Avengers Assemble 16, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Thor: God of Thunder 9

Avengers Assemble 16
DeConnick (w) and Buffagni (a) and Bellaire w/ Wilson (c)

The Enemy Within continues here as more of Carol's past begins to haunt her. A Brood attack, with suddenly appearing Brood riding a giant Acanti whale, launches over New York City as Carol is making coffee and/or tea (unimportant) with Tracy. Tracy says she shouldn't go and Carol admits to herself that she's probably right but they both know she's going to go anyway. Indeed, she leaves and joins up with several other Avengers to stop the Brood. There's a real sense of a hectic battle here as DeConnick jumps back and forth between the battle in New York and the agents of SWORD who were surprised by the sudden appearance of the Brood being questioned by Abigail Brand, all while Yon-Rogg tries to contact Hala, the Kree homeworld, for escort from Earth. Yon-Rogg offers Captain Marvel and the Earth as tidings to the Supreme Intelligence in exchange for his extraction but the Kree monitoring officer who handles Yon-Rogg's call declines, not interested in adding Earth, a troublesome planet forsaken by the galactic council, to the Kree Empire. Angry, Yon-Rogg disconnects and decides instead to make Earth more like Hala, with the powers now granted to him by the Psyche-Magnitron. He transforms himself into new villain The Magnitron. Meanwhile, the Avengers all suspect that this Brood attack has something to do with  Carol's mysterious adversary, as a Brood attack happened early on in her hero's journey. Still, they're unsure what to do with that information and Black Widow suspects that it's just another warning shot. The issue ends as what appears to be a Kree Sentry destroys the last remaining Brood that had escaped north of New York City.

The story is already delving pretty heavily into Carol's history as well as the history of the Kree Empire, which is always worrying with a book like this. Avengers Assemble kind of seemed like the sort of book that was meant to allow new readers to jump onboard an Avengers title while Hickman did whatever crazy things he wanted over in Avengers. I think this story will be a strong one and that everything will shape up nicely for DeConnick but I'd worry that anyone following this book because they wanted a jumping-on point might get shaken by this one, particularly if they neglected to pick up Avengers: The Enemy Within last month. There are confusing parts borne largely out of the chaotic nature of this attack but I don't think it weakens the story. There are a couple parts where I wasn't entirely sure what was happening because of the art (which is largely good but had some weird moments to it) or because of quippy sort of dialogue bouncing back and forth a bit too much. Still, a strong entry to this event that has clearly established drama and a villain for Carol and the Avengers. Should set us up for a nice and tight event.

Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Bendis (w) and McNiven, Pichelli, and Dell (a) and Ponsor (c)

The Guardians have been taken prisoner by the Spartax and their king (and Peter Quill's father) J-Son. J-Son meets with the council he had previously to discuss the attack on Earth by the Badoon. He accuses Y-Gaaar, the leader of the Badoon (and, mysteriously, the only alien name that my spell-check isn't freaking out over), of being unable to keep his hands off of Earth for even a cycle after they agreed to. Y-Gaaar says it wasn't his Badoon; he is the leader of the brotherhood and it was the sisterhood that attacked. J-Son demands he get things in order before defending himself for the Guardians' interference in Earth's dealings. He explains that his son is merely a petulant child and he's going to be punished for what he did as an example to others. He storms off from the meeting and the other members of the council express their dismay and concern over the Spartax king. Meanwhile, of course, Groot was not captured by the Spartax and makes his first major appearance as he breaks the Guardians out of holding. They decide, instead of escaping, to use the weapons that have been confiscated and brought to the same room as they had been and take over the Spartax battleship. They do so with relative ease and Star-Lord issues a message to the rest of the Spartax: his father had his own son arrested for protecting Earth from the Badoon, imagine what he'd do to regular grunts.

There's definitely an interesting story developing here if it can stay away from too many tropes. There's always a worry when you're talking about son facing off against father and this team, made up of a couple different interesting child-father relationships, knows that better than most. Still, there's something sinister happening with J-Son and this council is an intriguing idea, bringing together the heads of several powerful races to make decisions. I have some issue with the back-and-forth here, as is usual and well-documented on this blog so I don't intend to get into it more, and I can envision Rocket's character getting unbearably annoying over time. For the record, I do think there is a way to do Rocket and make him not annoying, despite the fact he's a bit annoying by nature and the fact that plenty of people want him dead. I worry that his bloodthirsty nature is going to wear thin if it keeps up the way it is (mostly shouting about how he's killing everyone as he's killing them). I do appreciate that it's a sort of new take on him and a new take on the more violent heroes in the Marvel Universe (outright glee with killing isn't typically a Punisher trait, per se) but it might be worth toning down before it gets unbearable.

Thor: God of Thunder 9
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c)

The big fight we've been waiting months for finally happens in this, the third part of Godbomb. The Thors Three approach Gorr as the godbomb nears completion. The three of them fight valiantly, one after another or sometimes all at once. Gorr, seeing the full might of three Thors, decides he needs extra strength and orders his minions to kill all of the gods on the planet. This enrages the Thors more but adds to Gorr's power. Present and future Thor get caught by a serpent of Gorr who holds them while Gorr himself fights the past Thor. Future Thor holds the serpent's mouth open long enough for present Thor to escape and go after Gorr, just in time to see past Thor knocked away. Thor and Gorr battle heatedly and Gorr decides that present Thor is his favorite. Future Thor fights because of regret and past Thor fights because of shame, but present Thor, he suspects, fights because he knows that Gorr is right about how worthless gods are and he needs to prove to himself how wrong that is. Eventually the other two Thors convene on present Thor and help in the attack. Gorr brings them into the sun of the planet, where the fight finishes (for now). As the dust settles, god blood rains down, as do hammers, and finally Thors. Gorr demands the godbomb prepared.

Like I said at the start, we've been waiting for this fight for months and it doesn't disappoint. It's every bit as epic and grand as you'd expect it to be, with the Thors fighting as hard as Thors are known to fight and Gorr still managing to come out on top. The banter is pretty solid and the Thors themselves go through a bit of an arc in this issue not unlike Thor's arc. They come in brash and spewing bravado, eagerly attacking Gorr and getting the best of him to start before turning a little more solemn among the death of the other gods and the strength of Gorr. Finally they're defeated by Gorr and all hope seems lost. Still, there are two more issues in this arc so smart money is on them waking up and coming after Gorr again. Maybe not the same direct way, but in some manner. Still, good issue with all the action we've been waiting for and the standard great art and colors by Ribic and Svorcina. Should be a solid last couple of issues of this arc. It'll be interesting to see if the Thors are victorious and just how victorious they are. Gorr is a pretty good villain, it almost feels like it would be a shame to lose him.