Despite the delay of the event’s main title, ‘Inhumanity’ is in full swing in the pages of Marvel Comics, including the most recent issue of ‘New Avengers’. Now that ‘Infinity’ has passed, the Illuminati can get back to the pressing matter of those world-ending incursions that they were working on stopping. Of course, it’s a little hard to ignore all the new Inhumans popping up all over the globe. So naturally, the group must look into the matter considering that their former king is among their ranks. Wait. Former?

Yes, former! After having the last issue act as an epilogue for ‘Infinity’ where we learn the fate of the Mad Titan, Thanos, this new issue opens up with an alternate reality’s version of the Illuminati that includes Professor X, Captain Mar-Vell, Magneto, Mr. Fantastic, Iron Man, Black Bolt, and both Black Panthers dealing with the ever-growing Inhuman population while being confronted with mysterious beings presumably from yet another Earth. Meanwhile, our Illuminati are busy strategizing with Black Swan about a “mirror” that they all need to build in order to stay ahead of or get to the same level as the other Earths.

While those two main storylines are all well and good, my main interest was in what Doctor Stephen Strange was up to. Up until this point in this series, the science bros have been working their magic to solve the problem. Now, it looks like they are finally exploring the literal magic at their disposal. Well, at least one of them is. During ‘Infinity’, his mind was apparently overtaken by one of Thanos’ generals, so in an attempt to have that never happen again and in an effort to use every possible tool at his disposal to save his Earth, he goes off into some mystical dimension. The Sorcerer Supreme certainly has some powerful magic at his disposal, so rather than all the sciencey mumbo jumbo coming out of Reed, Tony, and Beast’s mouths, I’d like to see where the powerful doctor’s mind is and how he thinks he can help prevent the next incursion.

To change the subject entirely, the art has gotten much darker in ‘New Avengers’ thanks to the addition of Simone Bianchi to the creative team. From the beginning, this title was described as the dark and ‘Avengers’ was the light. But things in this issue seem to have gotten a ton darker. One thing that might attribute to that feeling is the reoccurring use of eyes. I found that eyes always seem to find themselves in the spotlight of the artist’s work. With Bianchi’s artwork and Adriano Del’Alpi seemingly using the whitest of whites for the eyes, the book has an overall more eerie feel about it. And don’t even get me started on the villains without any eyes! It’s all super creepy, I tell ya.

Overall, besides creeping me out, I think the purpose of this issue was to introduce the next threat that these Avengers will be facing. I think that it managed to do that rather adequately, but my mind is still spinning from everything that’s going on. Hickman’s ‘New Avengers’ might be the most complex comic on my entire pull list right now, but I can’t help but come back for each and every issue because I can’t think of a comic that’s made me think this much in a very long time.

Final Score:

atoms_3.5

 

 

NEW AVENGERS #13
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Simone Bianchi & Adriano Dell’Alpi