New Avengers #4

Jonathan Hickman is doing something right with New Avengers. I his Avengers run too, but New Avengers is definitely more my speed. It's got a longer story, the stakes are high in a believable way, and I really love the lineup. Namor is one of my favorite characters, because he's always such a magnificent bastard. So any comic with one of Marvel's top jerk also scores some points with me.

This book has got Inhumans, mutants, the Sorcerer Supreme, a super-soldier and more super-science than you can shake a stick at. Really, this book has pretty much anything you would want. Except Hank Pym, apparently. I don't mean to sound bitter though.

Steve Epting's art is usually a pretty great match with Hickman (check their work together on Fantastic Four if you don't believe me) but there's something a bit off with this issue.

Part of it is the colors on a certain part of the book. There is a section where everything has a sort of reddish tinge to it. Now, that makes sense for what's happening. What's a little bit off about it is that for some reason, some of the character's noses have more red than the rest of them. In a couple panels Galactus looks like he just polished off a few barrels of Jack Daniel's and Namor looks like an absolute lush.

There are also a couple minor flourishes that seem pointless to me. One in particular is just a way to show off something cool Reed Richards is doing with his suit. It seems better to just let the reader notice it on their own. I've always thought that doing something like that just underestimates what a reader would pick up on on.

There is a lot going on in this book, but the pacing doesn't feel slow to me at all. Each piece only adds to the sense of immediacy this book has. It's a nice change of pace from the seemingly commonplace decompressed story lines. All too frequently, it seems that many writers sacrifice the proper pacing of issues for adding in details.

These details are wonderful, but when you read the stories issue to issue it can seem a little slow. As much as I prefer these stories when they eventually hit the shelves in bound volume, they can get a bit frustrating to read month to month.

However, Hickman seems like he's got a handle on writing a long story in the single issue format, so I'm definitely looking forward to what is yet to come in his New Avengers run.