Avengers 23, Secret Avengers 11

Avengers 23
Hickman (w) and Yu (a) and Gho and Mounts (c)

The Avengers are coming up on Earth after so much time away and are trying to set themselves up as best as possible to deal with Thanos and his army. With the Guardians of the Galaxy assisting to take down the infiltration of the Peak (as seen a little here and in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY), Cap sends Manifold, Black Widow, and Shang-Chi for reinforcement. The other ships in the fleet, meanwhile, make their approach to Earth and find the way a little more restricted than they'd hoped, taking losses on all sides. Black Widow's team runs into heavy resistance in the form of Thanos' general Black Dwarf, more than a match for these three. Widow sends Manifold back to the ship for help and to tell them it will take a little more time than anticipated. The Avengers, including the Captains America and Marvel, have all left the ships so Manifold brings back the highest council members, including Gladiator and Ronan, who easily dispatch Black Dwarf, clearing the path for the Avengers to get back to Earth.

All the pieces are in place for an epic showdown in INFINITY 6, a particularly exciting prospect after the scale of this event by itself. One of the complaints I've heard (and in some cases agreed with) about Marvel events is that they have strong beginnings and endings and weak middle parts. This event, as I've said again and again, has been pretty strong throughout, which makes me believe that the end will be particularly impressive. The most worrying part of this event to me is the fact that we've gotten so close to the end of it all and still no Avengers have been lost, a point that Tony and Steve can't help but make in this issue (a vocal Chekhov's gun if there ever was one). I was on pins and needles watching poor Manifold jump in and out of the Peak and at one point said aloud "oh man, he's totally gonna die :( " (I said the sad face too). My bets from last time still hold and I'm predicting losing Manifold and/or Cannonball/Sunspot (they're pretty interchangeable in this book, you guys). Still, really good book and a solid lead-in to the conclusion. Excited to see where this all puts us afterwards (note: I'm also nervous for each and every one of the Illuminati because I love them all and there's an issue of NEW AVENGERS scheduled for after INFINITY 6, which could be an aftermath slash a remembrance issue).

Secret Avengers 11
Brisson (w) and L. Ross (a) and Wilson (c)

The special strike team of Fury, Coulson, Rhodey, and newly Inhuman Agent Sarah Garza are suddenly faced with taking down another newly Inhuman former-just-human in Gavrel Achter, who appears to have some sort of telekinetic power. He passes out briefly under the strain of his new powers, giving the team a chance to regroup. Achter blames SHIELD and others SHIELD deals with for bringing all of these attacks on Earth, claiming that the aliens and what-not never want normal humans, just those who step up to them. Coulson tries to shoot Achter after talking with him doesn't work but Achter stops the bullets and flings a car at Coulson and Garza. They both manage to get out safely but Garza activates her power again, charging Achter head on. She gets ahold of him while his powers flux again and Fury takes the shot, killing Achter to the horror of Garza. She decides that life on the battlefield is too much for her and that, while she knows she can't just go back to her normal life, she'd rather SHIELD find another way to use her.

Another not-quite bad issue from SECRET AVENGERS, which goes into what feels like a rather long list of those. Everyone is impressed with how well Garza adapts to the field, which makes it very slightly better that she did manage to adjust so well; calling attention to the speed with which she acclimates to her powers makes it feel more unexpected, which is better. On top of it, there's a kind of half-hearted attempt to make a moral question out of SHIELD and the superhero community and the likes, with Achter positing that it's the fault of those with superpowers that Earth is attacked so often. It obviously comes from a place of fear and anger from a man who has just had a drastic life change in the middle of an alien invasion so it's not necessarily meant to be the most reasoned-out argument but still it feels a little like the argument we've heard variations of since CIVIL WAR, so it's not exactly a new argument and, though it's one that's still compelling, it's a little stale and rushed here. Coulson continues to have a somewhat undeveloped personality in his new role in the comics universe while Fury still seems more reactive than his father and predecessor. Not an awful tie-in but not anything to really write home about either.