Avengers World #15
Written by: Nick Spencer & Frank Barbiere
Art by: Marco Checchetto
Cover by: Kalman Andrasofszky
Colored by: Andreas Mossa
Lettered by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Published by: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99
Note: This is a review of the digital version which can be found on Comixology.
Warning! This review contains quite a few spoilers!
Summary (contains spoilers): This issue starts with Valeria Richards in New York City. She spots a crisis and uses her tablet to put out “the call.”
Earlier in Latveria, the inversion has caused Doom to realize that he has has a lot of regrets in life. He decides he needs to make Latveria and the entire world a better place. He can’t half ass this…ONLY TOTAL ABSOLUTION IS ACCEPTABLE! So says Doom!
He also knows that Scarlet Witch will be coming to get revenge against him. Doom has constructed a device to harness her powers, and this will allow him to rechannel those powers to reshape the world.
Valeria goes to SHIELD, and presents them with a list of candidates she wants to bring in to work with the inverted Doom. Coulson and Valeria track down Elsa Bloodstone, US Agent, Valykrie, 3-D Man, and Stingray. The team is assembled in Latveria, though none of them are told what they are being assembled for. In fact, most of them are assuming they are there to stop Doom. Valeria puts on one of Doom’s armors…
Soon after, Scarlet Witch arrives, and the team is shocked to discover what is really going on here. Stingray is taken out attempting to protect Valeria. Scarlet Witch seems to have an army of Visions at her command, and that is where this issue ends.
Review: Axis needs a more attention grabbing trade dress for the crossovers. I actually didn’t even notice this one was labelled an Axis crossover until I uploaded the cover for this review. I had the same issue with Captain America and the Mighty Avengers, come to think about it. This isn’t a big deal, I just wanted to mention it.
Avengers World is one of the most unique comics Marvel puts out. Basically, the first issue started with Captain America, Banner, and Maria Hill putting a system in place to send out Avengers teams to deal with crisis situations. Three crises happen at the same time, and the next 14 issues rotated focus on each crisis. A lot of new characters were introduced, including a team of Avengers from the future, a China-based superhero team called the Ascendants, and a team of heroes in Europe led by Black Knight called Euroforce. Sadly, I don’t know if these characters and concepts will ever show up again, but I thought they were great.
This issue continues that tradition by giving Valeria Richards and Doctor Doom a team of Avengers under their control. I liked this issue quite a bit…BUT, I have the same concern I always have. Is any of this going to stick around in the long term? I can’t help but think of when Marvel did the 50-state initiative, with superhero teams supposedly stationed in all 50 states. This seems to have been forgotten, except when a writer (seemingly at random) remembers this, and shows them in a small role in one of their books. Doom’s Avengers, Euroforce, Ascendants, Avengers Next…all seem destined to be forgotten, and that really bums me out. Such huge potential that will be wasted. Sorry to sound so down, I am still bitter over losing Fearless Defenders.
I do think it’s probably a stretch that SHIELD would go along with giving Doom his own team of Avengers…even with these “lame” characters, but I am willing to ignore that conceit to go along with the story.
Most of this book was all about introducing the characters and the team, and I think they did a great job with that.
There didn’t seem like there could possible be enough space to do everything this issue tried to do, but I think Spencer and Barbiere paced it out real well.
I always love when Marvel shines a light on some forgotten characters. Bloodstone and Valykrie appeared in Fearless Defenders, but I hadn’t see a lot of these characters in a long time. I actually used to own a shirt with Stingray on it (it was a big group shot)…and I will never forget that I was in a shop getting glasses, and the optometrist said, “Is that Stingray? I’ve always liked him.”
I also am a huge Nick Spencer fan. Ever since I read his work on THUNDER Agents, if I see Spencer’s name, it’s an instant must buy. I am sad that Superior Foes of Spider-Man is ending, but at the same time, he should be getting a pretty high-profile book with Ant-Man getting a movie next year, so that works out really well.
I don’t know Marco Checchetto’s work all that well, but I thought on a whole, the art was good. I didn’t like the way Val looked in Doom’s armor, but that was pretty much the only thing bad I have to say about this comic.
Avengers World is pretty much the forgotten stepchild of the Avengers line. BUT, I think it’s probably better that way. It gives Spencer and company much more freedom to tell some pretty crazy stories. I have said before, I don’t really like Hickman’s work all that much. I think the stories and characters introduced in Avengers World are always much more compelling to me as a reader. Hopefully, this book will be sticking around for a while.
| Title: | Avengers World #15 |
| Written By: | Nick Spencer & Frank Barbiere |
| Art By: | Marco Checchetto |
| Company: | Marvel |
| Price: | $3.99 |
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| Cons: |
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| Is it worth your $3.99? | 8.5/10 – Another really solid issue of Avengers World. I like Doom’s new team quite a bit, and I hope Marvel will do something with them (and this title). BUT, I really have doubts that will happen. |
