“ALL QUIET”
The Avengers recruit more members to deal with the soon-arriving threat to Earth.
The Builders enter the Marvel Universe.
The Finale of the Prelude to INFINITY: Part Four.
The Good
Cover– A female Ex Nihilo like creature flanked by builder class robots look down on a display of the Avengers (2013) team. Not the best cover this series has ever seen but intriguing in its mystery.
Action– Eden Fesi supplies us with the action this issue and while brief shows his skill not just with his powers but with his spear.
Art– Stefano Caselli and Marco Checchetto combine this issue to continue a stellar art run on Avengers (2013). These two manage to work together to create cohesive interior art which you rarely see with multiple people on art duty.
Black Hero– Sunspot the Hispanic heartthrob is here but is in the background. My man Eden Fesi is very central to the story and sees some combat use for his abilities, which I might add were pretty damn cool. The mysterious Nightmask also shows up at the end to strike a wicked pose with fellow teammates which is already making the rounds across social media.
Full circle- This issue Hickman ties in his opening arc with Ex Nihilo and Abyss and their creations Nightmask and Firebrand who were very pivotal to the second arc by freeing them from “captivity” and having all four join an expanded Avengers (2013) team to combat the threat foretold by Captain Universe.
Threat- This is the end of the prelude issues leading up to the Infinity Event and while we have only gotten glimmers of said threat with Thanos and his generals just what else and how it ties into the instability of the universe and Hickman’s earlier tales will be interesting.
AIM- These guys are major players in the Secret Avengers book which I had to drop because I wasn’t feeling the direction or art but they are used quite well here. They have managed to secure the robot which defeated the Avengers (2013) team last issue which gives them a major weapon against the super humans in future conflicts. It took out Thor, Iron Man, Wolverine, Captain America and Captain Marvel for crying out loud and I’ve not even mentioned the whole team. That thing is scary!
The Bad
While I found the art seamless I’m sure others will be less forgiving of three artist with three distinctive style being on one book.
Marco Rudy’s art while not terrible did not match the feel of this book and thus the few pages he lent his talent on are the weakest of all.
The Ugly
Overall this issue had great art, a decent cover and expands the AVENGERS (2013) roster while tying it all into established earlier stories which for continuity buffs like myself makes my nether regions tingle. Avengers (2013) is still one of the best books on the shelves and if you’re a fan of comics done right this is a must read! 4/5
