Avengers #10

I’m always apprehensive about this series I’ve no idea of the quality it will be I’ve had issue that have been near perfect and others that have been pretty average like the last issue which I found very disappointing as the rest of the arc was pretty good and Hickman is chucking loads of high concept ideas at us but not giving answers this works up to a point but eventually it all has to come out but it’s cosmic based stuff mostly and I generally like that sort of thing.

Plot

The Avengers arrive on the Helicarrier meeting with the leader of Department H who shows them what happened to Omega flight one month ago and then he Agent Michaud comes with them to the origin site where Omega flight disappeared.

Review

I’m not entirely sure what to think about this one I utterly love the ideas in this book this probably is my favourite issue out of the series in terms of the concepts it’s that creative but the fact is ten issues in and the large questions from the earlier parts of this series like the builders and what they are doing and also Ex Nihilo and Abyss as well as Starbrand and Nightmask, also questions about Captain Universe those children in the Savage land and the origin sites found around the world, I can take some questions being left out for a bit but this is 10 issues in and more questions have been put up in this issue it’s still an enjoyable book but if Hickman keeps adding more and more questions and not giving answers this is going to become a big mess I’m just getting the impression that Hickman is Marvel’s Grant Morrison laying out complex stories but not giving answers straight away but there is one difference that I will talk about more later.

First off I liked how this issue started off a scene showing a later part of this book and the scene will immediately grab your attention as to who this is and what is going on this is a common thing for writers to do but this one was a little bit special because of the events in it. Basically the plot overall is interesting with a few twists in it too keep you drawn into it, and you will be interested by this book because you don’t know which direction this story will go in because what is set out here is nothing like what you normally see in a comic, which is a positive point to the story Hickman is telling. I have to admit I think Hickman is trying new things because he writes an interesting scene with a sort of military style script going along with it which at first I found annoying but in the end I liked it, it gave the issue an interesting feel and for this sort of scene it made sense.

Like I said the ideas in this are beyond clever they are just downright wacky in an extremely good way that makes you smile because Hickman is building a long game here and while I don’t know if he himself will answer these as one of the little teasers has already been seen (involving Hulk) but the rest is really interesting and one of the teasers with agent Michaud is positively terrifying and it is fulfilled so that gives me the impression that eventually these stories will happen and I want to see more. This is not something I can hold against the actual issue but more Hickman himself but my point being if he intends to continue these plots he should at least keep the idea subtly repeated because say this turns up a year later some people are going to be wondering what on Earth? is going on here? The scene itself is interesting and I liked it a lot but still Hickman hopefully will find a way around these problems.

Now my point earlier about Hickman being a bit like Grant Morrison in his whole long game plan being planned, but the point that Morrison has that Hickman hasn’t got is Morrison’s stories are more character driven . I’m thinking this because I find that in recent issues Hickman has decided to develop the stories purely on the plot mostly and that the big decisions for this book have not come from the Avengers but the plot and the villains, and other characters. I want more Avengers basically because I’m happy they were more front and centre in this issue but in other issues even the villains have not got a big says in the change of direction in this book and this issue is no different. Morrison develops the stories on character choices from his lead characters like the recent development in Batman Inc was character driven. Hickman does induce more Avengers into the book than the previous issue and maybe I’m being a little unfair because the big shock in this issue is character driven but it isn’t an Avenger which is what I want to happen in this book and I liked how Hickman put some humour into this book and a few more character moments which made it feel a little better.

Also Omega flight I have a problems with their whole involvement in this issue first off who are they? I know Wendigo but since when was he a good guy maybe I’m just behind on stuff like that but some of these characters I’m not even I’ve ever seen them in a comic before and I quite like Alpha and Omega flight. Secondly the team is supposedly the elite team in Canada but they seem to be taken down that easily? In Spoiler 4 hours I think that someone like Wendigo should have been more difficult to fight but it’s even worse when the Avengers go in there virtually unharmed when they come out. Thirdly the team is a plot point they are there no real detail given or character development and then they are gone (save one) I just felt it was a little off for this to happen and I know Hickman’s been doing this a lot in Avengers like I said but for a team like this I think they should have been given more development.

This story also gets a bit jumbled up at the end and a bit confusing because once again Hickman throws a big concept up at us that of like displaced time or whatever it is. Basically this book goes from right at the end of these events, to the present, then a bit of a flashback, then to the present, that would have been fine to understand but then it gets to the end of the events, and then back into more detail about another bit in it then returns to the present that may seem easy enough to understand here (then again it might not) but I found it immensely confusing.

The art is undoubtedly the best part and I’m happy Mike Deodato was on this arc because I loved Dustin Weaver’s art was absolutely spot on perfect in the last few issues I adored every aspect of it and Mike Deodato does an equal if not better job on the art in this issue I think the detail was stunning and the backgrounds look amazing as do the characters who all look realistic without being overly realistic retaining a nice level shadows across the face that make it look realistic. Mike Deodato did a really good job with the light affects in this issue because there are some fairly colourful scenes in this issue, also I particularly liked one panel which is all silhouetted and in doing so it made it look all the more dramatic.

Verdict

This was better than last issue which was probably my least favourite of the series so far and I’m happy for this improvement but this series still hasn’t hit the quality of its debut issue but still try out this issue and this series it may be inconsistent but the good points of the series generally outweigh the bad points and this issue was a fun read from start to finish and I look forward to the next issue.

3 stars