The Avengers #4 Review

THE AVENGERS #4

by Johnathan Hickman and Adam  Kubert

That's it. I'm DONE. It's OVER.

What happened to this title? The first two issues were grand, epic, and well-done. The third was okay, but issue 4 is crap. Now, I can tell Hickman is trying to build towards something much bigger than this, but he does a terrible job juggling all of these big ideas in his head. That's why Grant Morrison is such a joy to read. He crams so much into his books, but manages to straighten it out into something readable. This issue barely managed to hold my attention throughout. It jumps between a visit to the Savage Land and Hyperion's dull and cliched origin. The issue's level of  confusion is so powerful, that when I was going to reread it for this review, I decided to avoid giving myself another headache. Hickman's character work is average, but most characters are bland and static. 

However, Hickman isn't to receive all of the blame for this issue being terrible. Adam Kubert delivers far from the best work of his career. His characters look horrible, with flawed anatomy and incredibly strange and awkward facial expressions. In fact, there's one panel where the character's face portrays the exact opposite emotion his dialogue is. Kubert's sense of motion is practically non-existent, and unlike many artists, his work is like this from beginning to end. 

Most series take about 6 issues to lose momentum, but Avengers did it in 4. It started out as one of the most epic comics Marvel has published, and it could have been the best book on the stands if it improved. But this is just crap. It was a chore to read this travesty, and I now consider Avengers off of my pull list. 

STORY: 1/5

+/- Meh character work

- Ridiculously confusing

- One of the stupidest character origins I've ever read 

- Oversaturated with ideas

ART: 1/5

-  Close (but not exactly) to Liefeld anatomy

- Weird facial expressions

- Stiff and boring

VERDICT: 1/5