Smasher is quickly becoming one of my favorite Avengers. Her humble beginnings, never give up attitude, and her comedic moments with various Avengers are often the highlights of whatever books she pops up in. While we learned about her origins back in ‘Avengers’ #5, we get more of where she came from in the latest issue of ‘Avengers World’.

In the last issue, Captain America and Bruce Banner pay a visit to Maria Hill on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Hellicarrier to discuss a new understanding between the roster of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the global peacekeeping organization. But during their meeting, a number of problems break out around the globe that requires the attention of the Avengers. The roster splits up and tackles each incident head on.

Now, as I had predicted in my last review of this series, we focus on one mission at a time, similar to the first few issues of Hickman’s run on ‘Avengers’. This particular issue saw what came of Smasher, Sunspot, and Canonball as they investigated Barbuda, the sovereign island nation belonging to AIM that appears to be evolving at an accelerated rate. But the trio met with some resistance that landed the two young X-Men in the medical ward and the former farm girl turned intergalactic guardian in a cell.

In between Scientist Supreme Andrew Forson conceiving his evil plan in this issue, we got some flashbacks of Smasher as a child with her grandfather. Though everything in this issue was good, these bits had to be my favorite parts. I love how Hickman and Spencer have tied in some golden age history by hinting that Captain Terror may be Izzy’s grandfather. Stefano Caselli even pulled out some vintage cover art from ‘USA Comics’ #3. I love it when newer comics pay homage to the titles and heroes that came before it. And not only that, but this bit also shed some light on Smasher’s drive to be a hero and how connected she really was to the whole Marvel Universe even before she or we knew who she was.

Another interesting thing that Hickman has done and continues to do with his Avengers stories is to bring out some rather obscure characters. He did it with Starbrand and Hyperion, but now he’s bringing out some bad guys from places just as obscure. In fact, I had to look up who the Entropic Man was after reading this issue, but after I got some background on him and realized that he had actually been popping up in ‘Secret Avengers’, I can see why he would be called out from the depths of wherever he was hiding to appear in ‘Avengers World’. He tied into the story well, but I’m curious to find out how AIM’s plan progresses after we see the fate of Smasher on the final page.

Like I mentioned before, I’m becoming a fan of Smasher, so I hope to see her come out of this mission unscathed. You can bet your ass that I’ll be picking up the next issue to see if she does.

Final Score:

atoms_3.5

 

 

AVENGERS WORLD #2
Written by Jonathan Hickman & Nick Spencer
Art by Stefano Caselli & Frank Martin
Cover by Jung-Geun Yoon