Avengers [2018] #8 - Marvel Comics

AVENGERS No. 8, November 2018

Lacking any notable action whatsoever, unless any of this book’s 58,060 readers felt Captain America’s all-too brief training exercise with Roberto Reyes qualified, Jason Aaron’s somewhat sedentary storyline for Issue Eight of “Avengers” may well have struck many in its audience as being a rather lack-lustre affair when compared to all the sense-shattering shenanigans the eight heroes had previously experienced whilst battling the Celestials for the very future of Humankind. Indeed, apart from an intriguing flashback to the creation of the super-group’s new global headquarters at the North Pole and an off-screen battle aboard a whaling vessel “on the other end of the world”, little else arguably occurs within this twenty-page periodical apart from plenty of wordy-heavy discussions, disputes and disagreements.

Fortunately however, that doesn’t mean for a moment that the Alabama-born author’s narrative isn’t an enjoyable experience, with T’Challa’s exploration of the “desiccated, armoured corpse of an Alpha Celestial who died four billion years ago” posing all sorts of intriguing possibilities for future predicaments in its own right. Doctor Strange’s research into Jennifer Walters’ rocketing “Gamma counts” also looks set to provide the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with some quite literal explosive exploits, especially if the increasingly strong She-Hulk continues to demonstrate her inability to keep her formidable strength in check as she does when angered by the Sorcerer Supreme’s suggestion to undergo “more testing before you return to the field.”

Of course this comic’s greatest hook though is the utterly barbaric killing of three Fish People who storm the aforementioned fishing ship in an unsuccessful attempt to reach its Bridge. Brutally gunned down for their impudence by the boat’s heavily-armed security team, and then distastefully suspended from one of its sides like any other dead catch of the day, the sudden arrival of a giant squid, alongside the “Avenging Lord of the Seven Seas” is such a truly pulse-pounding moment that it must have had any perusing bibliophile begging their local comic shop owner to pre-order this ongoing title’s subsequent edition with spirited sincerity.

Undoubtedly adding to the grand look of “Inside Avengers Mountain” is David Marquez’s artwork, wonderfully coloured by Justin Ponsor. The University of Texas graduate’s opening splash page depicting Ghost Rider driving up to Avengers Mountain is particularly well-drawn, and really helps put the technologically-advanced place’s sheer size into jaw-dropping perspective.

Writer: Jason Aaron, Artist: David Marquez, and Color Artist: Justin Ponsor