Avengers 2013 #3- By Jonathan Hickman
The birth of the New Adam.
On Mars, the Battle between The Avengers and the Garden comes to a dramatic conclusion.
“If you want LIFE and all the good things living entails, then you’ll have to earn it.” –Ex Nihilo
Summary
On Mars Ex Nihilo’s “New Adam” is born and exhibits great power. Steve Rogers and his reinforcements arrive and free the captured Avengers which turns the tide of the battle. Just then Aleph gets ready to destroy them all when Captain Universe ends the threat by destroying Aleph and giving Ex Nihilo and Abyss new objectives.
Cap and his team take “New Adam” back to Earth with the world safe.
The Good
Cover- The finale piece to the connecting cover poster which introduces us to the global (or is that universal?) Avengers team created by Steve and Tony!
Art- This is prime crème your pants grade “A” undiluted perfect on every single page. This book is worth the money based on art alone. Jerome Opena I hope marvel appreciates the stunning top notch work your delivering every month!
Falcon- I’ve got such a “broner” right now for Hickman it’s not funny. I’m not the biggest Falcon fan; in fact I straight up think he’s one of the biggest jokes in comics’ period! Hickman though just added a whole new dimension to his powers I never even thought about before. Apart from the training by cap his ability to communicate and command birds has always been underrated. This issue we realize that this ability is not just limited to birds but extraterrestrial avian life forms and things connected to them. With an Earth based member of the Shiar Empire on the team Falcon’s power if executed properly could open this character up in endless ways. The Shiar are avian based extra terrestrials……..could his powers extend to them? Hmmmm, the possibilities! 
Team- If this team continues with this kind of execution it may become my favorite Avengers teams. The range of characters and array of abilities has potential far beyond what Bendis did in his runs as head writer.
New Adam- It’s interesting that Hickman chose to give new Adam the pigmentation that he did, why make him black as opposed to the traditional stereotype of white? Not complaining just thinking that Hickman is a long term thinker so he must have a very specific reason for just about everything that occurs in his books.
Action- Explosions, mutated creatures facing mutants and superhumans and even what appears to be discorporation? Yup this mother****** had it all!
Captain Universe- Now here is a chick who I would not advise anyone piss off! Aleph is easily a Galactus level planet destroying threat and she lays his down with a finger? It’s a good thing the “Omni Force” is benevolent unlike the Phoenix Force otherwise Cap should be less “were so cool’ and be worrying if his little blond, blue eyed Aryan ass will be flash fried next.
Black Heroes- New Adam, Captain Universe, Sunspot, Falcon and Eden Fesi; Just typing that made me think of Dwayne McDuffie of Milestone comics fame, he would be very pleased with what Hickman is doing with this book.
Humor-Not the funniest book on the stands but I got a chuckle from the womanizing Sunspot hitting on Smasher in the idle of a firefight and the equally horny Thor making plans to spare Abyss his wrath because she was a good kisser.
The Bad
Captain America- This is based purely on my opinion on everything that has happened in recent history in regards to Captain America, both based on the Avengers Vs X-men event and his brief stint on Hickman’s New Avengers. He seems like a pompous, self righteous prick who thinks by virtue of him being “Cap” that he is the be all and end all rule maker of the marvel universe…….upon typing that he seems to be channeling George Bush recently.
Resolution- While I Loved how epic this opening arc was, and that Captain Universe saved earth, the resolution was a bit too neat and tidy for me. I like when storylines have far reaching consequences and ramifications. This one just had Mars become another inhabitable planet or at least have a small inhabitable region very similar to “Tabula Rasa” in the X-men line of books.
The Ugly
Despite nitpicks I found this the best damn read I had all month. Sure the review was delayed until February but in January this was the benchmark of the very best that comics in general had to offer. Hickman and Opena are f*cking rock stars reinvigorating the Avengers brand every month while kicking copious amounts of ass and taking names! Simply must read material 5/5
