Tuesday 3 July 2018

Avengers [2018] #3 - Marvel Comics

AVENGERS No. 3, August 2018
Pausing only to provide its audience with incontrovertible proof as to what a “full-power jerk” Tony Stark is, Jason Aaron’s treatment for “Where Space Gods Go To Die” pretty much picks up with precisely the same pulse-pounding pace as its preceding publication by presenting a series of dramatic action-packed sequences involving She-Hulk, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange and the Black Panther. In fact, with the notable exception of Loki Laufeyson explaining to Steve Rogers just why the “naughty star-spangled boy” failed in his attempt to “murder a sorcerer of my calibre… by throwing said sorcerer into the Sun”, there probably isn’t a dull moment in the Alabama-born writer’s narrative until Colonel Carol Danvers finally informs the rest of the anxiously-waiting Avengers that the Alpha Flight space programme have confirmed Captain America is still alive and has been teleported away by the God of Mischief; “Of course he is. That old man will outlive us all.”

Such sense-shattering shenanigans, superbly pencilled by Paco Medina and Ed McGuinness, could admittedly have become a little wearisome for this comic’s audience if there was little plot progression to accompany it, but fortunately nearly every blow thrown seems to advance the story further on, especially Jennifer Walters and Roberto Reyes’ rollercoaster of a ride down towards the centre of the Earth, and subsequent rendezvous with a beleaguered Sorcerer Supreme and T’Challa. This disconcerting ‘rescue’ from an underground army of ferocious spider-sized robots is fantastically penned and provides both a genuine belly laugh moment as the Master of the Mystic Arts apologizes to his flaming-headed saviour for “throwing up so many times” in “his demon-possessed car”, and also finally brings the “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” together just in time for Iron Man to demonstrate just why the character was only ranked twelfth on “IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes in 2011”.

Indeed, the founding member of the super-group really comes across as an especially dislikeable fool in Issue Three of “Avengers” as he arrogantly blames Captain Marvel for “the giant dead bodies” which have been falling from the sky, accuses the Human/Kree hybrid for having previously put him in a coma, and then rudely dismisses the man “who just drove to the centre of the Earth and back” simply because he doesn’t know “this Spooky and the Bandit guy.” Such utter condescending haughtiness on behalf of the new team’s armoured leader is incredibly infuriating, and alongside his subsequent disregard of the savage She-Hulk’s help, arguably must have sadly convinced a few disenchanted perusing bibliophiles to place this twenty-page periodical back upon the spinner rack.
Writer: Jason Aaron, and Artists: Paco Medina & Ed McGuinness

No comments:

Post a Comment