New Avengers #14 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Simone Bianchi (Artist), Adriano Dall’Alpi (Colorist)

The Story: As the Illuminati watch how another universe reacts to the incursion events, Doctor Strange hits a new market for more power.

The Review: To have hope is to let ourselves be open to disappointment. While it is always a nice thing to see our expectations be met in any circumstances, cautious optimism is always a good manner in which to approach things, lest our hype be our downfall.

It may have been the way I like this series and the author that made the latest issue rather disappointing for me, making any of the ideas and their executions rather unsatisfying. With that being said, it is with a less optimistic prospect that I ended up reading this issue.

Surprisingly, this one ended up being better than the latest one, but not by a colossal margin. The interesting dialogue and the numerous ideas that made Hickman a respected writer are there, with the scenes involving Dr. Strange being rather entertaining as well as ominous. Showing the sinner’s market, one in which deals are made for immaterial goods and other such things, there are a lot of expansive ideas thrown at the readers. With some hefty explanations and a certain madness mixed in that makes this setting, there is a lot of potential for grander ideas to bloom here, with Hickman showing that he can play with pas continuity as well as create seamlessly.

Another area in which he plays and create is the alternate Earth, this one numbered 2319. Switching things up with another set of Illuminati as well as some variations on the general Marvel universe, there is indeed some creative moments here and there that does manage to entertain as well as play with the themes of the series. Introducing new elements and deepening the explanations to some previously told, this issue is one that does surprise as well as develop in ways that readers might not expect.

However, not everything is better, with some of the problems of the past issue still plaguing it now. While Earth-2319 is a rather interesting idea, it is immediately thrown away in order to properly set up other multiversal players, which makes many of the subtle hints in terms of characterization a bit pointless. With the story of this other Earth being rather similar to the other one in the previous issue, it makes many of the shocking moments rather tame, as if the repetition of some other events could possibly have the same impact once more.

The focus on the mapmakers does a bit of disservice to the story as well, pushing chaos and confusion to the forefront in ways that does their presentation a disservice, making them ominous and vague in ways that are not tantalizing, but rather frustrating. While new information on the conflict as a whole as well as the clarification of some elements on the board is always welcome, the way Hickman reveals all of this does not make for the most concise of introduction. It does its job, yet not in a way that makes all of this worth it, with naught but ambiguous facts helping the readers understand.

Despite all these faults, the art is a bit better here, with some of the strengths of Simone Bianchi being apparent. When dealing with creatures, non-humans, demons, robots and those kind of outlandish beings, the artist is actually quite good, with the sinner’s market being a brilliant example. Setting the scope of the panels just right, there are some expansive settings present here that makes the depravity and the weirdness frankly beautiful, with some of the demonic designs being actually great. However, when dealing with humans and the scenes on Earth-2319, the panel layout and the characters all look a bit rushed and chaotic, with a frenetic pacing that makes some of the lines jumbled and some of the events a bit unclear. With a good numbers of large groups being featured, there is a distinct lack of precision shown here, with a good number of characters being especially rough-looking, which doesn’t help set the tone and pinpoint some of the ideas on display. It fares a bit better, but there are still some flaws despite it all.

The colorization of Adriano Dall’Alpi is curiously similar in terms of strengths and weaknesses when it comes to particular scenes. The dark, yet strangely colorful approach to the sinner’s market is particularly effective, setting up an air of discomfort and wonder quite well. Setting an unsettling tone thanks to a good use of invasive warm colors balanced by tiny specks of black and colder colors, the mood is concisely set, making these moments even more striking thanks to Dall’Alpi’s work. The rest of the issue, however, is a different story, with a diversity and a lack of focus that hurts some of the moments even more than the confusing poses and panel layout. While there are moments in the Earth-2319 scenes that display the skills of the colorist here, there is an over-reliance on black and duller colors, putting an emphasis on certain color patterns that makes this less effective than it could be. While some of the colder colors are rather nice here and there, the visual chaos is the only constant as Dall’Alpi collaborates in the wrong way with Simone Bianchi.

The Conclusion: While this arc still continues to be an uneven read, this issue manage to be a bit better than the precedent one thanks to some new ideas and some occasional moments of brilliance from the creative team. Nice, yet not as great as this series was before.

Grade: B-

Hugo Robberts Larivière