Absolute Carnage: Lethal Protectors #3 - Marvel Comics

ABSOLUTE CARNAGE: LETHAL PROTECTORS No. 3, December 2019

As pulse-pounding, ultra-violent last minute rescues go, it’s fair to say that Frank Tieri’s screenplay for Issue Three of “Absolute Carnage: Lethal Protectors” probably hit the mark for most of this comic’s 31,627 strong audience in October 2019. In fact, this twenty-page periodical’s plot is almost too relentless in its action, as the likes of Deathlok, Morbius and Iron Fist embark upon so serious an over-the-top murdering spree of viciously-fanged doppelgängers that even Sylvester Stallone’s media franchise Rambo would blush at the overall kill count; “Now hand me one of those guns, will ya?”

Interestingly however, despite the formidable firepower at their disposal, the “MarvelFest NYC 2009” event celebrity guest still manages to make this book’s protagonists appear surprisingly vulnerable, and at one stage even looks set to have at least one of the superheroes fatally fall before the relentless innumerable minions of Carnage. Such a sense of palpable mortality is debatably somewhat rare for titular characters in the Modern Age of Comics, so Danny Rand’s decision to summon the “quasi-mystical force” he commands in a last minute bid to save the friends he’s purposely brought back together is arguably all the more impactive as a result.

Similarly as successful, albeit perhaps a little bit too clichéd, is Misty Knight’s tense confrontation with Man-Wolf and her desperately emotional plea for the former astronaut to break his homicidal ties with Cletus Kasady. Backed into a corner, defenceless and yet still superbly defiant, Mercedes never appears to give up, even though the one-armed private detective is never more than a hair’s breadth from having her face bitten off by John Jameson’s symbiote-infected alter-ego.

Unfortunately though, once Tieri’s sense-shattering shenanigans do subside, courtesy of Cloak simply whisking the entire team out of harm’s way with a swish of his all-consuming cape, this comic’s conclusion does come as something of a disappointment; especially once it becomes clear that this entire mini-series was actually about Knight’s somewhat drawn-out rescue and Man-Wolf’s ultimate redemption rather than following the exploits of Iron Fist’s super-squad full-time. Debriefed by a “secret, shadowy organisation”, a disconcertingly inconsistent Flaviano pencils an irate Rand deciding to return to defeat Carnage once and for all just as the publication comes to a close with the frustrating words “To be continued in Absolute Carnage #5!”

‘First published on the "Dawn of Comics" website.'

The regular cover art of "ABSOLUTE CARNAGE: LETHAL PROTECTORS" No. 3 by Iban Coello & Jason Keith