Comic Info
Comic Name: Avengers World/Avengers (Volume 4)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Nick Spencer/Al Ewing
Artist: Marco Chechetto/Stefano Caselli/Dale Keown
# of Issues: 5
Release Date: 2014
Avengers World #7
Reprints Avengers World #6-9 and Avengers (4) #34.1 (July 2014-October 2014). The A.I.M. Empire is growing in power and the combined efforts of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers seem unable to stop it. Meanwhile in Madripoor, a great dragon has risen from the sea, and it might mean Falcon will be forced to make an alliance with unlikely allies to stop it from destroying China. The Black Knight joins the Avengers in his quest to stop Morgan Le Fay and her army of the undead while Cannonball and Sunspot jet to the future to try to change the present…with the help of Jocasta. Plus, Hyperion takes on a kidnapping and questions his role in the future of Earth.
Written by Nick Spencer (Avengers World #6-9) and Al Ewing (Avengers #34.1), Avengers World Volume 2: Ascension is the follow-up to Avengers World Volume 1: A.I.M.pire. The collection features art by Marco Chechetto and Stefano Caselli (Avengers World #6-9) and Dale Keown (Avengers #34.1).
On paper, Avengers World seems like a good thing. The Avengers are massive and sprawling and there are crisis all around the world. Unlike Justice League of America, the Avengers were never officially tied “to America” and taking on Earth’s problems at a global scale seems natural. Unfortunately, Avengers World takes on too much (just like the Avengers).
Avengers World #8
The slight problem with the first volume was that it felt incomplete. The comic book companies have groomed readers to expect six-issue arcs (progressively falling to five or four now), but Avengers World 1: A.I.M.pire had a story with no sense of an ending. I thought Avengers World 2: Ascension would maybe end the storyline…it doesn’t. Reader must be hooked quickly and trades must be put out fast, but it feels like Avengers World should have held off for a bigger collection that finished at least one or two of the storylines.
Despite the multiple stories, the stories are pretty flimsy on an individual story level. When you think about what happened in each issue, you realize that not much happened nor did much time pass. It feels a bit fluffy and undercooked in that sense. I feel like the story needs more substance.
It also is strange that the collection features the random Avengers issue. While it isn’t the worst issue, it doesn’t really add much to the story other than showing Hyperion’s mindset, but he has his own solo issue in Avengers World #6. It feels like it would have been better included in an actual Avengers collection and that it was tacked on here to fatten up the collection which is slim. It also feels like set-up for Hyperion’s spin-off series which occurred in 2016.
Avengers World continues to underwhelm with this volume. There is a lot of talent and a lot of characters behind the series, but it doesn’t feel like it has much heart. It feels like it exists simply to have another Avengers title and with the both The Avengers and Avengers World lacking the “family” feel I like in a team book, it makes them not as much fun to read. Avengers World 2: Ascension is followed by Avengers World 3: Next World.
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