Now that we’ve all been introduced to the newest members of the Avengers’ roster like Smasher, Hyperion, and Captain Universe, business is starting to pick up in the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ main book. While he’s been giving us the back stories of the new faces he’s brought into the fray, writer Jonathan Hickman has also been showing us some potential threats that the Avengers might have to take care of eventually. But now, in the newest issue, we’ve gone back to the event that started it all and are now dealing with the fallout from Ex Nihilo’s visit to our world.

In ‘Avengers’ #6, we found out how Captain Universe came to be. At the same time, we learned that Tony Stark’s work with Blackveil, the man that Ex Nihilo created, was slightly skewed. Thanks to Captain Universe, who enables the man to speak in English rather than his language, the team learns that the man’s name is actually Nightmask. But with the good always comes the bad because Nightmask reveals that the White Event is here.

What is the White Event? That’s where this new issue picks up. According to Nightmask, it’s not just any old White Event either. It’s the last White Event, and there was an irregularity in the way in which this White Event occurred. So, with the help of Tony’s machines, Nightmask is searching for the other heralds of the White Event so that he and the Avengers can finally get some answers in order to attempt to fix things.

For the last few issues, we’ve been getting some little stories that contributed to the big picture concerning the future of ‘Avengers’. However, this series was touted as a very big story and, while it didn’t feel that way for a little bit, it certainly feels that way once again with this issue. I mean, the universe could be ending. That’s a pretty big deal, isn’t it? And Jonathan Hickman is just handling it all so flawlessly. I love how there is no wasted motion with this guy. Everything that he’s been giving us issue after issue has built upon what came in the issue before it. Hickman isn’t writing a story, he’s crafting a work of art. There’s no possible way that I could be even more on board with this series and it’s companion, ‘New Avengers’.

And in walks Dustin Weaver and Justin Ponsor. Since the beginning of the series, those two have been contributing covers to ‘Avengers’ and this arc marks their transition into interiors for the book. I’ve loved their covers since issue #1 and their interior work has the same slickness to it. My favorite thing that they did was the ‘Doctor Who’ cameo in this issue. Somewhere around the middle of the book, a guy who has a striking resemblance to David Tennant is getting lunch in the cafeteria while talking on a TARDIS cell phone. Well played, boys.

But I don’t just like that cameo because the 10th Doctor is my favorite. It fits the theme of the book. Similar to ‘Doctor Who’, the Doctor often talks about concepts and ideas about the universe that are complicated and sometimes hard to comprehend. That’s exactly what’s taking place in ‘Avengers’, except instead of the Doctor saving the universe, it’ll be the Avengers filling that role. Even though one might not fully get what’s going on right away, they want to keep reading or watching to see how the hero/heroes solve the problem and save the day. Sure, we have to go through some wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff to get there, but that’s half the fun. And now I’m thinking about an Avengers/’Doctor Who’ crossover that will probably never happen.

Finally, as the this current situation progresses, I’m curious to see if it’ll intersect with what’s going in ‘New Avengers’ right now. It seems like both teams are dealing with similar problems, so I wonder if their paths will cross in all of this. Additionally, with all these universes ending left and right in this book, I wonder if this will all lead up to this rumored “New 52-style reboot” that has been speculated on recently. While I hope it doesn’t come to that, I do hope that Hickman and his team continue the fabulous job they’ve been doing on this book.

Final Score:

 

 

AVENGERS #7

Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN

Art by DUSTIN WEAVER & JUSTIN PONSOR