Yeah. So, two Avengers books this week, one on the stands and one in the Preview pile. here one was a day when I would have been happily surprised by two whole books of Avengers fun back to back but now, disappointment looms overhead.
Mighty Avengers heralds its own arrival by being inconsequential from the get-go. One of many such books, it is so terminally late as to render whatever story its telling moot before it had a chance to tell it. Astonishing X-Men threatening to kill one of the X-Men? Well, books on the stands tell me that everyone of them is fine, so the tension disappears. Think Ultron (who recently acquired the power of a thousand AND ONE exploding suns to kick the Sentry’s butt so hard) might actually do some lasting harm to anyone… anywhere? Sorry, all of the Mighty Avengers have been shown dealing with a symbiote threat in a book that came out the week before you. It’s like Marc Anthony’s wife spilling the beans on J-Lo being pregnant; all the glory is gone.
Mighty Avengers #5
God, that’s depressing. Issue #5. I know Frank Cho’s gone on record and apologized for being lazy and taking on more than he was ready for and is leaving quietly but still. This book is laaaaate. Quick recap? They’re fighting Ultron, who is a chick. Also, Iron Man and the Sentry’s wife are dead.
Right off the bat, a big fight. I really can’t say there’s anything wrong with a big ass fight. The Sentry is drawn rather beautifully grieving for his dead wife and gathering some crazy bit inside of him to go fight Ultron, but really mean it this time. In their fisticuffs, they knock Avengers tower askew. Meanwhile, Ares’s plan is to go back to the SHIELD hellicarrier the Mighty Avengers are using as a base to yell at Han Pym. Hank Pym, a man having stood shoulder to tiny shoulder with Thor, a hero who had fought Ares before as an Avenger, is rather intimidated by the big man and his half-formed ideas of how to fight the high tech menace of Ultron. Pym fills in the whole, goes low tech to override Ultron’s control of the hellicarrier, and goes in with Ares to make a really tiny virus and a really tiny Ares to go in and fight Ultron from the inside out. Other people are slowly convinced that this is an idea so crazy… it just might work!
While the heroes have been fighting the big splash page fight, Ultron has been getting nuclear launch codes and proceeds to try and launch them… I think. All I know is that she has them, succeeds on launching one that appears to kill Ms. Marvel as she saves us all from a nuclear bomb, and a bunch of little read boxes tell me “Password Override Denied”. Whether this means that the SHIELD overrides aren’t working or Ultron’s overrides aren’t working, I don’t know but somehow, someone’s gonna launch a bomb.
The Sentry cannot defeat Ultron, so Wonder Man gives it a try. Seems his ionic energy can’t do the trick either and the Wasp’s only lines and appearance in this goddamned book arrive! Doing some field leading, she tells Wonder Man (or Simon because, despite big logo fonts, codenames aren’t really used consistently with the Mighty) to get Ultron out of the city just in time to look over her shoulder on the third to the last page and say “Hank?”
Yes, never fear! Ant-Man is here! Just like on the cover of the comic, so I can’t complain because it’s pretty cool shot of Ant-Man and his insects coming to…. surrender to Ultron and take a little monologuing so Ares and his SHIELD virus-mobile can go down Ultron gullet and hopefully END THIS STORY next issue.
So really, all you need to know is that there’s a big Venom/Carnage-y event the issue after next because Ares has a plan to end this all next issue. Thank you, Ares.
One Comment
Yeah, this turned so sour, I had such high hopes for this. Like, after 5 issues, we get it, this new Ultron is tough! Tough! But really, all anybody tries is to hit him hard, so little happens, so much talking…Gah! And I dont even mind Bendispeak. But just soooo long and soooo little happening.