Review: Avengers A.I. Vol. 2- 12,000 A.D.
Quick Summary
Pros: Some of the character-focused moments and action are great. The comic’s conclusion is worthwhile.
Cons: Much of the narrative in this collection is troubled. Many of the comic’s seemingly important plot elements are left underdeveloped.
Overall: This volume delivers on some fronts but disappoints on others. It brings back the emotions and action that made the first volume fun while also giving the series a decent conclusion. However, it also spends the majority of the book on a narrative that ends up feeling pointless and leaves many of the comic’s important plot points unaddressed. Fans who read the last volume might want to read this one just to see how things end, but newer readers may just want to look elsewhere for a consistently entertaining series.
Story
Avengers A.I. Vol. 2: 12,000 A.D., by Sam Humphries, is just as troubled as its predecessor. Once again, the volume provides charming moments from its characters and some moderately entertaining action. It also mostly delivers on providing an epic conclusion for the series as a whole. However, the bulk of this comic’s narrative meanders in a way that undercuts its appeal. The volume also leaves seemingly important plot points underdeveloped, which leads to some disappointment. In the end, this is a mostly mediocre end to a mostly mediocre series.
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12,000 A.D. retains many of the moderate positives from the first volume. It has a few endearing moments, like the Doombot’s interaction with a newly created Inhuman, and fun bursts of action, particularly noticeable when the Avengers A.I. enter the virtual world. None of these positives make the volume worthwhile on their own but do help slightly elevate its appeal.
The problem is that the story accompanying these positive moments isn’t that compelling. The first issue is a massive disruption of the current storyline in order to tie-in to the Inhumanity (Review) event. Then, the following story arc has the book’s main villain, Dimitrios, attack the world by convincing them to download a malicious app, which, considering his immense technical strength, seems like an unnecessary decision. This entire plotline is then undercut when it is revealed that this was all a distraction so that Dimitrios could infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. The meandering nature of this entire narrative makes each point in the story feel like a pointless stop on the way to what should be the book’s main focus.
Luckily, when this focus finally is addressed, it lives up to expectations. The final two chapters of 12,000 A.D., which see the final execution of Dimitrios’ plan, are the collection’s high point. They are a high-stakes battle where it seems like the heroes could fail at any moment, which keeps things tense. These chapters also explore some of the most interesting ideas in the entire series. They examine how the creation of artificial intelligence changes our perception of reality and how this can lead to numerous philosophical questions. In general, this conclusion was what I was hoping for from this series.
Unfortunately, this conclusion also leaves a number of this comic’s elements woefully underdeveloped. The entire existence of the “First Six” feels pointless, as only three of them have any impact on the story. Extending from this, Alexis’ role feels completely overhyped, as she ends up just being the delivery vessel for a message rather than a powerful contributor to the comic’s plot. This just contributes more to the already displeasing nature of the storytelling in this series.
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Art
The quality of the art in 12,000 A.D. ends up being slightly better than it was in the previous collection. Andre Lima Araujo’s creative takes on technology and the virtual world are better appreciated in a volume that makes more significant use of these concepts. This book also contains a few awesome splash pages, which really help punctuate the impact of a specific moment in the narrative. The visuals still aren’t great, as there are places where characters look strange and where perspective looks off. However, overall, the visuals in this collection are pleasing and work with the story.
Continuity
Avengers A.I. Vol. 2: 12,000 A.D. continues the story from Avengers A.I. Vol. 1: Human After All (Review).
The main story here is not continue in any specific comics. However, a few subplots are continued in Avengers: Ultron Forever.
This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:
- Avengers A.I. #7.INH is a tie-in to the Inhumanity (Review) event, which deals with fallout from the Infinity (Review) (Reading Order) event.
- Avengers A.I. #7.INH makes multiple references to Daredevil’s recent encounter with Doctor Doom. This encounter took place in Daredevil #14-15, collected in Daredevil by Mark Waid Vol. 3 (Review).
- Hank Pym mentions that the Avengers “took down a god” on their first day. This is a reference to their fight against Loki in Avengers #1, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 1 (Review). For more information on this encounter, see our “From the Comics: The Origin of the Avengers” article.
- Captain America’s unfreezing is also mentioned a few times. This happened in Avengers #3, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 1 (Review). For more information on this event, see our “From the Comics: The Unfreezing of Captain America” article.