Avengers #3 Preview

Two books in the Marvel NOW! launch that I didn't give much attention to prior to their release were Avengers and New Avengers, both written by Johnathan Hickman. I am a huge fan of Hickman's work on Fantastic Four, FF, S.H.I.E.LD., and many of his lesser known projects like Teeth. A bit baffling that the advertisements and previews for these two new books didn't set the excitement level for me like they should have. Maybe in the back of my mind I felt Hickman was more suited for franchises not as big as the Avengers so he can really spread out his ideas in a better environment.

Sometimes when you don't set your expectations at any certain level the actual product comes out to blow you away. Hickman has introduced his very grand and epic style into the world of the Avengers who had very recently became stale with the previous writing efforts of Brian Bendis. My favorite has to be his bringing the The Illuminati back together in New Avengers with Black Panther to explore multiple worlds/universes in order to slow down the destruction of their own. He also never loses sight of developing his characters while these cosmic scale events are happening around them.

Pick these books up if you haven't yet and you won't be disappointed. On that note Comic Book Resources has released a preview of Avengers #3 where we see many of the Avengers still trapped by Ex Nihilo.