If you’re wondering what direction Jonathan Hickman is planning to take his Avengers, the answer is… more:
The idea is that the Avengers have to get bigger. That means bigger in every sense. That means the roster has to be bigger, and the missions have to be bigger, and the adversaries and scenarios they find themselves in have to be larger. I’ve played with this stuff a little bit over in the Ultimate Universe. Obviously, it’s a completely different weight class here, but in a lot of ways that’s the kind of velocity that the book should have. We (Tom Brevoort and I) also felt like that if the book was going to be about an Avengers world, it should look more like the world. Of course there are complications starting out when the necessary movie characters are five white dudes and a white lady, but, you know, bigger roster. Frankly, I’m really, really excited at how we address that. The lineup is killer.
That’s an eighteen-character line-up, but don’t expect that to be an entirely big-name collection, apparently. “The book very quickly becomes about all the characters that surround the big guns of the Marvel Universe… Once people see how the issues work, it will become very clear. This isn’t about a random group of characters I just decided to put together,” Hickman explained. “This is about a bunch of heroes who feel the same way about the main Avengers as we do. You want to see Thor? So do these guys.” The mighty fanboys? This could end up being an interesting take on the idea…
July 24th, 2012 at 8:32 am
Unfortunately, I’m just not excited for Hickman’s Avengers. I’ve sampled a lot of his work but it never holds my interest and I often stop reading it. The one bright spot here is the acknowledgment of a more diverse cast. I’m looking forward to seeing more comics that are not just a white-boys club.
July 24th, 2012 at 9:22 am
I really like this idea. I mentioned it before, but it feels like the old Justice League of America books, or even the Legion.
That said, the one thing this will do is point out one of the biggest logic flaws in superhero comics: why are there so many teams? If the Avengers goes global and expands, why would there be any other teams? Wouldn’t they all be part of one large Avengers team that breaks off into smaller teams? Why would a team like the Defenders even exist?
When the roster expands, there shouldn’t be any crimes that the Avengers don’t have covered. And if we’re seeing new unity between A and X, why a half dozen X-men teams?
July 24th, 2012 at 9:32 am
I’m looking forward to this – Kurt Busiek and Alan Davis gave us a Mightier Avengers for a few issues, and it was excellent. My only real qualm is that Hickman might do an FF ie go for a rambling several-year storyline. Shorter stories with speedy pay-offs, please.
July 24th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
I’m very much looking forward to Hickman’s take . And that’s already for a rather minor but dear to me detail : S.H.I.E.L.D .
As seen within a few books like avengers , Da vinci and his organisation are now getting fully integrated into the Marvel universe , wich is quite rad .
I would expect hickman’s run to keep pushing for those guys to guest star and cameo even more and better
October 4th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Great post but not all is correct becouse i found this also