Avengers #8, by Marc Alan Fishman – Snarky Synopsis | @MDWorld
March 24, 2013 Marc Fishman 0 Comments
Written by Jonathan Hickman, Art by Dustin Weaver and Justin Ponsor
Avengers #8 is the continuation of Jonathan Hickman’s love affair with grand, futuristic universe building. On par with all previous chapters… the book itself is a modestly paced step forward in what’s proving to be a years worth of story-telling being hurled at us in half the time. While I could pause my present snark to snark a bit on Marvel’s double-down methodology of publication, my snarkier side says no one wants to hear you whine, piss, and moan when the balance of the books you’ve read under this “speedy” push out have all been decent. So, I’m happy to digress. Avengers #8 is as I thought it would be; another intelligently written, methodically paced, well drawn chapter in a long-game Hickman is playing piece-by-piece.
To bring everyone up to speed: Hickman breaks down the continuity of the 616 in order to make clear we have plenty more universes bobbling about. At the onset of the Marvel Now’ing of the title, a ‘White Event’ has begat a crisis of near infinite proportions. Wink, wink, nudge nudge. Enter “Ex Nihilo” and the concept of the garden. I’ll spare you the geekspeak and lengthy mythologies. Think human-sized Galactus, partying on Mars… more concerned with making things, than eating them. He’s got some plucky sidekicks, and he’s been busy making super heroes. To our now-expanded roster of Avengers comes a new Captain Universe, and a pair of not-quite-seen before cosmic players—Night Mask, and as of this issue, Starbrand. What do all of these chess pieces have to do with one another? Your guess is as good as mine. If I’m making a stab at it though… I think the universe is reaching critical mass, and all these new heroes are the key to saving us or destroying us.
Luckily for all of geeknation, Hickman’s grand experiments in cosmic peril are peppered enough with human interest, a pinch of humor, and a dash of solid action. Combine these elements thusly, and you get a series that gets in and gets out quickly, but sticks in the back of your brain like a jujubee in your molars. Specific to this issue, the human interest comes in the form of Starbrand. Kevin Conner, per last issue, was your run-of-the-mill invisible teen. Not important enough to be picked on per say, and as important to social circles as Sun Spot is on the Avengers. Well, taking a page outta DC’s playbook, young Kev is doused in cosmic rays, and at the start of #8, he sits amidst a mile-wide crater of death and destruction by his own hand (accidentally, at best). Now that’s a way to get noticed! Hickman carefully treads tropey waters with the ‘weakling given god-like powers-and-could-snap-at-any-
The humor and action beats of the issue come hand in hand this time around. Whilst Captain America plays the teacher-on-one-knee trying to assess the situation… Thor and Hulk presume to smack first and ask questions never. Unluckily for them, Starbrand parties harder than they do. Thor is flicked off like so many Cheeto crumbs from my beard. And Hulk? ‘Scuse me, while he kiss’ the sky. Heh. As stated above, it’s these moments Hickman uses to diffuse the gradual weight being hefted around by the plot. Without them? The book would be a bloated Morrison-Ellis-homage without any sex, drugs, or rock-n-roll. Hickman is the clean-comedian amongst the psuedo-science insult comics. Working this clean gives his prose a very ‘high-brow’ Star Trek feel. If one were to peel back Hickman’s pages , one might see Captain Piccard debating physics with Data. And I mean that in the nicest way.
Art chores this week are completed by Dustin Weaver and Justin Ponsor. Delivering what I might call a ‘clean-line’ marriage between a John Romita Jr. and Steve Epting, Weaver’s figures practically shake on the page. His faces all contort and twist into the appropriate grimaces, per the desires of the script. Weaver doesn’t skimp on details either. His explosions, power bursts, punches, and flying debris is bathed in appropriate linework. Colors, by Mr. Ponsor, are ample and delightful. While he tends to skew towards near monochromatic palates scene by scene… the devil is all in the details. Properly utilized color knockouts help add the right amount of crackle when the situation calls for it. And I’ll give props where props are due; while he’s a bit ham-fisted on the speedlines… they are rarely a distraction for me. Suffice to say: whereas last week I lamented on Batgirl’s “By the Numbers” house-style… Dustin and Justin deliver an issue that makes Marvel Now balance between highly polished, and potentially experimental.
Avengers #8 is a solid romp in a continuing tale. Up until now, Hickman has tried to equalize heady concepts with out-and-out punching. As the series nears a potential climax, his job will increase in difficulty. Luckily for him, his experience over in Ultimate Fantastic Four, and other similarly toned series has me at ease. Playing in Marvel’s biggest sandbox hardly seems to phase him. His clever use of the “Justice League Unlimited” model helps ground each issue with only the needed pieces on the board. With that level of focus—where nothing is included unless it has to be—Avengers reads as cinema on the page. Where Joss Whedon made us believe that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes could be real… Hickman is making me believe they can be so much more.