Writer: Jed Mackay
Cover Artist: Stuart Immonen
Artist: C.F. Villa
Colorist: Frank D’Armata
Letterer: V.C.’s Cory Petit
Reviewer: Carl Bryan

“But Tell me…Just what happens when you mess with the Avengers?” – The Black Panther

Synopsis:
The Avengers find themselves with a rare gift – foreknowledge of the dangers coming their way- the deadly TRIBULATION EVENTS. But can this information be trusted? Can even the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes triumph in the face of cascading disaster?

Positives:
Cover Artist Stuart Immonen makes a great first impression as the art is poster-worthy, and the heroes have never looked so good!
Jed Mackay has adjusted the Avengers antenna like a grandmother in the 1970s searching for her soap operas. Excuse the age-related commentary, but Mackay has the perfect components of the Avengers firing on all cylinders.
Black Panther is as competitive as he is powerful. Thor and the Scarlet Witch…now that’s a superpower combo I didn’t think of. Did artist C.F. Villa just draw an enticing look between the two? Whew….
While the Avengers are saving 1000 lives (a pivotal plot point that I will not spoil here…so buy the issue!), we see a different view of Kang. Was this a company reaction to the legal troubles of Jonathan Majors? I don’t know, but I missed Issue #1, and maybe Kang now looks like Tony Stark? Kang doesn’t look like Kang, but he is doing Kang things!

Positives 2.0
Jed Mackay gives us the right leader for the Avengers. While fans of the cinematic universe may hate Brie Larsen, Mackay writes her, and Villa draws her like we need her to be! Arguably the best leader ever for all the personalities involved.

Kudos to Mackay for giving us a Charles Dickens tale similar to three spirits coming to wreak havoc on the earth. In this case, it is apocalyptic, but it will shape into some fantastic issues!

Negatives
The nomenclature of the issues is challenging. As an Avengers reviewer, even I get confused with all the titles: Avengers Beyond, Avengers, Avengers Assemble, Avengers Forever, and Avengers War Across Time….whew!
Let’s let the dust settle, celebrate this new team, and see where Mackay will take us. I bet it’s going to be great!

Final Thoughts:

From art to the storyline, Marvel may have it right this time. What do you do with a team that appears to have gone through everything? You hand it to a writer like Jed Mackay and let him lead his Avengers team. I’m in for the long haul…how about you? Avengers’ Readers Assemble!

9.0/10