Uncanny Avengers 15, Young Avengers 14

Uncanny Avengers 15
Remender (w) and McNiven and Dell w/ Vines and Leisten (a) and L. Martin (c)

Steve and Alex are rushing forth to stop the Apocalypse twins when Alex is suddenly magicked away. Wolverine duels with Grim Reaper and Daken before also being magicked away while we get a glimpse of all the major mutant establishments and see all of the mutants magicked away together. Unfortunately for the Uncanny Avengers, Uriel and Eimin have seen through Wanda's attempt at treachery and have directed all of the mutants into their transport sarcophagi (not creepy at all) straight out of the teleportation spell, rendering all of them inert and allowing the ark to take off without incident. It does just that as Wasp rounds the corner, hoping to call forth Immortus and his band of powered-up people but failing to do so in time. She battles Sentry who reveals himself to be just absolutely horrifying. Thor shows up in time to provide support but they're not able to bring down Sentry until Jan communicates with some local bugs who tell her of another giant worm deep under the surface. She call it out and gets it to eat Sentry while she and Thor prepare to go to the Apocalypse twins. Cap, meanwhile, overhears the fate of Scarlet Witch, Simon, and Rogue as he prepares to attack the twins and it both causes him to doubt himself as a leader and to attack even more fiercely. Still, he's pretty easily beaten and forced to watch as Exitar the Executioner turns up on Earth to, as the Watcher explains to Thor and Jan, sentence the Earth to death for the killing of a Celestial.

Whoa. So there's a lot going on here and none of it is good for the Unity Squad or, in the least, for mankind. It's probably not great for mutants either but mankind is in a real pickle. One of the treats of this book has been the way that it continually ramps up the stakes without ever making it feel like it's going crazy. This plot, in its entirety, probably should feel like it's gotten absolutely absurd with so many moving parts and such high stakes but it never really gets to the point where you check out. By the same token, with the number of events that the Marvel Universe seems to constantly have, it's almost a little strange to see something this massive and this interesting come as anything less than an event. Such is the problem of events (or one of the problems, anyway): saving your biggest stories for events means that big stories in standalone comics feel somewhat out of place. Still, the story here is great and a lot of the character developments have worked really well for the series, despite being chock-full of characters and plot. Who would have thought that the death of three giant characters in the last issue wouldn't have even been the climax of the story? AS AN ASIDE, I've seen a lot of people accusing Remender of "fridging" Scarlet Witch and Rogue last issue, that their deaths were only there to make Wolverine or the rest of the team feel the stakes by sacrificing a female character. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard, just as the accusations that Remender was fridging Sharon in CAPTAIN AMERICA. In both cases, these were long established characters with huge histories whose deaths, yes, did motivate the males (and females, particularly in UNCANNY AVENGERS) in their lives but also who sacrificed themselves exactly the way that any male could have died. This isn't a new female character killed solely for a reaction. ANYWAY, this is already too long, just let it be on record that I do not agree with these claims whatsoever. Good issue.

Young Avengers 14
Gillen (w) and McKelvie, Vieceli, Ward, and Wu (a) and Wilson, Loughridge, Ward, and Bellaire (c)

The foes have been vanquished and now all that's left for the year is the after-party. In an issue littered with excellent artists doing vignettes for our characters, we get to see some resolution (the two-issue arc that will finish out this incredible series, in fact, is called "Resolution") at long last. America and Kate prepare for the party and travel there together, having something of a nice moment together for the first time in the series in pages drawn by Jamie McKelvie and colored by Matthew Wilson. Emma Vieceli and Lee Loughridge provide the art for a nice story that shows Billy and Teddy working their way through their doubts and their worries as Billy gets a nice confidence boost from both David (who admits he would be with Teddy in a heartbeat if Billy were out of the picture) and, somehow even more unexpected, from America. The story transitions nicely into the Christian Ward illustrated story for America, which gives a fair amount of backstory and explains America's childhood to a point, which involves her mothers seemingly giving their lives to close portals into the common multiverse from their home, the Utopian Parallel. The Utopian Parallel is, as it sounds, a utopian parallel to the regular multiverse that was created by, get this, the purest incarnation of the Demiurge's magic. When America learned of her moms' sacrifice, she too leapt into the closing holes to find herself in the multiverse, where she could be the sort of hero her moms were and the Demiurge seemed to be. Now she's met him and, by her own admission, he's an idiot like everyone else. Annie Wu beautifully closes the issue out along with Jordie Bellaire to tell a tale of Kate and Noh-Varr making awkward smalltalk before she chooses to walk away. As they stand apart, looking at one another again, Speed shows up and yanks Kate away, demanding she dance with him. He has no time to answer her questions about where he's been and how he returned and she decides that she doesn't care anyway. They kiss as midnight strikes on the new year.

Look, I've said everything I've ever needed to see about this book and this issue falls right in line. Kieron Gillen continues to absolutely marvel with his stories and his characters and the realism and depth of his dialogue. The twist that America was born from the Demiurge and the events of this book is incredible and really provides the only true story in this issue, leaving the rest to character interactions and resolutions of relationships. To boot, all of the artists were chosen perfectly and each and every one of them brings their A-game to the issue. I'm so looking forward to the next issue to see what else it holds in store; plenty more great artists will be there but looking at this one will truly make you say "well who else could they possibly have for the next one? This one really covered it all." Great issue all around and there's no doubt that these two issues will be the absolute perfect way to wrap this series, if there was any doubt before.