With ‘Original Sin’ well under way, the heroes of the Marvel Universe are on the hunt for the killer of Uatu the Watcher. However, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes may have been sidetracked just a little bit in Jonathan Hickman’s ‘Avengers’ as Captain America has suddenly remembered the actions of Iron Man and the Illuminati that were wiped from his mind by Doctor Strange in ‘New Avengers’. And thanks to the Time Gem from the shattered Infinity Gauntlet, the team is flung forward into time and is confronted by the future version of the Avengers, including themselves in some cases.
Now, the Hawkeye of the future tries to straighten things out by filling everyone in on what is going on in an attempt to help the present day Avengers set things straight by giving them a little bit of a heads up before they time jump once again. But before he does that, Tony Stark gets his arrogant face knocked around some more for things that he has done and potentially didn’t do. Time travel is complicated, ya know?
Well, my concern about the last issue taking place after ‘Original Sin’ #2 wasn’t necessary. The thing about time travel is that those stories can really be inserted anywhere, so in terms of continuity, things are on the level. I thought that maybe the second issue of the crossover event may have explained why Steve remembered the events that were erased from his memory, but since we didn’t get that (yet?), then things are pretty square on that front.
My new question is about whether or not the events of this tie-in will affect the main series. It really seems like Hickman is playing with some big guns here that are bound to leave some huge marks on the Marvel Universe, so while I’m enjoying all this crazy time jumping and the past and future versions of heroes meeting, I can’t help but wonder where this will all fit in the grand scheme of things. I know that Hickman has big plans all laid out for his books and I’m so curious to know how all this fits with his grand vision.
However, while that is on my mind, it’s hard for me to not enjoy some little things about this issue. For starters, Hawkeye vs. Hawkeye. I loved how young Clint asks about his dog, but then old Clint shows up his present day counterpart. Classic Hawkguy. Another thing that I really liked was seeing the roster of Avengers from 48 years from now. I definitely want to know more about the guy who resembled Captain America and the girl wearing Thor’s clothes, but it was cool to see Hyperion and Black Widow interact with their future selves in the background. Then, when it came to Starbrand, things got a little depressing, but I hope that eventually that whole plot point is revisited at some point down the line. Even if that one specifically isn’t revisited, chances are that some other seeds that Hickman planted in this issue will pop up again in some way. He’s incredibly good at doing that.
Another highlight of the issue was the artwork from Leinil Francis Yu. His use of splash pages throughout the issue was really well done. Not only were they an excellent showcase of his talent, but they also set an interesting pace for this story. The first one was probably my favorite though because of Sunny Gho’s colors. The background blues, yellows, and oranges were so eye-catching and they made Yu’s eye lines pop more.
After another crazy issue, things are about to get even crazier as we’re headed hundreds of years into the future with the Avengers. No matter what crazy mysteries dwell there, I’m looking forward to finding them out.
Final Score:
AVENGERS #30
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan, & Sunny Gho
