Comic Info
Comic Name: All-New Marvel Now! Point One/Avengers World
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Jonathan Hickman/Nick Spencer
Artist: Stephano Castelli/Rags Morales
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2014
Avengers World #4
Reprints All-New Marvel Now! Point One #1 and Avengers World #1-5 (March 2014-June 2014). The Avengers have a new partner: S.H.I.E.L.D.! Joining forces with the world’s security force has the Avengers tackling problems all around the globe, but the Avengers’ problems are soon going to even be too big for them! As A.I.M. Island begins to grow at a strange rate, a dragon rises out of the ground below Madripoor, and an underground city in Italy reveals a dangerous enemy…and the Avengers are now stretched to their limit.
Written by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Spencer, Avengers World Volume 1: A.I.M.pire spins out of Hickman’s The Avengers (Volume 4) series. The collection features the team’s introduction in All-New Marvel Now! Point One #1 (March 2014) and the first five issues of the series. The series features art by Stephano Castelli (with Rags Morales on the Point One issue).
I was really tired of Bendis’ run on Avengers when he ended it and looked forward to see what Hickman would do with the team. Hickman’s take on the Avengers started out strong (like Bendis), but quickly became overrun and confusing (especially leading into the event series Infinity). Here, the Avengers storyline is more concise and streamlined, but that doesn’t mean it is necessarily good.
The first thing to know about this collection is that it isn’t really a complete collection. This isn’t always a bad thing, but readers who want a start and finish, won’t get one in A.I.M.pire…it is more like “Part One” of a bigger story. As a result, you can’t necessarily be critical of the plot or how it is revealed, but you can question why Marvel chose to collect it this way.
Avengers World #3 Variant
The story can be broken up into four separate parts (at this point). There is the events on A.I.M. Island with Cannonball, Sunspot, and Smasher which feels like the primary story. You have mostly Shang-Chi battling the Gorgon on Madripoor (with Black Widow, Falcon, and Wolverine in tow). The third part would be Star Brand, Spider-Woman, Nightmask, and Hawkeye in the City of the Dead, and the fourth part of the collection involves Captain America, Bruce Banner, and Maria Hill trying to manage all the problems from S.H.I.E.LD. It feels like the storylines are moving together, but you don’t get that here…just hints of it.
Stephano Castelli’s art is strong, but with so many “new” characters, I wish some characters had stuck to their traditional costumes. It feels a bit alien as a long-time reader and a strange blending of something like the Ultimates’ world and Earth (which comes later in Secret Wars). It feels like be it the art or storytelling that there needs to be more of a nod to some of the classic Avengers stories.
Avengers World 1: A.I.M.pire is a sometimes frustrating story. I really want to like the title and admire the choosing of odd characters to make up the Avengers (something Avengers has always done well). The team however is too sprawling much like the events of the book and something I always admire about team books is the family nature of the team. While a “family” team book isn’t a practical idea of protecting the world (if there are a ton of heroes in the world, why wouldn’t you use them like a police squad?), it always seemed like more fun. Avengers World 1: A.I.M.pire is followed by Avengers World 2: Ascension.
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