Starting with positives, this is an action-packed comic series with loads of fun easter egss and alternate multiverse surprises, so if you just want loads of fights and perils and not-your-neighborhood supers, you're all set. Good stuff on that level.

Best part, for me, was the buildup of part 6, which gave us the Big Bad that is Multiversal Dr Doom. Until that point, I really didn't give a damn about whatever overarching plot Aaron was going for. If nothing else, seeing how he concludes that story will make me pick up the second volume of this.

All that said, Jason Aaron did some great stuff with Doctor Strange, but his Avengers (this and the regular title) doesn't work. To me, it feels like I'm being pinned in a corner and bombarded with every idea he's ever had, blasting them out one after another and not pausing to see what sticks to the walls or plots (if any). Honestly, it's like hearing stories from that overly excitable person who's got a story to top anyone else's EVER.

It'd bother me less if he weren't culling the BIGGEST and MOST POWERFUL Marvel conceits and concepts and putting them under his umbrella.

Ghost Riders on non-motorcycles, interesting; at this point, I'll expect him to make Hellfire Acanti (space whales from X-Men) for one to ride as Galactus' Herald…

Having Odin on a prehistoric Avengers team is a curiosity, but putting Phoenix AND Black Panther AND the Starbrand AND Ghost Rider….it really smacks of a kid's version of one-upmanship in storytelling, and it sets a bad precedent of the next writer doing the same…which makes Eternity shudder….

This gets 3 stars for being exciting with some intriguing character choices, but ultimately, it's as disconcerting and disruptive as every Avengers issue Aaron's done the past few years.

Could be I'm just too old to enjoy the ride….but I'd rather see a writer come up with a few new things and add to a team's history/continuity, not constantly up-end it for the sake of spectacle. He did that with Dr Strange; why does his Avengers have to try and out-do every other story ever? ( )

Jason Aaron goes all in on the Marvel Multiverse with this spin-off series and the home series digging into the threat of the Multiversal Masters of Evil. The villains have figured out they can conquer and shape any given reality by first defeating its Avengers of One Million BCE, those Stone Age heroes Aaron has been teasing since he before he even began his run and slowly fleshing out over the past several years. He's also been teasing big developments for the Roberto Reyes version of Ghost Rider since the beginning, and this episode knocks him down in preparation for leveling him up.

Its corny superhero fare, and the multiverse aspect just makes it one big dream sequence of sorts, so you'd think I'd hate it, but I'm grooving to it. I think it reminds me of my childhood favorite fandom, the heyday of the DC Multiverse, just before the Crisis on Infinite Earths kicked off a death spiral of crises that have turned the DCU into a complete hash.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contains material originally published in magazine form as Avengers Forever (2021) #1-5.

Contents:
• Chapter 1. Where "Hope" Is a Four-Letter Word / Jason Aaron, writer; Aaron Kuder, artist; Cam Smith, inker
• Chapter 2. The All-Rider / Jason Aaron, writer; Aaron Kuder, artist; Cam Smith, Scott Hanna, Roberto Poggi, inkers
• Chapter 3. We Who Are About to Avenge / Jason Aaron, writer; Aaron Kuder, artist; Cam Smith, Scott Hanna, inkers
• Chapter 4. The Forever Storm / Jason Aaron, writer; Jim Towe, artist
• Chapter 5. Doom of Dooms / Jason Aaron, writer; Jim Towe, artist
• Variant Cover Gallery / Betsy Cola, Russell Dauterman, Matteo Scalera, Ed McGuinness, R.B. Silva, Stephanie Hans, Skan, Giuseppe Camuncoli Lee Garbett, Carlos Pacheco, artists ( )