Written by Allan Heinberg
Illustrated by Jim Cheung– The big climax that sets the stage big time for what is to come in 2012!
– Deaths and departures!
– The funeral of an Avenger.
– The final fate of the Scarlet Witch.
– A new lineup and a new direction for the Young Avengers.
It’s all come to this. The book that started…nearly 2 years ago at the close of Siege has finally reached its end. Is it a keeper? Check out my thoughts beyond the cut!
As a note, there are some spoilers discussed.
After a myriad of delays, either creative or editorial, the story that seems to feed right into the new “Avengers vs. X-Men” storyline (which lends credence to the idea that it was editorial that slowed things down for everyone).
In many ways, this book was more like an abridged final chapter along with a sort of extended epilogue catching the team up with the rest of the Marvel Universe at a breakneck speed; but more on that later. This book can be evenly split into two parts, so this review will be split in two parts.
The first half is the essentially the emotional climax of the previous 9 issues. In the previous issue, Stature, the daughter of the recently resurrected Scott Lang/Ant-Man II, was killed by Doctor Doom. This issue is largely the fall out of that event, sending Iron Lad, the young Nathaniel Richards into a grief-stricken tantrum of sorts which culminates in his leaving the team once again to possibly continue on his path to be Kang the Conqueror, and killing Stature’s current boyfriend in the process. This was actually a bit disappointing, because to while the Young Avengers were largely unused aside from the occasional mini, you could argue that Cassie Lang and her boyfriend Jonas were the most used characters from the lot, having spent time on Dan Slott’s “Mighty Avengers” during the Dark Reign. They had the most potential to move on into the upper ranks, but now they’ll languish and go unused, unless Iron Lad comes back again and resurrects her (which, let’s face it, is possible). The disappointing part about their deaths is that they were pretty much traded for the life of Scott Lang, Cassie’s father. He’s a character who doesn’t really have a place in the Marvel Universe, with Eric O’Grady holding the mantle of Ant-Man and Hank Pym holding the title of Giant Man. It’s also a tad upsetting that Cassie might has well have been fridged to give him a more engaging storyline (although, it’s hinted that O’Grady may be dead as well.)
There seems to be an issue with some of the characterization in the book too, because I’m not sure Heinberg “gets” the character of Scott Summers. I’m a fan of Scott, and I wouldn’t hesitate to say he can be a bit of a grump and a humorless douchebag. But in this book, he surpasses all levels of “grump” and “douchebag” to “full on Rush Limbaugh” scolding Wanda some more, when it’s been established that it wasn’t her fault. The sword of Damocles is literally hanging above her head and at any moment, Scott will come in and cut the thread, possibly with a patented eye-blast. That’s no way to treat a newly re-depowered (I think?) Wanda who was supposed to be back to prominence in the Marvel Universe. Perhaps it can be further explored in the upcoming “AvX” story, because this one left too many threads open for my tastes. I did enjoy the fact that she decided to go off to claim her own identity, as she feels she was always in the shadow of others.
The epilogue of the book is much less a way to further wrap exposed plot threads, and more a way to catch the characters up with the rest of the Marvel Universe. Every single character quits with the exception of Speed, whose retirement seemed a little forced since everyone went their separate ways. After that, a single page went through the months that lead up to the current status quo, from Spider- Island to the return of the Human Torch among others. But this is where the book takes a turn for the better. There is a very tender moment between Hulkling and Wiccan, who have, as far as I know, been largely chaste in their relationship. They finally consummated with a long embrace that didn’t pull any punches. It’s one of the best moments of the entire series, and it shouldn’t be missed.
Continued belowOn the art side, Jim Cheung is Jim Cheung. His art always explodes off the page with color and action, and this book is no different. Nearly everything looks incredible on the pages in between the cover, as well as the cover itself. The only problem I have with the book’s art, and mostly with Cheung’s art in general, is that sometimes the characters look like that have either small mouths or everyone has a sort of overbite. It can be very distracting trying to figure out some of the facial designs. Other than that, however, everything looks incredible, as it usually does.
When all is said and done, this book started out really well but didn’t end as strongly as it should have. There were some very good moments that do outweigh the bad mostly, but after the delays and meandering this book went through, it almost feels too late.
Final Verdict: 6.9 — Browse, on the cusp of a buy
