The evil AU Avengers are reminiscent of the Crime Syndicate, and let Hickman show off his own chops in terms of how he got the characters he was writing, by inverting them and making them their own foils.īut where the book was its most interesting, where it’s always been its most interesting, is in New Avengers and its exploration of the Illuminati and the universe-ending stakes of the entire story. There’s some really fun conceptual work wrapped in the framework of exploring alternate universes, in both books. The Avengers have to face off against twisted versions of the classic roster, while the New Avengers completely unravel as they continue to seek out new information on the Incursions and how to prevent them. It’s what makes the book so potent.įor my money, this is the strongest portion of Hickman’s run on Avengers, at least in terms of Hickman’s plotting and writing. There are no “good guys” in New Avengers. Sure, there’s conflict and antagonists in the main Avengers title, but the protagonists are the good guys while the antagonists are the bad guys.

It is very clear that this is the secret history, the one where bad things are happening. But before any issue of New Avengers, the title page is all black, with the symbol for Marvel’s Illuminati across the page. Before every Avengers issue is a white page with the title and a little snippet of art, feeling like a standard chapter in the story. And it’s also very clear whether you’re reading an issue of Avengers or one of New Avengers. This fourth Complete Collection throws out the previous one’s style of having no demarcation between issues – it’s abundantly clear when the issue you’re reading ends and when the next one begins.

Of course, that couldn’t be the end of the story. Infinity, on its surface, was the Avengers’ greatest victory in Hickman’s era, and once you dig a little deeper, was the Avengers’ greatest defeat.

New avengers complete collection vol 1