Review: Avengers World #2 by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer & Stefano Caselli

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Avengers World #2

Written by: Jonathan Hickman & Nick Spencer
Art by: Stefano Caselli
Colored by: Frank Martin
Lettered by: Joe Caramagna
Published by: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99

Warning! This review contains quite a few spoilers!

It amazes me how important Avengers has become to Marvel’s publishing strategy. When I was first starting comics, there were just two Avengers books…and Marvel seemed almost embarrassed by the name. At one point, they had ever renamed Avengers West Coast to Forceworks. You can blame that on the success of X-Force I guess. We also got Fantastic Force around the same time.

But between Bendis revitalizing Avengers and the success of the Marvel movieverse, Avengers has become a real hot property. Just like the letter “X,” Marvel now throws Avengers on every title. I really don’t have a problem with that, it’s just good marketing. And this book actually is an Avengers title, unlike books like Secret Avengers, Avengers Academy, or Avengers A.I.  But I still find it interesting.

ANY WAY, on with the review…

Summary (contains spoilers): While the first issue of Avengers World jumped around a little to show us several teams of Avengers engaged in different missions, this one picks up from Smasher, Sunspot, and Cannonball’s story. They have been tasked with infiltrating AIM island, which seems to be rapidly expanding, and they were knocked out at the end of the last issue.

This issue picks up with Smasher trying to break out of her cell. The Scientist Supreme tells his underlings to release her, and she starts to explore the island looking to rescue her missing teammates. She immediately finds that the island seems to be evolving.

She encounters the Scientist Supreme who apologizes for attacking the heroes, calling it confusion caused by the “birthing pains” for their attempts to jump start AIM and the human race.

According to the Scientist Supreme, AIM is looking to make the world a better place through science. I just think they are hoping to evolve out of dressing like beekeepers.

Despite claiming to be allies, he has a robot bug inject Smasher with something. We find out that AIM is working with the Entropic Man. Smasher’s body starts to change, and the Scientist Supreme says that she will be his messenger to tell the world “Everything Dies.” When she is done changing, her costume looks like Yellowjacket, and that is where the issue ends.

Review: Upfront I do have one major complaint about this book. The whole reason I was buying this book is because of how great Spencer wrote Cannonball and Sunspot in the Marvel Now preview issue. I am a long time New Mutants fan, and it’s been great to see these two having fun for a change.  BUT, they were knocked out this entire issue. BOO!!!  Bait and switch!! All right, all right, I will admit, that really didn’t take away from me enjoying this issue all that much.

For the most part, I am not usually a big fan of Hickman’s writing. I tried his Fantastic Four and his Avengers, and it just wasn’t for me. I do appreciate the massive scale he’s going for…but I just typically feel no real connection to his characters and stories. That said, I do like Nick Spencer quite a bit, and the two of them seem to work really well together on Avengers World.   Spencer seems to tone down some of Hickman’s “scale” and make it much easier for me as a reader to relate to Avengers World.

Another thing about this book that I have been enjoying is this “new” Bruce Banner. Ever since Mark Waid took over Hulk, I have had a lot more interest in Bruce Banner.  Banner has become cool and important, not just the lame nerd that the Hulk turns into in his time off. Admittingly, some of this is taken direct from the movie, and the new Banner seems to have a LOT of Tony Stark in him, but I find that much more interesting than the brooding Banner I am used to seeing.

This AIM evolution storyline has interesting, and Stefano Caselli is the perfect artist for the job. I loved how he drew the evolved AIM island. I also think he has a lot of detail on the characters.  Banner’s stubble jumped out at me in the above image for some reason.

I really am curious why Smasher ended up looking like Yellowjacket in the end though. That seemed kind of random.

My one big gripe about this comic is I did think some of the vague flashback sequences took away from the action a bit. 6 of the 21 pages were devoted to telling us that Smasher was inspired to becoming a superhero by her grandfather, a World War II era hero named Captain Terror. It just felt like padding to me.

Captain Terror also played a big part in All New Invaders which also came out this week.  I am curious if that’s related or a real odd coincidence.

All that said, this was a real strong issue. This is only the second comic I’ve read with the new Smasher, and I think she’s a great character. I don’t know why they changed her to Yellowjacket, but I am willing to wait and see.

I loved the interplay between Captain America, Banner, and Hill. I also liked that this Avengers team seems to be dealing with the politics of the world, and not just hero beating up bad guy. And AIM feels like a threat for a change. The issue is a little light on action, but I thought the narration and characterization was good and made up for that.

I definitely think Avengers World is worth giving a look, even if you passed on Hickman’s earlier Avengers work like I did!

Final Score: 8.5: While I really couldn’t get into Hickman’s work on Avengers and New Avengers, Avengers World has really grabbed me! It’s the only Avengers book I am reading at the moment, and I love it!

Mike Maillaro is a lifelong Jersey Boy and geek. Mike has been a comic fan for about 30 years from when his mom used to buy him Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Adventures at our local newsstand. Thanks, Mom!! Mike's goal is to bring more positivity to the discussion of comics and pop culture.