Avengers #5
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Adam Kubert and Frank Martin
The short of it:
It’s the story of the brand new Smasher and it dates all the way back to Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, where a Smasher crashed on Earth and died of his injuries on a farm in Iowa. His goggles broke, and a piece remained even after his body was recovered by the Shi’ar, and that shard of glass reformed itself into a new pair of goggles that Izzy Dare found. She lived out on the farm with her dad and grandfather, and that old man was something of a hellraiser, sabotaging the pens. He just didn’t like things in cages. And Izzy? She wanted more for herself than to just sit on the farm. She was a stargazer whose mysterious red goggles started asking to be put on. Who was transformed by those goggles and had an entire universe opened up to her. As the first human subguardian in the history of the Empire.
Now, in the present, Izzy is still a Smasher, still a subguardian, but she’s also an Avenger. So when the Shi’ar call in reinforcements, she shows up with Cap, Wolverine, Falcon, and the HULK! You know who teams up well with Smasher? The King of Smashing. Her willpower and refusal to give up is extraordinary, the Smasher AI argues with her every step of the way, but when all is said and done? Smasher holds the line, and the Majestor rewards her with a new designation. Superguardian in the Imperial Guard.
But who sent that invasion force to the Shi’ar, anyway?
What I liked:
- Izzy is ridiculously likable. Hickman hits all the right beats to establish her as just an average girl who was given the opportunity to be something fantastic. Sure, she went from would be astronomer into space hero, but the stretch is much lighter than most Marvel characters. Plus, again, ridiculously likable.
- Any connections to Grant Morrison’s X-Men is brownie points in my book.
- Dan Dare’s line of thinking is perfect in its simplicity. He doesn’t like things in cages, he doesn’t like slavery, he believes in freedom for everyone and everything. Hell of a rolemodel for the newest Superguardian.
- After four needlessly complicated issues, it’s really nice to have an issue where I can read it and not feel completely lost.
- There are a few moments of weakness, but man, you put Adam Kubert on a book and it just feels more like Marvel to me.
What I didn’t like:
- Anything not Smasher related struggled to work for me. Like Tony dealing with ‘Adam’, whom I actually forgot about.
- Adam Kubert took the time to draw in what look like breathing apparatuses for the space traveling Avengers, but Manifold doesn’t have one, Hulk quickly ditches his, and Cap, Wolverine, and Falcon all have ones that appear and disappear at random.
Final thoughts:
I have no idea who Dan Dare is, but the name does sound familiar. Google was no help for ringing any bells, as now I know who he is supposed to be, but it just becomes clearer that I have no idea who he is.
After five issues of Avengers and three of New Avengers, this is the single most straightforward thing Hickman has done with the franchise. Who would have thought that having a character be a human member of an elite intergalactic group of superguardians would be the least complicated thing thus far?
Smasher is very Green Lantern like in her execution. The goggles give her her powers, contain an AI, and there’s a large contingent of similarly powered Smashers.
So what’s the Shi’ar status quo these days? I lost track after War of Kings when Vulcan ran them into the ground and subservient to the Kree.
Smasher and Hulk is just such a natural team up.
So I’ve seen three Smasher’s die in the last ten years. The one that Morrison killed, the one that Gladiator decapitated in War of Kings, and the one who dies here to make room for Izzy’s promotion up to Superguardian.
Who the hell brings Falcon on a space mission? There aren’t any birds out there! Unless his bird powers give him some sort of control over the Shi’ar….which I highly doubt.
Overall: 8.5/10
