New Avengers #5

Until the final page of this issue, this comic is all talking. The story of cosmic destruction and universal balance could literally star any scientist type characters. Iron Man doesn’t need his armor until the last page.

I mean, I know New Avengers is going to have a more cerebral tone than Avengers, but man! Terrax the Tamer is in this issue, and he spends pages and pages talking! Terrax! Best of all, it isn’t even really Terrax; rather it is an alternate reality version of the character.

Hickman seems to have a great grasp on the core cast. I dig the way he writes Black Panther as an ever-ready bad ass. Tony Stark has that right level of arrogance, and Reed Richards thinks he’s the boss even in a room full of leaders. Dr. Strange’s mystic tomes and interactions with Wong seem dead on also.

But the whole alternate Earth conflict, complete with ominous Galactus in the distance is so abstract. There is no villain in the book so far, so all of this is just sort of happening. As I said in yesterday’s review, I might just be a simpleton, but I don’t come to comics for man vs. nature battles. I want a villain! I’m sure Hickman has one, but we should know more about Black Swan and her motivations than we do right now. I think it is a question of pacing more than anything else, perhaps in a trade these answers will come out right away.

Steve Epting draws such cool looking super-heroes, it makes me sad that they spend so much time talking. It seems obvious to me; Tony Stark in space is not as cool as Iron Man in space. Thankfully, T’Challa is rocking his Black Panther costume all the time, so there is always one cool costume hanging around. Dr. Strange wears his a lot too, actually. I like Epting’s Beast more than the version in the X-books; he’s got a bit more of the class ape-face.

Fair