With the events of ‘Infinity’ having just come to a close, there is no down time as we enter the first of a five part series titled ‘Rogue Planet’! It was recently announced in an interview that this next installment was going to be somewhat in line with the X-Men’s ‘Battle of the Atom‘ story line in that a future team would come back in time and cause issues in the present. One can hope it doesn’t end quite as badly writing wise as the X-Men’s version of this did.

Clearly the mess from the ‘Age of Ultron‘ hasn’t been resolved quite yet. At least that’s what the introduction hints at as we see what may be happening about 1000 years in the future that aren’t really explored before we are quickly thrown back into the present. However, we do see an Iron Man 3030, a Franklin Richards, and a futuristic Mandarin.

So in modern times we’re seeing The Avengers having a BBQ and trying to relax after everything they’ve just been through and the entire concept seems great. My main complaint is that all of our heroes are in uniform yet in the past, we’ve often seen them wearing casual clothing when in relaxed settings. While many parts of this scene are great, I think the most interesting is that Iron Man and Captain America spend some time talking about The Avengers’ roster. Once again there are going to be some shifts in whose active and  where in the near future. With a NOW! reboot on the horizon, it’s fitting to see some of this being discussed ahead of time.

Things are going great and my annoyance at being in uniform appears unsound as suddenly they are needed as a team! There’s a ‘rogue planet’ (hello mini-series name!) bound towards Earth! As the Iron Man 3030 and Tony Stark, talk we get a lot of where the plot may be going for at least in the upcoming issue.

It’s an interesting setup for a futuristic and science fiction filled ‘Avengers’ title which, as much as I’m sick of time travel, I’m excited for. Hickman knows science fiction like few other Marvel writers and being able to tie in Franklin Richards, at least a little, is fitting as it is after his brilliant run on the ‘Fantastic Four’ (which has never been better prior to his run on it nor hasn’t been the same since). I’m not sure I was fully happy with how ‘Infinity’ played out as we didn’t get enough Thanos or find out how he got out of the Cancerverse, but this story seems more like something that’s perfect to be penned by Hickman.

I guess if I had to have a complaint aside from the uniforms – seriously guys, couldn’t they have had somewhat of a downtime issue? Our heroes are more than battle weary at this point and really need some kind of a break. Not everyone is Thor or Hyperion and can just keep going like the Energizer Bunny. A bit of fatigue needs to be built into one of the upcoming story arcs because no one can keep going at the pace of the massive events that they’ve all been going through for quite some time now. It’s almost never really addressed and the more I think about it, the more it bothers me. That complaint is minor, though, if you are a fan of Hickman’s work. In the end, you should really pick this one up!

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AVENGERS #24
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Esad Ribic