Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Kev Walker
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 24, 2021

I have not been a huge fan of most of the King in Black tie-in series, but it did get me back reading Savage Avengers for now. I enjoyed the beginning with a team up I never thought I needed, Conan and Deadpool, but Gerry Duggar has to stick the landing big time to make me consider this a success. Well, did he? Let’s find out…

The issue begins with Team Savage continuing their fight with the X-Men. Iceman vs. Conan, Bishop vs. Nightflyer, and Callisto vs. Deadpool. It’s not much of a battle (especially with Deadpool) but a feeling-out session that turns into an opportunity. Yep, we put the Hellfire Club aside for a moment to get a team-up to save Storm and Cyclops.

The team-up may sound cool on paper, but it does take away from the interactions and humor, which were my main reasons for liking the first two issues. In its place, we get a surface-level Ocean’s Eleven descriptions of the planned attack on Knull and then the execution… which doesn’t go as planned. Surprise, surprise!

Now, anytime a plan doesn’t come together when Deadpool is involved, you know he will come out on the worst end of things, and of course, that’s what happens. If you aren’t tired of Wade ripped apart and regenerating, you might get a chuckle here, but the genuine laughs are when he dives into Emma Frost’s closet later on.

Bobby, the hero of all of this, goes toe-to-toe with Knull to save his friends and frenemies who escape back to the Hellfire Club. It’s a badass moment for Iceman that unfortunately doesn’t last long enough. Plus, the mission ended up a failure.

The issue ends with Wolverine showing up to trade shit-talk with Conan, Deadpool, and Night Flyer getting paid, and Conan chilling out as the king of his domain, which is now the Hellfire Club.

Not much ended up happening overall here, but that’s been the case with most of these King in Black tie-ins since you can’t step on the main title’s toes. Gerry Dugan has the added challenge of giving you an issue set before King in Black #4, which came out weeks ago.

The art was decent enough but inconsistent. When Kev Walker is on, the pages look great, but the characters and backgrounds often lacked the details to make them stand out.

Final Thoughts:

Savage Avengers ended up being a middle-of-the-road tie-in to King and Black. It had some okay moments, but overall, it was forgettable and entirely skippable. So, I guess it fits right in with most of what we are getting from this event.

6.5/10