AVENGERS #1 Script and Art Preview

One of the most exciting team ups in the upcoming onslaught of Marvel NOW! titles is Jonathan Hickman and Jerome Opeña on Avengers #1. The book isn’t out until November 12, but we’ve got this glimpse into a bit of script and a bit of art.

There’s not a ton here, but the prospect of what may be is definitely exciting.

From Hickman’s script:

Page 6:

Panel 4 – Aleph looks over at Ex and repeats himself. Ex Nihilo puts his hand on Aleph’s shoulder, friendly — and with his other hand makes that Italian gesture, “We did soooo much drinking/stealing/whatever.”

ALEPH

World Razing, Ex Nihilo.

EX NIHILO

Ah, you miss the point, Aleph. Where’s your sense of romance?

And of course, here is Opeña’s interpretation of that.

Anyway, I have no idea what any of that means. Except the “Italian gesture.” That, I get.

Comments

  1. Not a fan of supporting 4 dollar 32 page books, but Hickman and Opena? Looks like 8 bucks a month their way. And Hickmans New Avengers looks great too, but 16 bucks for two Avengers titles? Ugh

    • *80% of comic book buying is addiction. The other 20% is curiosity, peer pressure and reality of finances. In other words, Marvel knows their average customers will bitch about the 20%, but will, 9 out 10 times, act on the 80%.

      @SigurdJarlson – So, I’m gonna guess you’ll end up buying this title (even if double-shipped). You, and others, may not like the pricing structure, but will, in the end, buy it. Starting is easy, walking away is hard. It’s not like you can return it if you don’t like the product. The publishers know this too.

      BTW, love seeing The Falcon on the cover and the Hickman/Opena duo can’t be beat. I’m thumping the vein NOW!

    • @SigurdJarlson: I think New Avengers is not intended (for now at least) to be a double shipping book. But I’m with you — as much as the $4 for 20 story pages irks me, I think Hickman and Opeña are guys that can deliver a book that is well worth the price. And in general, I think we’re seeing a lot of writers really get a handle on the shorter page count, so I’m finding it more and more difficult to maintain a firm stand against it.

      And I think there might be a small error in the article regarding the release date. November 12th is a Monday, but December 12th is a Wednesday.

    • @KenOchalek: Artists and writers getting a better feel for 20 pages is something I was thinking about a lot recently. I kinda like it. Sure I want more book to read but at what cost? But do I really want more? The answer is no. 20 pages is perfect. It puts less of a strain to add unneeded material. It makes a Splash Page (if executed properly) much more meaningful. I don’t know if it’s good on the creative teams or the editors part for having a truly meaningful twenty page experience. I feel like Wacker and Pyle have done a tremendous job with editing the both DD and Punisher series. Of course there is Waid and Rucka and each has a very well respected art team, but go through a few issues of either of these series and try to find a panel that isn’t needed or doesn’t progress the story much. Trust me, you can’t do it.

      I also look at it like this. A half hour tv program, for instance Young Justice or Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes ,with commercials usually only contains 22 minutes of story. A comic has a cover, 20 pages of story, and (not always) a letter page or something of that nature. I tend to take about a minute on each page and it comes out being around 22 minutes to read cover to cover. If you can’t say everything you need to say, and show everything you need to show in 22 minutes, then it needs to go back to the drawing board. Edits are crucial, go fuck yourself Liefeld (talk about a guy who needs to be edited) ((I say this because of his hatred of DC editors, he obviously doesn’t understand the point of an editor))

      As for the 4 dollar price tag. I try to not think about it too much. Sure I don’t think I should have to pay an extra buck for a book that has nothing extra to offer me. (Marvel not Dc. DC has added content for there 4 buck books) And it’s so blatant that they are only charging that extra dollar because they know that they can get away with it. There is no other reason except that it’s a character that is well received by the general public so why not charge an extra dollar. Marvel might not detect this but this is very insulting to me as a fan. While it may not seem like it to them, they are bullying us into paying the extra dollar. At least that is how I feel, like I’m being a bullied by some jr high school dick head who is taking my dollar just because he knows he can. The argument can be made that I don’t have to buy the book if I don’t want to, and I agree. There lies the 22nd Catch.

    • That post ran way longer than intended. WAY TOO LONG.

    • At all the above comments, though I despise the low page count for the high cost, I don’t mind at all if I get 4 dollars of content. I have never put down a Hickman book before and said, gee why did I pay that much for this. So I’ll stick with both for the time being and hopefully NA goes down from double, but I will drop the book if I see fit.

  2. A few of these Marvel Now! books are looking great and am helplessly intrigued by the creators, team rosters and concepts coming out of a a few of the Avengers books. The line-up in New Avengers has me mad cause I really wanted to not be interested in a cpl of these 3.99 titles but love the idea of Black Panther leading the Illuminati as the New Avengers with Beast in Xaviers place for obvious reasons but this dbl shipping at 3.99 is ridiculous and makes me wanna not be interested as I’d like to keep up with other titles I’m already invested in. I personally think the dbl shipping may be good news for exclusive Marvel fans only but for us readers like myself who like a cpl titles from numerous publishers, this saturating the market just makes me wanna say, the hell with Marvel Now!

  3. This… looks cool. I must admit, I’ve slowly warmed up to Marvel Now. I’ll wind up trying more of the new series than I initially thought. They’ve got some interesting, far out concepts lined up. In particular, all the new books by Remender, Hickman and Aaron have my attention. Plus they’ve got stellar artists lined up, at least for the initial arcs.

    I’ve been down on Avengers comics so long and now I find myself potentially reading Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, New Avengers, Young Avengers and Dark Avengers. Plus Hulk, Red She-Hulk, Captain America and Thor. Damn you, Marvel, you got me (for now).

    I agree with all of the above comments on the annoyance of $3.99 books and double shipping. But I’ve come to the conclusion it’s all about enjoyment. I’d rather read a $4 book that I love than a $3 book that I like. A 20 page story can be better and more fulfilling than a 30 page story. But the price and (more so) the double shipping puts more pressure on a comic to wow me.