Advance Review: Avengers Forever #1

Are you ready for a multiverse threat that requires an Avengers team assembling from the far corners of the multiverse! I do wonder if this threat is going to be bigger than one we have already seen in DC’s Infinite Frontier and subsequent Infinite Justice book? If not, then surely this is just another one of those “jump on the bandwagon’ multiverse books that every publishers seems to be infatuated with.

Ghost Rider, driving through the multiverse discovers an Earth where the greatest age of heroes never occurred; yes a world without Avenger has also been done this year! With a battle on the horizon, Ghost Rider looks for help from this universes greatest criminal, Tony Stark the Invincible Ant-Man!

Jason Aaron is certainly trying to leave his mark on the Avengers. You can’t fault his grandiose ideas, which has included the B.C. Avengers and the Phoenix force. Could this be a case, or cases, of trying too hard? Having sown the seeds of Marvel’s version of the multiverse from previous issues of the main book and of course the recent Avengers #750, Aaron certainly relies on the reader being all up to date, otherwise things are going to seem a whole lot of crazy. Hell, I have been reader on ad off and I still think there is a lot of crazy going around. The dialogue is as expected, though the use of “hope” as a swear word gets a tad repetitive.

The art is provided by Arron Kuder for the main, with Cam Smith contributing. If you are looking for an epic book than there are pages in here that scream cinematic, Ghost Rider jumping from the car for example. Unfortunately, the chaos of the having to give us another Earth and the tease of who Ant-Man is, coupled with the goal of every page delivering grand idea when that panels are large, which means that times, the book comes across as tell and not show as fi there is quite enough time to give Arron’s story the depth of pacing it probably requires. Inks are consistent throughout the book thanks to Jason Keith. The other highlight of the book is without question the fantastic colors of Triona Farrell who has several distinct environs to work with, each one superbly realised. With the aforementioned abundance of dialogue and monologue, it’s a good thing that Marvel have a VC stable mate letterer on hand in the shape of Cory Petit. Petit may not seem as flashy as VC colleague Clayton Cowles, but here Petit excels in showing the differentiation between the characters. There are a raft of covers to choose from, I have no real preferences, so buyers choice wins the game!

Where have all the new ideas gone? Marvel used to be known as the House of Ideas; has the comic book world become so jaded that one idea becomes the norm for a range of publishers? If it is the case that one idea can spread across the aisles, then the last one to the party has to be doing it better than the last and despite all the grand ideas and epic stylings, I am not sure that this book meets that criteria.

Writing – 3 Stars

Art – 3 Stars

Colors – 3.5 Stars

Overal – 3 Stars

Written by; Jason Aaron
Art by; Aaron Kuder & Cam Kennedy
Inks by; Jason Keith
Colors by; Triona Farrell
Letters by; VC’S Cory Petit
Published by; Marvel Worldwide Inc.

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network