Hickman continues origins week (maybe it only feels like this series is weekly), giving us the origin of the human Smasher.
Although Hickman does a better job of making us care about Smasher than he did about Hyperion last issue, her origin still feels incredibly forced. She simply found the Smasher goggles in the middle of her father's cornfield in Iowa and the Shi'Ar let her become a sub-guardian? Really? Why would you let someone with absolutely no connection to your empire defend it? Why would Izzy want to defend it? Are they just letting anyone become a sub-guardian now? Moreover, even if you accept that finding the goggles somehow entitled her to become a Smasher, we never really learn why it would entitle her to become an Avenger. Her grandfather knew Captain America and that simply got her into the Avengers? It seems like if I just called up Cap I could get put on the roster at this point. Moreover, why would she want to be in the Avengers? Does the Imperial Guard really just lounge around Chandilar with nothing to do, allowing her so much free time that she can be on both teams? I mean, it's one thing for Wolverine to shuttle between New York City and Westchester, but it's a whole other thing for Smasher to commute between Chandilar and Earth. Why is she on the Avengers instead of the Guardians of the Galaxy? Other than her grandfather's connection to Cap, we're not really given a reason. Moreover, her involvement in the Avengers doesn't only not make sense, it serves as the artificial connection between the Avengers and the Imperial Guard. Do the Avengers really have nothing better to do than help protect the Shi'Ar Imperium? If that were true, where were they during Annihilation? Were they just tired from the Civil War and didn't want to make the trip all the way into space? Shouldn't Steve and Tony have a discussion about the downside of having Smasher on the team, namely their susceptibility of getting pulled into the Imperium's bickering with neighboring empires?
[Sigh.] This series and I are done.
I must commend you on making it an issue further than I did, JW. I hadn't read anything about this issue prior to your review, mainly because after the first 4 issues, I had zero interest in seeing what was going on! So Smasher just randomly found a pair of goggles in a cornfield and became not just a member of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard but a member if the Avengers too?!? Those are some fantastic goggles! After reading this I have no doubt I made the right decision with regards to dropping this series...
ReplyDeleteThat is totally and completely her back story. Insane, no? I'm really only still reading because it's part of my existing stack, so I think the next issue is my last one. It's Captain Universe's origin so we'll see if Hickman can top this one!
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