The Good
The majority of the issue focuses around Manifold, who is a really cool character. He's this very spiritual character who reaches out to the universe for his answers. We've seen characters like this before, but Manifold and his mother, are two very cool characters readers can get behind. It's a step away from the traditional Marvel hero and someone fans will want to start following more.
Nick Spencer and Jonathon Hickman are utilizing A.I.M. in a brand new way and it is very exciting. There's always been potential for these guys, but they've never felt utilized. They've always felt like the butt of the joke. While that element of goofiness is still buried within, they've really come together to become a cool force with strong leadership. They come off as a real threat and one that may actually accomplish their goals.
The Bad
This is a very ambitious book, but frankly, it's a story too large to work in a month-to-month format. It feels like it's a book that tries to pack a very big event into one book.Each issue tends to focus on a single character, but also on the event taking place. Some of these characters in this series are unfamiliar ones, so there's a lot of time spent on establishing these characters as well.
Because of so much going into one book, the pacing feels a bit off. One story starts, then abruptly stops, in order to move on to a side story. It has a bit of a jumpy feel to it and feels incomplete. This is a book that will obviously read much better in trade than anything else.
The Verdict
AVENGERS WORLD is a book that is hit or miss issue to issue. It hasn't had a bad issue yet, per se, but this along with a previous issue was a middle of the road book. This is a series that truly feels like a great read as a trade, but struggles a bit from issue to issue because there is simply way too much going on within this book to contain within a single issue. Manifold is the center of this issue and he is a very cool character that brings a lot to the Avengers table. A.I.M. moves their plot further here and Hickman and Spencer have done a great job at redefining this once goofy team. However, overall, it's just an ok issue.
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