Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Valerio Schiti
Publisher: Marvel Entertainment
We’re in a whole new world as the other shoe drops in the saga that is Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers. Just as in Avengers, this issue of New Avengers jumps ahead eight months into the future of the Marvel Universe. Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti bring us the beginning of the end as the new Cabal is let loose on the world. The Marvel Universe is a very different place here. World leaders have given Wakanda to the Cabal, most of the country’s citizens have perished, and it’s all out war between them, and the Illuminati.
This issue begins with a conversation between Namor and Dr. Doom. The Cabal is out of control (how could it not with someone like Thanos on the team), and Namor needs help controlling things. It’s is a big delight to see Hickman really writing Dr. Doom again, and in such a great scene. You have two “kings” talking about the future of their people, but Namor is desperate, and Dr. Doom is pissed that he didn’t ask for his help in the first place. This scene really shows a nice side to Namor, but not in the way you’d think. Just an issue ago, he was dripping with confidence, but now he’s a paranoid and desperate person trying to do what others have failed at. He’s very full of himself usually, but here we seen he’s broken and just doesn’t know what to do. This isn’t a side we really see. The second half of this over-sized issue is a mission being conducted by T’Challa and his sister to gain control of the bombs the Illuminati had built. While this is their mission, Hickman gives us something far more interesting than a heist flick. We see the relationship extend beyond Queen and subject. We see complete trust created here again when it had previously been lost due to the actions of the Illuminati. In one panel through what seems like only a single tear, we see his sister Shuri become his sister again. Something I think was an interesting choice was to structure this issue the way it was. It’s been split between Namor and T’Challa. As much as the story had been about the Illuminati, the main focus of things for most of the series has been this duo. It will be interesting to see if Hickman will continue to put these two as the main crux of the story.
Valerio Schiti once again shows why he’s in this game. Subtle expressions are somewhat difficult to do in the comics medium, but he succeeds in it during Namor’s visit to Latveria. You see his range of emotions, from cocky, to shocked, to desperate, and all over again in the span of a page. While the entire exchange between Namor and Doom is excellent, there is one scene I believe also stands out in the issue. Terrax is meant to do something terrible with a set of skulls belonging to the X-Men of the earth they are on. This probably would have played differently with any other artist, but Schiti makes it playful as in a dark, but funny Shakespearean scene.
New Avengers #24 is a powerhouse of an issue showing exactly why this is THE Avengers title to be reading as Time Runs Out.
