PREVIEW: Avengers #1

[Emissary of Justice]

*Sighs.* It was nice having a African-American man on a major team book who wasn't completely useless.

Least Cage got a good send off. Thanks, Bendis.

[Joecooler2u]

They give you the benefit of the doubt that you're smart enough to not read previews if you don't want to be spoiled. Their mistake.

Previews don't have to spoil the end of comics. Obviously you don't get that. The job of previews is to tease you and get you interested in the book NOT give away the ending. Spoilers are way different from Previews if the Previews are done right. People in advertising either don't know or don't care that they are spoiling the endings lately in the Marvel Now titles thinking they will win some people over when in fact they're probably turning some people away who want to give the title a shot, read the previews and are disappointed to find they already know the ending thanks to that "to be continued" in the bottom right-hand corner. As bkart1978 (and I) have both said - Previews are to tease and get you interested NOT to spoil the ending of the book so when you buy it you feel a letdown cause you know whatever "surprises" lay in store at the end. I do however get that if I don't want anything spoiled I am best served by not reading sites like this or go on forums, I'm just saying don't give away the ending. That disrespects the reader and the creative team involved not to mention the comic and story within. It would be like the movie company spoiling the ending of The Sixth Sense in the trailers for the movie.

Onto the book this is one of the titles that is yet to come out that I am looking forward to the most. Having just completed my collection of Hickman's Fantastic Four/FF and reading through them all not too long ago I appreciate what he brings to the table. Opena's art is top notch and I'm enjoying the likes of him and Immonen on All-New X-Men as well as Copiel alternating with Cassady on Uncanny Avengers. Anyone not enjoying these comics only have themselves to blame by buying into online hate of Bendis or slow builds by him and Hickman because story matters and it doesn't have to be action 24/7. Then you have the hate for Remender cause he kills characters but that's part of the biggest reason to like him. No character feels safe in his hands, not even Wolverine and stories are much more enjoyable when the sense of danger is there. I'd have to say as a reader and fan who lapsed during the 90's when things got ugly comic-wise and financially, this is one of the best eras in Marvel since the late 80's early 90's when you had Claremont running X-Men with the likes of Silvestri and Jim Lee. The three titles I listed alone are all top notch and then you have titles that should surprise like Thunderbolts (love the team), the return of Young Avengers being done by Gillen, two X-Force teams for the very first time both with interesting concepts. I really love what they are doing with their top two brands (Avengers & X-Men). I can't wait for Secret Avengers, Avengers, New Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, the Wolverine title done by Alan Davis, Superior Spider-Man etc... Already loving new titles like All-New X-Men, Uncanny Avengers, Indestructible Hulk

[dreyga2000]

Wait...I thought Cap, Thor and Wolvie were going to be in the Uncanny Avengers? All these different groups...just confusing. But is Cable going to be in this book?

They are all pulling double duty...

[Alan Smithee]

That's a terrible cover (and why is Hawkeye about to shoot Spider-Woman?).

Skrull flashbacks.....

[Dark Phoenix]

Very pretty. There are no characters I'm interested in, so I'll pass.

I'll live vicariously through New Avengers.

With 24 active Avengers that is one comment I didn't expect to see. Different strokes and all that....

[murdershewrote]

As expected, it looks simply awesome. However, I can't help but feel a tad worried about some of the narrative choices taken by the team.

- The transition from page one to page two is jarring.

- When the narration says the "it" began with "two men", the entire page shows only one man, Tony Stark.

- The way the story dumps a bunch of foreshadowed future events involving established characters that 90% of the audience of the book won't have any idea who the hell they are.

All in all, I was left with the feeling that these first pages were not merely a difficult read, but rather a quite confusing one. And I am sure they could have achived an equally epic tone without sacrificing so much clarity.

Well, we only saw 3 pages. There's a good chance there will be more context that explains that those panels foreshadow the future. I'm thinking along the lines of a 'One Year Earlier' box or something in narrative, so we don't have the information necessary to determine whether it was a confusing start or not. From what I saw, it was pretty self evident the narrator was speaking in a 'I am telling you a legend/story' voice that often accompanies the opening of a movie (think Aladdin). It's a common storytelling trope, so it shouldn't be too bad.

For me, I thought it was extremely effective in immediately grabbing your attention and building up a LOT of questions that Hickman plans to address throughout the run. Who are these characters? What is this 'light'? Who is the other man, if Tony is the first? Why are there so many fallen Ironmen? It is the perfect preview.

[LexValentine]

I like Cannonball's new costume, I can't wait to buy issue 1 when it comes out next week.

[dreyga2000]

*Sighs.* It was nice having a African-American man on a major team book who wasn't completely useless.

Least Cage got a good send off. Thanks, Bendis.

Awww... Not bad yeah we lost Cage but now we got Falcon and Manifold

[thirdfalcon]

Yes, I understand where they were going with that. But I fear that the book does not make it immediately clear that those are actually potential future events, rather than past events that the reader was supposed to be aware of previously to reading this issue.

In other words, I got it, but I'm afraid many of the non-commited new readers might find it all too jarring right at the start...

If you got it what do you care? It's looks to me like it's basically just an epilogue anyway. Just a taste of whats to come so you'll say "holy crap some epic things are going to happen in this book". But you could still skip those pages and still understand what's going on.

[JaggedFel]

Looks good.

[nosocialize100]

Marvel should scale back the previews.

Lots of Marvel NOW issue 1s were literally spoiled on-line.

I bet their profits might dictat these previews increase sales though.

[EuphemismForSex]

Previews don't have to spoil the end of comics. Obviously you don't get that. The job of previews is to tease you and get you interested in the book NOT give away the ending. Spoilers are way different from Previews if the Previews are done right. People in advertising either don't know or don't care that they are spoiling the endings lately in the Marvel Now titles thinking they will win some people over when in fact they're probably turning some people away who want to give the title a shot, read the previews and are disappointed to find they already know the ending thanks to that "to be continued" in the bottom right-hand corner. As bkart1978 (and I) have both said - Previews are to tease and get you interested NOT to spoil the ending of the book so when you buy it you feel a letdown cause you know whatever "surprises" lay in store at the end. I do however get that if I don't want anything spoiled I am best served by not reading sites like this or go on forums, I'm just saying don't give away the ending. That disrespects the reader and the creative team involved not to mention the comic and story within. It would be like the movie company spoiling the ending of The Sixth Sense in the trailers for the movie.

No, I get it. I just know that previews contain spoilers, and if I didn't want them, I wouldn't read them at all. After at least two issues spoiled for you, I'd think you would've caught on, despite what you think they should be.

Also people being turned away from the spoiling the first issue of a new book? Lol. It's just the setup. It's like leaving after, "Once upon a time..."

[Joebleau]

Sure are a lot of variants.

Also, I'm guessing the Light is the White Event.

From the New Universe ? i doubt it be it could be fun

[jackolover]

It's Opena that makes the book. Hickman has minimalist word boxes, and Opena embellishes it out into extraordinary fantasy imagery, even to Tony Starks lounging around examining the Avengers data base.

[Celestin]

This preview is classic Hickman. He really likes to give a teaser of the future or even outright state how every main character of his book will end before it's finished (like he did with Phobos telling the fates of his fellow Secret Warriors in the second issue, I think). And all these big ideas and epic events make me already interested, but we will see if he delivers. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. And sometimes he really makes me want to ask him how he could waste so much potential with such a disappointing and cliche ending (his run on Ultimates).