Avengers Undercover 10, Avengers 34.1

Avengers Undercover 10

Plenty of the world's superheroes are trapped underground in Bagalia while the various crime organizations wreak havoc on the surface world, exactly as masterminded by Baron Zemo and his new Masters of Evil. Unfortunately for him, Cammi managed to stowaway with her unlikely partner Arcade and hack into Zemo's network, which Arcade's former partner Miss Corriander had designed to hack SHIELD. Unfortunately for Zemo, Corriander's system worked off of her initial Murder World designs, allowing Cammi to reinstitute Arcade's "god-mode," but for herself. She easily defeats the Masters of Evil and uses Zemo's SHIELD broadcast (typical super villain) to explain the actions of her and her friends to the world, chiding people for their excitement in the Murder World footage and reminding everyone that she and her friends are still teenagers doing their best to navigate an impossible world. She drops the mic and flies away as the kids and heroes start to repair things. So ends the current saga of these kids and their good vs. evil struggle.

I'm on record as having really liked AVENGERS ARENA despite initial low expectations. I came into this book still on an ARENA high and found myself immediately enjoying this new entry, though aware that it could have just been residual good feelings from ARENA. With the series now ended, I think there is no fear of that. This certainly served a different purpose than ARENA and was maybe a little less engaging because of that and because it moved on a much different timeline, but it definitely still holds up. Strong dialogue and tone and a nice speech by Cammi seals the deal on this one, though I can't help feeling that the issue was rushed a little bit. I kind of like that Cammi solves it all so quickly entirely by herself but it means that the giant plot that led to this moment took only one issue to resolve, which screams of a rushed deadline to me. Still strong work and this final issue ends with a total score that matches what I'd rate the series.

Total Score: 4/5


Avengers 34.1

A child has been kidnapped by the supervillain Mauler, who claims the boy is his real son. Hyperion startles the adopted parents of the missing boy when he appears in their home (he heard them sounding sad from god knows how far away). He examines the area and begins his investigation, eventually leading him straight to Mauler, who has already killed a cop in his attempt to escape with the boy. Hyperion, remembering back to his own father and planet and the lessons instilled in him about being a superhero, allows Mauler to attack him repeatedly (and unsuccessfully because Hyperion has unbelievable strength) while he attempts to talk things out with the villain. Eventually Mauler reveals that his actual biological son died in an accident recently, a fate Mauler had tried to avoid by putting the boy up for adoption in the first place. He took this kid because he looked like the villain's own son and now he's killed a cop and has to answer for his crimes with the police, but not with Hyperion's crazy power. Hyperion returns the boy to his parents and vows to protect Earth the same way.

As with most point ones, this issue has very little to do with the current storylines and more to do with giving readers an in to a book and to a character. Hyperion remains something of a mystery (though he essentially boils down to "Superman") but Ewing does what he can to showcase both Hyperion's attitude and his near limitless power. It ends up feeling a bit out of place in AVENGERS, which has been heady, somewhat dark, and often confusing in Hickman's run to this point. By contrast, this book couldn't be more direct in getting its point across, and purposefully so. It has strong moments but can't help feeling cheesy in the same way that earnest Superman stories tend to exclusively come off cheesy. So I guess mission accomplished?

Total Score: 3/5