Now that’s more like it!

Last week had this series suffer from some really poor art from, shockingly, a Kubert. Clearly Adam Kubert had to rush his pencils and it really suffered what was a pretty good issue otherwise. I was so put off by it that I was seriously downbeat for the rest of these one-shots with Adam on board. If he can’t keep up on a bi-weekly (or weekly at this right) pace then it was a pretty poor move on Marvel’s part. All of my expectations though completely flipped once I opened this issue.

What a gorgeous looking book from start to finish. This is the Kubert I was expecting in the first place! There is so much beauty in each of these pages it’s hard to know where to start. Is it the wonderful layouts I should focus on? Or the incredible detail in these pages? Well I particularly loved the emotion Kubert puts into each character. In one sequence, when Izzy (the new Smasher) returns from space, she asks what happened to her grandfather. In the subsequent panels both Izzy and her Father slowly fall apart and it winds up being one of my favorite sequences in the issue. But there’s a lot of great action inside and it’s where Kubert really shines. Countless spaceships, Hulk ‘smashing’, and general fighting abounds in these pages. It certainly helps that Frank Martin, one of the best in the business, colors all of these pages masterfully. His colors in the opening work well to suggest flashbacks and the way he colors Smasher’s transformation brought the kid out in me.

Two issues in a row Hickman introduces a new version of an established character. Both times I can honestly say I have fallen in love with the new versions. These people are clean slates and he can really bring out his imagination with these people. Izzy is a great female lead because she’s aware of how ridiculous her situation is but definitely doesn’t hold back in leading. She might question what’s happened but the moment she puts those goggles on she just goes with the flow. Her family life also brings about some very emotional moments in this issue and the moment she gets the calling card from Cap really gave me goosebumps. Hickman is always known for writing ‘big science’ in his work but he has always been a great man when writing characters in general. This issue showcases all of his strong points in that regards a hundredfold.

It took five issues but everything finally clicked in Hickman’s run on Avengers. The new Smasher is rousing success in my opinion and this is one of the more enjoyable origin issues in a long time. What really made this a fantastic issue though was the art by Adam Kubert and Frank Martin. Kubert finally brings his outstanding pencils to this issue and along with Martin’s colors this turned into one of the best looking issues of the year. It seems that the possibilities with this series are endless but if the two creators can gel perfectly like they did here, then we got ourselves one hell of a run if they can keep it up.