Avengers AI 10, New Warriors 2

Avengers AI 10
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

In the physical world, the Gascheck app is still driving people crazy while, in the virtual world of the Diamond, the Avengers team still has to find the root of the problem. With the help of the Lovelace Army and Gibson, they find the giant monstrous being that is Gascheck. After Doombot's failed attempt to attack it, Pym talks with it and explains what's happening in the physical world. Gascheck reveals that Dimitrios hijacked his programming and that he only wants to help humans, not hurt them. To ensure everyone's safety, Gascheck deactivates itself, saving the people of Earth from themselves. After seeing Hank deal with the situation and seeing all the wonders of the Diamond, Captain America announces that he'll back Hank with whatever he thinks is right, even if it puts him at odds with SHIELD or the president or whoever. Meanwhile, SHIELD has sent the AI-hunting unit of Monica Chang and Jocasta to capture Jessie Clatterbuck, the AI who played a part in Dimitrios' first attack. They manage to capture her but Chang can't help feeling that something is wrong. Alexis, down in the Diamond with her sister Eton, realizes that she needs to prevent Clatterbuck from capture if she wants to save the world.

This is the first issue of AVENGERS AI since the cancellation announcement, so maybe it's just knowing that it is being cancelled and that it's going to end soon but there is a sort of rushed sense of finality to the issue. Obviously some of the pieces for the conclusion are just falling into place now or just starting to be realized now but some of the smaller pieces, that stuff that needs to get out of the way (like Cap and his Avengers' tie to this team) is getting out of the way pretty abruptly. I still can't totally get a feel for this team and I don't have a really distinct sense of any of the characters (aside from Doombot who doesn't have a whole lot to him), something that will be really hard to clear up as we race to the finish. It's hard to sustain interest in a book, particularly a book driven by lesser known characters, if we don't really understand our characters. Ah well, let's hope for a mighty conclusion as we head towards 13.

New Warriors 2
Yost (w) and To (a) and Curiel (c)

The Evolutionaries are striking at multiple locations and our heroes are finding out just how difficult they can be to fight. Their targets seem to be mutants, Inhumans, and other heroes or people somehow different on a biological level. This includes both Justice and Speedball and pretty much the entire population of New Salem in Colorado, Kaine, Aracely, and Faira Sar Namora in Mexico, and a new Inhuman named Mark in the sewers of New York, though it does not include Sun Girl, whose powers are derived from the technology on her back and not a power within. After Justice and Speedball force the Evolutionaries out of Colorado, they speed to Avengers Tower to access the database on these things, getting a bit of exposition out of a recording from Cyclops. When they've learned a little bit, they hear the fight in the sewer and join in, giving enough backup to Sun Girl and Mark that they force those Evolutionaries to leave. Meanwhile, Nova has been captured by the High Evolutionary and put into a containment field deep in Wundagore Mountain. The High Evolutionary explains that the Celestials are coming back to judge Earth and that he and Nova are the only chance for humanity's survival.

Things keep on racing along here as now two of our New Warrior pairs have met up and Kaine and Aracely have met up with Faira Sar Namora. The team is quickly coming together and we're starting to learn a little bit more of why they need to come together so quickly. Oftentimes a team like this, one made up of smaller heroes or more inexperienced and unknown characters, will start off stopping some sort of important but far smaller problem. Maybe they tangle with an AIM branch or something and stop civilian casualties. Maybe they team up during a big Marvel event when everyone is coming together and they decide to stick it out. Maybe they have a misunderstanding but realize their both actually fighting the same guys. But no, Chris Yost has decided he's going to put them up against the Celestials and the High Evolutionary, about as big as you can go in any direction. It's a bold choice and one that will have to play out fully before we really know if it was the best choice. The problem, of course, with a big foe like this is that it's harder to characterize if you have to spend so much time establishing. Yost is doing okay with it right now as he's mostly characterized Speedball and Justice with a touch of characterization for everyone else and he's at the point where the plot will still carry the book for a bit but soon we're going to need to get deeper into character if we're going to stay on this journey. I have no doubt that the characterization will come though and we'll be left with a pretty solid book.