If I want to be generous, I would say Hickman is a very poetic writer. I mean, his writing is like poetry in the sense that it consists of concentrated moments of dialogue, moments that seem important precisely because they are concetnrated so densely but, because they are concentrated so densely, they are too abstruse to be comprehensible.

Therefore, i will not be generous, and I will say he is a deliberatly obfuscating writer, relying on the reader to make connections and insights to high concepts with very little guidence from the author. Huh. I guess, again, it’s like poetry.

To be fair, what’s really in focus here is the action, and boy there is a lot of it. I haven’t seen so many punches thrown in a Marvel comic in a long time, and it’s incredibly satisfying. The scale has shfited here with awesome special effects and dynamic character poses. If Hickman and Opena were aiming for blockbuster movie status, they knocked it out of the park. The secondary focus here is on the villains, as they work through their high-concept. They meet their end of course, which i’m glad didn’t take too long to reach the climax and resolution, and you’ll notice they aren’t taken off the board completely.

However, the best part of the Avengers title in the past was the very human soap opera that played out against the backdrop of epic universe-shattering moments. There are some nice moments of the latter, but very very few hints of the former here. Perhaps such humanizing moments only show up by way a very confused Captain Universe, a moment which is hard to sympathize with because the character is so new to the readers. We don’t even get to see a bit of doubt or confliction in Captain America or another character. Still, everyone on the team seems to have their moment of action, at least, with (nearly) everyone getting to show off their skills on panel. (Sorry, Spider-Woman. It’s still just like a Bendis-era comic for you!) I hope this “very human soap opera” stuff can become a focus in later issues.

Another fault of such “blockbuster movie” emulation is that the dialogue is reduced to short clips and phrases, as if everyone is setting themselves up for a quip or dramatic soundbite. You know, the kind of movie dialogue that exists simply so that the movie trailer can be made. On one hand, it helps lend the blockbuster tone as well as allowing the reader to focus on the art as the main “text” to read. However, it also makes everyone appear a bit more hollow and surface-y, maybe even interchangeable which is sad for a large cast of unique characters.

I also had problems with the way some things are allowed great explanation (the machine metaphor, the universe’s origin myth) while others are simply taken for granted (Hyperion is there, Captain Universe is there, Shang Chi smashes a robot that captured Thor last issue…)

It is possible that Hickman will bring some of these things that are missing here to the fore of subsequent issues. There were some better character moments in the build up to this climactic battle, after all. However, it will likely be in spite of and perhaps not enhanced by the “poetic” writing I described above, which ultimately dampens the enjoyment of his storylines. I like to read for comfortable enjoyment, so if I’m likely to leave confused and frustrated by plots and character, I will just wait for the trade or just drop the title entirely.