; but is this a price that the world's heroes are prepared to pay?

Jonathan Hickman is an incredible writer; he is essentially the Martin Scorsese of comics, crafting epic tales involving many characters and threats of universe-shaking proportions. One of my favorite things about him is his ability to involve all of the characters he includes in the stories he writes. Like Chris Claremont's legendary X-Men run, none of Hickman's characters ever feel superfluous and they always behave logically. That's where the true beauty of this volume lies; even though the stakes are beyond imagining, the characters are so well-grounded it's impossible not to get caught up in this story.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jonathan Hickman brings back the Illuminati in a pretty amazing way only to have the story fall apart around another line wide crossover event. The second half of this book is bits and pieces of an entire story that may or may not have been good. Hickman's concepts are always incredibly creative and intelligent but as is the case many times, he goes too scientific and loses some of the human aspects of the story. The book could have been twelve issues of T'Challa/Namor feud and I would have loved it. The art by Steve Epting and Mike Deodato was amazing as always. Overall, the story is undone by editorial. Could have been stellar.

[Ryan Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, so good. Easily 5 Stars for issues 1-6. Much of the last half suffers a bit from its inclusion in the Infinity crossover event, and you don't get this whole picture in this volume. Thanos and his army are a threat to everything! Turn the page, and Thanos is suddenly a golden statue? Reader: "Maybe an update page might have been helpful?" Marvel: "Who are you again--?"
Still, Hickman is at his best here.

[M.i. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hickman knows how to raise the stakes. Heroes and gods is something he is well versed in and in this book he brings together a cast of characters who are taking on odds much greater than they are normally used to.

[Jdetrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Are these Avengers comics? I guess...technically all of the characters here have been Avengers (except for Black Bolt), but this doesn't at all feel like an Avengers book. It doesn't help that I hate the concept of the Illuminati, and that's all this book trades in.

[Douglas Beagley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The bravery of the premise is good--but this is "grim dark grit" comics, and that doesn't give me enough hope to continue. Also (mild-not-really-a-spoiler), the main premise does not resolve in this volume.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holy cow there is a lot going on. O_o

[joseph whitehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

New avengers Volume 1

Decently Written .Long and drawn out from leading to volume 2.It is a decent read but very drawn out Cariad

[Damon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Completely Useless Story

The whole story meant nothing. The presence of the Illuminati could be much more fascinating than this. And the closing was terrible

[Ryan Lesure · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like it

Probably one of the best series I've ever read. A lot of my favorite characters, great art and writing, etc..

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic from the start, full of daring do, great bright eye catching art, moral debates right from the beginning and epic world building! :D

[TAB · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the simmering resentment of most of the members toward each other but felt the overall story arc lacked weight.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was never a big fan of Bendis' Avengers. But I did really like his Illuminati concept.

I considered ultimately Prime/Siege/Return of the Illuminati the end of his "showrunning". (This is untrue because he did much more with Miles Morales, Iron Man, X-Men. GotG, etc).

Hickman however took a lot of interesting concepts such as the Illuminati and Millar's Fantastic Four into quite the epic.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligently written and unlike any comic I have read before, New Avengers Volume 1 is not your average superhero comic. The heavy science-fiction narrative makes for a surprisingly complex read, yet Hickman manages to make it approachable enough for all readers. Having only seen the Avengers movies and never having read an Avengers comic, this was not the story I was expecting, but I think that only made this an even more pleasing read.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar to Avengers main title I agree this is a fun read at times, but little wonky at others. The thing with Avengers is it was all over the place. Some great issues, some meh. New Avengers is better in that area because it stays good throughout. However, nothing amazing happened for me. I also think the main cast is cool but they talk far too much sometimes haha. Still, overall a fun read, and ready to jump into Infinity.

Reviewed: Issue 1-6

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Barry Bridges · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligent Superheroes from the pen of Jonathan Hickman. It does help that I'd already read Infinity and the main Avengers book....

[Enigmaticblue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it okay. I was trying to get caught up before reading Secret Wars. So, I liked it, but I think I have a case of testosterone poisoning.

[Jutta · Rating 4 out of 5]

some of this I'd already read in infinity, but still good