Review: Avengers World: The Complete Collection

Quick Summary

Pros: The book’s first half is exciting and has a ton of ridiculously fun concepts. The book’s second half has some highly emotional stories and great character development. The entire volume works well as a complement to other adventures. The art looks great in most places.

Cons: The book’s first half has issues with pacing. Some stories in the book’s second half are just alright. Readers unfamiliar with what is taking place in other Avengers comics will be lost for the majority of this collection. The art looks bad in a few places.

Overall: This volume is a worthwhile extension of the Avenger’s activities in this era. It contains exciting adventures, details emotional encounters, and reveals a few mysteries. All of this helps develop the Avengers as a team, especially in relation to how the team is developing in other comics published at this time. Because of this, this book offers a lot to readers familiar with the major Marvel stories from this era but does not offer much to readers unfamiliar with this material. 

Story

Avengers World: The Complete Collection, by Nick Spencer and Frank Barbiere, is great, if you’re approaching it as a companion to Marvel’s main Avengers series. This collection spends half of its time crafting a story about the Avengers tackling a high-stakes global crisis. Then, it spends its second half crafting multiples stories that enhance specific events, like Avengers & X-Men: Axis and Time Runs Out, and specific characters, like Hyperion, Cannonball, and Namor. Though both halves of the volume have some problems, they are mostly entertaining and do a lot to further develop the Avengers’ world. However, readers unfamiliar with these events, these characters, or this world in general will be unable to appreciate much of what goes on here.

(spoilers start here)

The first half of Avengers World: The Complete Collection tells a single story about a worldwide fight against A.I.M.’s forces. This is an action-packed brawl with over-the-top concepts and awesome levels of excitement. This portion of the book has Avengers from the future fight in the present, has other Avengers fight off the armies of the dead, and sees Shang-Chi fistfight a literal dragon. It also has some great twists, as new heroes are introduced and characters come back from the very brink of death. The high-stakes nature of the story and the action-focused way it is presented makes this feel like a real thrill ride.

The problem with this half of the book is that it is structured rather poorly. Major plot points happen and then do not become relevant for multiple chapters and sometimes never become relevant. For example: the city of Madaipoor rises from the ocean on the back of a dragon in the first chapter, which would appear to be an immediately pressing issue. However, the dragon barely does anything until the story arc’s final few chapters. A similar phenomenon occurs with other plot points, which are paced slow in the beginning before crashing down near the arc’s conclusion. These problems do not severely damage this portion of the book but certainly weaken the narrative.

The second half of Avengers World: The Complete Collection tells several individual stories that mostly serve as supplementary material to what is taking place in larger Avengers arcs. This includes tie-ins to Avengers & X-Men: Axis, a prelude to Avengers: Time Runs Out (Review), and individual chapters focused on specific members of the Avengers roster.

The majority of these stories are great and work perfectly in further developing the comics they expand upon. The Hyperion chapter is a humanizing look at how someone with godlike-powers can empathize with a villain and attempt to show him the error of his ways. The Axis tie-ins work as a great showcase for Valeria and have an emotional moment for anyone familiar with Cassie Lang. Finally, the Time Runs Out prelude arc helps explain the unanswered questions from that arc while simultaneously placing some well-deserved focus on some of the Avenger’s less famous members.

The only exceptions to this high level of quality are pretty minor. The Axis tie-ins spend a bit too much time setting up and developing a team that only exists for a moment, which is a little disappointing. Meanwhile, the Nightmask and Star Brand chapter feels pretty mediocre overall. In addition, all of these chapters are just mediocre if readers are experiencing them on their own, without knowledge of what is taking place in the comics they expand upon. For readers going in blind, none of these stories can be appreciated to their full extent.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in Avengers World: The Complete Collection ranges dramatically but, for the most part, tends to look good. Stefano Caselli gets the volume off to a great start by providing bold and dramatic takes on the Avengers. Later on, Marco Checchetto does similar work, providing structures that make the action look as intense as it needs to be. Both of these artists bring a cinematic flair to the book that suits the cinematic style of the storytelling. However, in between, a handful of chapters experience a significant drop in quality. These chapters see work where the level of detail dips and the page structures do not flow as nicely as they did before. In the end, the number of good chapters outweigh the number of bad ones, but the presence of these bad chapters is still unfortunate.

Continuity

Avengers World: The Complete Collection mostly exists as a companion to the Avengers Vol. 5 series. Avengers World #1-15 take place sometime after the events of Infinity (Review) (Reading Order), Avengers World #15-16 take place alongside the events of Avengers & X-Men: AXIS, and Avengers World #17-21 take place before the events of Avengers: Time Runs Out Vol. 1 (Review).

The story, from the end of this collection, is continued in Avengers: Time Runs Out Vol. 1 (Review).

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• The opening chapter references Avengers #11, collected in Avengers Vol. 2: The Last White Event (Review).
• Maria Hill became director of S.H.I.E.L.D. at the conclusion of the Secret Avengers Vol. 2 series, collected in Secret Avengers Vol. 3: How to MA.I.M a Mockingbird (Review).
• Captain America served as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. starting back at the conclusion of Siege. 
• Many elements from the Avengers series are mentioned here. These include:
  • The expansion of the Avengers and their declaration that Earth is under their protection from Avengers Vol. 1: Avengers World (Review).
  • The appearance of several “origin bombs” that brought changes to Earth from Avengers Vol. 1: Avengers World (Review).
  • Starbrand’s origin from Avengers #7, collected in Avengers Vol. 2: The Last White Event (Review).
  • Hyperion’s entrance to the world in Avengers #4, collected in Avengers Vol. 1: Avengers World (Review).
  • The Avenger’s recent fight against the Builders and against Thanos, detailed across Infinity (Review) (Reading Order).
• A number of references are made to a breakdown of reality. This breakdown is explained across the New Avengers series, which began with New Avengers Vol. 1: Everything Dies (Review).
• The events of the Secret Avengers Vol. 2 series, specifically when a Jocasta unit was recovered in Secret Avengers #3, are mentioned here. This series begins in Secret Avengers Vol. 1: Reverie (Review).
• Avengers World #10 references the Black Knight’s story from Original Sins #2, collected in Original Sins (Review). 
• Avengers World #15-16 are tie-ins to Avengers & X-Men: AXIS, specifically the events of Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #2.
• Maria Hill references M-Day, which occurred in the House of M event, specifically House of M #7.
• Many aspects of Cassie Lang’s life are mentioned in Avengers World #16. These include:
  • Her father’s death in Avengers #500, part of the Avengers: Disassembled storyline.
  • Her decision to join the Young Avengers from Young Avengers #2, collected in Young Avengers Ultimate Collection.
  • Her father’s return to life in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #5-7, part of the Avengers: The Children’s Crusade event.
  • Her death in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #8, part of the Avengers: The Children’s Crusade event.
• Sam’s fight against Gladiator is mentioned in Avengers World #17. This fight occurred in Uncanny X-Men #341, collected in X-Men: The Trial of Gambit.
• Avengers World #18 references a revelation that was unveiled in a flashback from Avengers #37, collected in Time Runs Out Vol. 1 (Review). Though most of Avengers #37 takes place after the Avengers World series, the events in this flashback take place before Avengers World #17.
• Thor’s depression, seen in Avengers World #21, stems from what happened to him in Original Sin #7, part of the Original Sin (Review) (Reading Order) event.