The first of the last four books of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers run before Secret Wars is no less sprawling and largely pointless than the series has been thus far – Time Runs Out, Volume 1 is pretty bad!
Captain America is now old because shenanigans from other storylines happening at this time but he’s also devolved into super-authoritarian Cap. He’s not only unlikeable but it’s not remotely clear how he plans to stop the planet-smooshing that’s inevitably occurring. He definitely wants to stop the Illuminati from smooshing some of the planets to save others though. Hickman’s Cap is just terrible.
There’s a lot happening but a lot of it is obtuse and uninteresting. The Ex Nihili are doing stuff, as are Nightmask (who’s doing a Benjamin Button for some reason) and Adam SomeDude. Thor and Hyperion are preparing to find out where the incursions are originating – that might be fun down the line but nothing’s going on in this book - and Sunspot’s bought AIM which is important because…? Hmm.
Namor’s teamed with Thanos and the Black Order because I guess the Illuminati weren’t hardcore enough for him – I haven’t been reading the concurrent New Avengers series so I’m not totally sure (but that’s probably right). Wakanda’s fallen for reasons and Doom has Molecule Man because Secret Wars.
The stuff with the Fantastic Four was surprisingly the best part – I say surprisingly as I’m not usually a fan of those characters. But Reed and Sue are doing the only interesting (and understandable!) things amidst all the convoluted dross that makes up this otherwise dull book.
It’s a re-titled series but, like Hickman’s preceding Avengers books, Time Runs Out, Volume 1 is a messy, slow-moving and boring read.
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