Great wrap up and use of Owen Reece
I have been back and forth on the New Avengers/Incursion storyline. It's been overly drawn out, and overly complex, but has lots of interesting themes and characters. One of those characters is the Molecule Man, a favorite of mine. The Molecule Man is often written without any respect, so I often dread seeing what an author does with him. Hickman, however, is a good writer, so I have been holding out good hopes for what he would do with him in this arc. In this issue, Hickman shows that he was worthy of those hopes, and writes the cap on a great Molecule Man story.
Now you, gentle reader, may be wondering, "Am I reading a review of New Avengers 33, or somebody just going on about his favorite character?"
The answer is both. New Avengers 33 is a great story, and the reason largely depends on his excellent use of Owen Reece, providing yet another retcon of the character who has already been retconned to death multiple times. But this retcon is smart, and interesting in relation to his past retcons, and provides great story potential.
Before I get to that, let me review overall: First of all the cover by Gabriele Dell'Otto is simply fantastic. What a great image, and rendered so well.
In terms of the story, Reece takes us (and Doom and Dr. Strange) on a meandering explanation of what is going on with the Beyonders, Rabum Alal, the Black Swans, the Black Priests, and the rest of it, finally (pretty much) tying things together so we can understand it. And it's a complete surprise, at least to me. It makes reading this whole darn volume finally worth it, and leads into interesting perspectives on the upcoming Secret Wars. Doom, Reece, and Strange's characters are written well.
The interior art is solid, although there are a few odd things. The top of the very first page looks like a sketch, not a fully-realized drawing. The drawings of the Swans have Deodato's occasional odd anatomy, with weird postures and proportions. But overall, it looks good.
A few minor problems: In the present in this issue, Reed Richards says that all of a sudden, the number of universes goes from many to just 2 dozen in an instant. This already happened several issues ago. Also, Reece says that the "child" Beyonder in Secret Wars I destroyed a universe to make the Battleworld of that series; it was in fact only a galaxy. They also said the same thing (that he destroyed a universe) in some other recent issue. This is just an annoying inaccuracy whose changed scale doesn't really add to the story.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this issue for anyone who is trying to understand what's going on with the Incursion storyline, and get an insight into Secret Wars, as well as for anyone who enjoys the Molecule Man or Dr. Doom. Avengers 44, which also just cme out, is also useful for understanding the Incursions, and I recommend it too, but New Avengers is much more key, if you have to get just one.
SPOILERS, AND DISCUSSION OF THE RETCON:
So the crux of this is that Reece is actually a "bomb" created by the Beyonders. When he first gained his powers, that was actually the Beyonders priming their "bomb." Also, Reece is unique that that he is exactly the same in every alternate reality. When he is killed, his universe is destroyed. This is basically what's causing the incursions (as I understand it). So the Reece of our universe wants Doom to stop the incursions, and asks Doom to start killing his other selves prematurely. Reece can't help, because the closer he gets to exploding (he's essentially a time bomb), the less his mind is stable.
I think this is a fascinating idea that plays off the last retcon--that Reece (and the Beyonder) are sentient Cosmic Cubes, who got their power, like all Cosmic Cubes, from the Beyonders' (plural) realm. So it keeps that origin, but adds meaning to it, by saying that the influx of power into Reece was intentional. It also brings his power level back to more or less what it was in Secret Wars II days, making him a universal power (able to destroy the universe) rather than the more limited Cosmic Cube-level power.
It also allows Reece to have some dignity again, unlike many of his last several appearances, since he here provides a tragic sacrifice to save existence. It also provides a better explanation of his on-again-off-again insanity, and again gives him some dignity in that, since his madness comes from what the Beyonders turned him into, rather than an innate weak-mindedness that pathetically returned after Marsha left him, after the previous clarity he had enjoyed during Secret Wars II.
