Avengers 27, Avengers Assemble 25

Avengers 27
Hickman (w) and Larroca (a) and F. Martin (c)

The Avengers are fighting the Avengers from an alternate universe, meaning that AIM has suddenly realized their responsibility in unleashing these Avengers on Earth and in losing their brand new super Adaptoids. It's not an enviable position for AIM and they certainly don't want to be tied into this whole situation. While the core of the Avengers fight their dopplegangers, Banner meets with the other Banner, learning that he's been lobotomized and had the part of his brain that recognized and enabled emotion removed. He no longer gets angry and he now turns into the Hulk by a remote control wielded by his Avengers, who act more as conquerors and slaughterers than heroes. Bruce decides to test the sociopath theory by striking him in the back with a wrench, believing that he still has the ability to Hulk. As the Avengers take down their counterparts one by one (along with shocking revelations like their Iron Man is a crazed Jarvis who killed Howard and a baby Tony and took the mantle himself and that their Captain America is actually a General), Hulk turns up, but all actions indicate that he's the other Hulk. Before anything can be conclusive or before the fight can be satisfactorily ended, AIM pops in and puts a temporal field around them, stopping time momentarily so they can capture the other Avengers and bring them back with no record of their interference. Meanwhile, the super Adaptoids have found AIM's multiverse gate and intend to enter it as explorers.

I'll be honest, I kind of keep forgetting this story is going on. That's not to say I don't like it. I think there is a lot to like here. The foes are interesting, seeing what the goal of these Avengers is has proven interesting, AIM's involvement is compelling enough, the dialogue and characters are working pretty well, etc. Still, I think the downfall of this series is that it started with such a boom, carrying multiple arcs that fit under the same umbrella for so long, that it's hard to parse it out into another story. I'm sure that will get better (and likely when the book starts double shipping again it will be easier) as we move forward but it is a little hard to keep this book straight. As I said, though, there's a lot to take away from this book and most of it is completely worthwhile. As a note, I'm not willing to go out there and speculate right now that the super Adaptoids who have just entered the multiverse to explore have anything to do with the Mapmakers or whoever else over in NEW AVENGERS because I have a blog to run and can't get into such speculation, but if everyone else wanted to go ahead and work up that theory and just give me the credit I'm sure I'd manage. FUN FACT: If you buy this book this week, it also comes with a free ALL-NEW INVADERS 1 at the end of it, so if you've been looking to check that out and maybe feel out AVENGERS for yourself, now seems like a prime opportunity. Or save your dollars for a fantastic issue of SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN with a free copy of the also-fantastic BLACK WIDOW 1.

Avengers Assemble 25
DeConnick and Ellis (w) and Buffagni, Meikis, N. Edwards, and Ienco (a) and Redmond (c)

Toxic Doxie is on to her last AIM hideout, knowing that the Terrigen cocoon she's seeking is there and ready to strike some more retribution on the organization that attacked her and, in her eyes, stole her prize. The Avengers have been made aware of her attempts and go so far as to warn AIM (their newfound diplomatic immunity is proving irritating ALL OVER THE PLACE, says Cap) before sending out their own team to try to protect their enemies and recover the cocoon themselves. They burst into the hideout just after Covington and make their way through the AIM scientists that are still standing, leaving bodies and banter in their wake. Anya makes it to Doxie first, wearing a gas mask to protect her from a gas Covington's just dispersed that keeps the other Avengers out for the time being. A brief fight ensues and Spider-Girl comes out the victor, prepared by her various mentors over the last few issues. It's a complete success for the Avengers (though they weren't able to arrive in time to save all the AIM scientists and undoubtedly they'll all lose some sleep over that) as they apprehend Toxic Doxie and recover the cocoon. Steve tells Spider-Girl that they're available to her if ever she needs them and tells her that she'll fit in just fine with them, eventually sending her the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes ringtone she'd so coveted from Spider-Woman.

It's a fitting end to this book as we get to see a little bit of everything that this series built itself on. We see a team that enjoys being together and that works well together. We see a well-trained Anya managing to take down a villain by herself thanks to her preparation and skills. We see Spider-Woman and Hulk being friends, Hawkeye being taken down a few pegs, the Captains being leaders, Black Widow getting her information, and so on and so forth. It's a more classic superhero book with the team quipping and saving, unambiguously being heroes. I've repeatedly said throughout this blog that AVENGERS ASSEMBLE acts as the more mainstream, the more lighthearted Avengers title and now it's ended by putting a solid period at the end of that sentence. And as the book makes its rather sweet exit, so too does Kelly Sue DeConnick make a rather sweet exit from the book with a nice little poem, Goodnight Moon style. Goodnight, AVENGERS ASSEMBLE.

Avengers Assemble 24, Mighty Avengers 7

Avengers Assemble 24
DeConnick and W. Ellis (w) and Buffagni (a) and Redmond (c)

Anya, detached from Wolverine after a rather harrowing day with him, returns to Avengers Tower to try to figure out the next step. She gets the help of Tony Stark in this next phase (and gets lectured about the studying and preparation that comes with being a superhero) and they trace Covington to a couple of different smaller AIM hideouts in her strike on AIM. In the process, they manage to recover Anya's teacher, the one whose disappearance kicked off this whole event, and bring him to the hospital. They also realize that his new Inhuman trait has to do with being invisible to machines (Iron Man can't see him through his armor) and determine that Covington has begun to simulate this trait and is using it in her attack on AIM. Now, as she moves to make a big strike, Anya meets with Cap, finally, and he calls the rest of the Avengers in to ready them to move against Covington.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE is ending soon, cancelled likely because of sales and because its successor, AVENGERS WORLD, is already on bookshelves and in long boxes, but this arc is just one of the reasons that's a pretty sad cancellation. I've long said that AVENGERS is the "oh god, you're in pretty deep" Avengers title, with Hickman's intense, very rigidly plotted and often confusing (though good) writing and stories where AVENGERS ASSEMBLE is more the starter-Avengers book or, barring that because it sounds condescending, the more fun-Avengers book. However, this arc is playing at a bigger game. It's showing us Anya, Spider-Girl, sure, but it's going deeper and showing us the roots of these superheroes. It's showing us the way these individual heroes act and move and think and plot and avenge on their own and it's giving us their individual styles (while explicitly giving it to the young hero Anya) before rejoining them all to show the Avengers in action. In a nutshell, it is the heart and soul of an Avengers team, it is the "Earth's Mightiest Super-Heroes team up to fight the foes that no one of them could fight alone" mentality hard at work, and it is paying off. It's going to be sad to see this one go for a lot of different reasons but this arc is one of those arcs that is certainly fun to read, worth reading while it's happening, but really a deeper and more profound arc to look back on afterwards, or even during. Really good stuff and really clearly a great Avengers book.

Mighty Avengers 7
Ewing (w) and Schiti (a) and D'Armata (c)

Ava has learned, intercepting Falcon's call to Cage, that Gideon Mace is out on the streets somewhere, inexplicably freed from prison as a hero to anti-cape Americans who gained particular prominence with the movement during Civil War (though I don't believe he had a part in it, this issue retcons the idea that people, at the height of hating superheroes, took to this man). Now Ava's out to find and kill Mace while her Mighty Avengers brethren are out to stop her from becoming a murderer and inciting a war with Mace's supporters, who have formed the "American Policy Research Initiative," an organization that has set out to essentially buy politicians and form its own militias to counteract laws with which it doesn't agree. It's a delicate process for the Mighty Avengers to try to remove Mace from the situation without getting him killed or inciting some sort of war with these guys made more difficult when Ava turns her body over to the Tiger God to allow him to hunt and run free on Mace, making her loads more powerful and more ruthless, less willing to listen to reason. She makes her way to the APRI and attacks, which She-Hulk claims is grounds enough for the APRI to sue them, but they manage to subdue her with a little subterfuge and some well-placed hits. It's not over so quickly for the Avengers, though, as Mace calls the police on them and immediately makes it all look like an attack on him and his group in front of news organizations and the cops and everyone.

The power of one good issue or one good arc cannot be overstated. I was very luke(cage)warm on this book to start because it immediately got off to the sort of "silly captions and silly moments mask a serious book" stuff I tend to take umbrage with for some reason or another (I mostly just hate incongruous tones; there are ways to add humor or levity to serious matters without making it so blatantly obvious, that's one of the keys to writing). It carried on for about five issues with me not really getting anything else out of the book but last issue saw a big shift for me. Things started to actually happen and the tone really started to solidify a little bit better. This issue continues that trend (although it still does the slightly irritating caption-humor I have such a, probably irrational, distaste for) and keeps the book pretty focused, giving it an enemy and putting it into political and physical turmoil along with really helping to establish our heroes. Pretty good stuff out of this one and I can only hope that it continues this way (like the slightly slower turnaround in the DEADPOOL series after an unbelievably hated first arc).

Uncanny Avengers 16, Avengers Assemble 23, Inhumanity 2

Uncanny Avengers 16
Remender (w) and McNiven, Dell, and Leisten (a) and L. Martin (c)

With most of the Unity Squad pulled into the ark, it's up to Thor, Wasp, and Captain America to stop the ark from leaving with all of the world's mutants and save the world from execution at the hands of the Celestial Exitar. Fortunately, the arrival of Exitar has not gone unnoticed and some of the big science brains in the Marvel Universe (non-mutant) are busy working on solutions. Thor's got his own solution too, which is to find Jarnbjorn and talk with Exitar or, barring that, hopefully kill him before he can attack the Earth. Knowing that the Apocalypse twins have Jarnbjorn, Thor attacks Uriel and Eimin in the ark. He frees Steve from his captivity (Cap-tivity) and together they manage to separate the twins, which stops the biggest of their powers from working. While Thor whales on Uriel, Cap manages to outmaneuver Eimin and launch her out of the spaceship (it was pretty cool you guys). Thor follows Uriel to Jarnbjorn and punches up Uriel some more. Meanwhile, Wasp is trying to shut down the tachyon dam that's keeping Immortus from entering with his reinforcements but gets interrupted by Grim Reaper, who tells her the only way to shut the dam down is to kill him first. Back on the ship, Thor continues to annihilate Uriel, eventually shoving him into an exploding portal, potentially killing him. As Thor follows the explosion to the exterior of the ship, he finds Eimin, holding Jarnbjorn in the shadow of Exitar, ready to fight him for it.

Very intense issue. While I like this whole team and I think Remender's done a good job overall to develop the entire time and to grant focus to everyone at various points, I think this issue benefits from the small remaining team. It's a big issue with lots going on and it really highlights very good one-on-one battles between, particularly, Thor and Uriel and Cap and Eimin (we don't see a lot of Wasp and Grim Reaper). It also gives us a chance to really settle into this plot which has multiple parts. McNiven's art is very good and well suited for the story, particularly with the Cap stuff. Laura Martin holds her own too, giving the art a sense of weight and scale that matches the tone of the story. Even with all of the plot going on and all of the battles, there are some really nice character moments tucked away in this issue, including Cap's admission, while battling exactly the way he intends to battle, that he's maybe a bit past his prime, Thor's deference to Cap as a leader, and Thor's reaction to seeing Scarlet Witch killed. Very good issue all around and this one remains one of the better Avengers titles and, even without the mutants around, one of the better X-titles. Good stuff.

Avengers Assemble 23
DeConnick and W. Ellis (w) and Buffagni (a) and Woodard (c)

Araña and Spider-Woman talk with Maria Hill about the Toxie Doxie situation and Hill sends some information over while the two spiders chat. Shortly, though, Spider-Woman tags out for Wolverine, mostly benched by Cap while he figures out the healing factor business, and he and Anya make for Covington's lab, but not before Wolverine can thoroughly chew out Spider-Girl for unpreparedness. Freshly decked out in a new costume that isn't just her spandex, Anya accompanies Wolverine to the lab and the two of them take down the assistants and looters within, finally getting some answers from one of Covington's assistants who reveals that the man in the cocoon may still be alive. Covington herself has also gotten some answers as well as she's tracked down the man who delivered her the exploding cocoon and learned that it was a New York AIM branch who had it delivered to her. Now powered with some Inhuman DNA, she's ready to make a move.

This book has been a fun one throughout its run (sadly ending soon) and this issue manages to straddle the line of being very fun and pretty serious. After a nice little learning and bonding session from Spider-Woman (with an amazing reference to Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, an incredible cartoon also ended before its time though that one was replaced with something far worse and AVENGERS WORLD will likely still be pretty good, though probably pretty different), the tone changes as Wolverine takes charge and demands that Spider-Girl stop treating her life like it's a game. The Wolverine in this book is a really strong one, one who clearly has the weight of his life on his shoulders. He's not incapable of making a joke or two but he has things he needs to say before he can get to it and Spider-Girl, even with her teenage ways, can't help but bow to his requests and understand his reasons for making them. There's an interesting plot going on here but it's really only a backdrop to the great character work and fun writing that's happening in the foreground. Matteo Buffagni's a good choice for the book as his art is both not entirely cartoony and yet not entirely realistic so it fits nicely with the tone. Good work all around.

Inhumanity 2
Fraction (w) and Bradshaw, Nauck, Hanna, and Palmer (a) and Fabela and Mossa (c)

After a bit of a stall in the last couple months (hindered by creator differences and a complicated shipping schedule thanks to the holiday season) INHUMANITY pushes on as we see up close and personal what's going on with the Inhumans themselves as the Terrigenesis Wave spreads through the world. For Medusa, leader of the Inhumans, she must tamp down the presumed loss of her husband (Black Bolt was still in Attilan as it fell and has not been seen since, though we know he's alive) and the disappearance of her son (Ahura and all other Inhuman children have gone missing since the teleports out of the city) as she leads the Inhumans into this new world. To make matters more complicated, the human world is looking for answers and many have reacted in different ways, with some humans experimenting on cocoons or capturing them for study and some thought-gone Inhumans re-emerging to take the cocoons for their own, presumably to build an army against the current throne. There's plenty for Medusa to do and she starts by crashing down with a small team on an AIM base where experiments on the cocoons have taken place and ensures they don't have anything to experiment on and that the fear of Inhumans has been struck in their human hearts.

It's not a bad issue but it's a little hard not to separate from the time between where we've already seen so much happen. Even in books like IRON MAN we've seen Medusa in a proactive role, though this book gives the sense that it took her a bit of time to reach that point. Not a long time, mind, she steps up when she needs to step up, but enough that there are some tensions among her people and even within her own mind. However, the separation between the end of INFINITY and this issue isn't the most jarring thing about this issue; that award goes pretty firmly to Nick Bradshaw's art. All of the women look both sort of anime and super-feminized. All the women, as opposed to the men in the book, have the classic big, bright eyes with completely unblemished skin and big, pouty mouths, none of which seems to work with the tone of the book and none of which works with me on a personal level. With that said, it's hard to take the tone of the book seriously, which is too bad because, removed from the art, it seems to hit on the chords Fraction wants it to hit. Can't really recommend this one because I don't think it's going to give you a huge look at this event or status quo change or whatever this is from an angle we're not seeing done just as well elsewhere and the art really drags this one down.

Avengers Assemble 22, Secret Avengers 13

Avengers Assemble 22
DeConnick and Ellis (w) and Buffagni and Diaz (a) and Woodard (c)

Spider-Girl, Spider-Woman, and Black Widow have been captured by Kashmir Vennema and AIM and Vennema is prepared to have them killed. Thanks to Spider-Woman's pheromone control, though, it doesn't happen, as Jessica befuddles all the guys guarding them in the room and uses her spider bursts to get them out of their binds, allowing them to dispatch the AIM guards easily. They enlist the help of Wolverine and Bruce Banner to surprise Vennema in her private car and find out who she sold the Inhuman cocoon to. Vennema reveals that it was Toxie Doxie, Dr. June Covington, and the Avengers (after a sincere scare to Vennema) reconvene at Avengers Tower. Spider-Girl and Spider-Woman plan to go after Covington (the others, including Black Widow, have to back out and deal with other problems around the globe), who has done some research of her own into her detonated cocoon. She managed to salvage the man inside and has reasoned that he doesn't show up on mechanical scans, a power she'd like to add to her own collection. Her penchant for accruing genetic abilities means that, by issue's end, she's identified the gene in Anya's teacher that is responsible for his new powers.

Another pretty interesting issue as the tie-ins to INHUMANITY continue to press on. I'm not wholly decided on them, positive or negative, just yet and I think it would probably be wrong to lump them all one way or another anyway but it's certainly, in many cases, provided for some intriguing stories. Here, as with the entirety of AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, the key to the issue's appeal comes from the typically fun and entertaining writing. The team interacts far differently in this series than it does in any other, but not in a way that entirely breaks character. They just seem more friendly with one another here, or, in the very least, far more personable. Not to say characters are done poorly in, say, AVENGERS, but that book has its focus and tone and this book's focus and tone tend to be a bit different. It's always nice to have this book around, which gives us a somewhat lighter feel for the team, not always so incredibly heavy but with its own sorts of drama and tension. Comic pro Warren Ellis jumps in to co-write with regular writer (and rising star at Marvel and in comics in general) Kelly Sue DeConnick but the series tone doesn't seem to shift in any real way, feeling as natural and as fresh as any other issue. Fun book, always a pleasant surprise.

Secret Avengers 13
Spencer and Kot (w) and Guice, Rubinstein, and Palmer (a) and Wilson (c)

Things are going badly for the Secret Avengers as Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Fury have been ambushed at the underwater AIM station MODOK had led them to, Mockingbird is still in the field and apparently discovered, and their one useful outside-asset is the ever-unreliable Taskmaster. MODOK and Maria Hill bicker about whether or not he's setting her up and what he has to gain from SHIELD's involvement taking down Scientist Supreme Forson. In another attempt to gain favor with Hill, he reveals another secret base and Hill sends Banner and Iron Patriot there to collect AIM secrets at the base, which Forson detonates shortly after their arrival. She again accuses MODOK of treachery and he again says that he wants Forson removed and points her to her own organization as having leaks in it. Meanwhile, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Fury have been captured by what seems to be some AIM-led adaptoids and are being transported back to AIM Island. Taskmaster is betrayed by his new apprentice, a beekeeper who turns out to be Anton Trask, and is apparently executed by Mockingbird at the behest of Forson.

Plenty happening here and it's getting a little tricky to keep track of it all. I have to say, I think the idea of pitting MODOK against Hill in a battle of possible lies vs. almost definite incompetence is probably the best way to build suspense while also keeping to continuity in a SHIELD book. As I was writing this review, I kept saying "boy, how could she be so stupid as to send teams in on MODOK's advice?" At the same time, I don't necessarily believe that MODOK is lying; I believe him when he says that he wants Forson deposed and that AIM has become something unrecognizable to him, not to mention that I believe him when he says that he could have just sent a proxy in to tell Hill these things and keep out of harm's way. However, by the same token, this is MODOK we're talking about and, to add to it, Hill seems to be playing this guns blazing, even worse than Daisy sending a hit team to AIM Island in retribution for killing her friend. This keeps MODOK in character, playing his cards to regain AIM's control, and keeps SHIELD in character, being terrible. Boy, do these guys miss the original Nick Fury or what? Anyway, plenty happening and I'll admit that I'm going to be pretty sad if Taskmaster is actually dead. Always liked that guy. Also interested to see what's happening with Bobbi; I hope she too isn't dead but I don't believe that she's a traitor, which doesn't seem to fit her character in any way. Probably something more with adaptoids, am I right?

Avengers Arena 18, Uncanny Avengers 14, Avengers Assemble 21

Avengers Arena 18
Hopeless (w) and Walker and Gorder (a) and Beaulieu (c)

Katy and Death Locket watch the teen heroes fight from Arcade's bunker with Katy's finger on the trigger the entire time. The raging battles between Cammi and Nico and Anachronism and Reptil come to a grinding halt when attention is directed at the imploding Hazmat, ready to wipe them all out unintentionally. Reptil transforms into a a bigger dinosaur, one with more speed and a longer mouth, and promises he'll help her, picking her up in his mouth without a second thought, despite her protests, and rushing her into the water, where everyone sees her explode. Katy, angry that the fights have stopped, unleashes some of Arcade's last tricks, forcing the kids to fight for their lives until Tim takes a brief moment of control over Katy and demands Death Locket, still in love with Tim, kill them. Suddenly, the insect swarm, sand people, and napalm winds subside and Death Locket appears by the other survivors to explain. With the game over and Arcade gone, they decide, with the insight of the returning Hazmat, now out of her suit and not glowing but alone as she leaves the water, that they won't say anything about what happened. SHIELD and the heads of the schools come to pick the kids up and investigate but they refuse to say a word about what happened, not wanting to give Arcade the satisfaction, though Arcade gets his satisfaction as he begins to upload his 30 part video series "What Really Happened in Murder World."

Really great series, very nice ending. Our final survivor count sits at nine, I believe, leaving us with Cammi, Death Locket, Nico, Anachronism, Hazmat, Cullen, X-23, Chase, and (this is the only "I think" on the list) Chris Powell. I'll be honest, it never really occurred to me for some reason that Reptil could die in this series and, only looking back do I realize, I have no idea why I thought that. First and foremost, he wasn't that big a character, no bigger than, say, Mettle, who was exploded in the first issue also trying to save Jen. Somehow he always felt off the table so I'm a little sad to see him go here. Still, there's a nice finality to the series as the kids all get off the island and get to go home with their respective school heads. Even the discussion of how they address all of this is interesting, though I'm not sure if it takes into account the idea of the video getting out. Regardless, it's a very exciting set-up for the next step in this teens-in-peril streak Hopeless is on as some of our characters aim to infiltrate the Masters of Evil in AVENGERS UNDERCOVER. Pretty excited to see Hopeless and Walker pick up again in March. Sad this series is over, glad the characters will move on.

Uncanny Avengers 14
Remender (w) and McNiven and Dell (a) and L. Martin (c)

At various points in the future, Kang is gathering an army of supers presumably in the hopes that they can help him defeat the twins. Meanwhile, back in the present, Shiro and Rogue rush to the Ark to stop Wanda and Simon from completing the spell they think will separate mutants and humans forever, not knowing that Wanda intends to bring the mutants to the Ark to stop the twins. Rogue is dead-set on stopping Wanda any way possible but it will have to wait a moment as Daken and Grim Reaper lie in wait and pounce as soon as Rogue and Shiro appear. Wolverine, apparently following Shiro and Rogue, jumps into the fight to give Shiro the chance to remove Simon from the spell. Wolverine continues to insist no killing but is held by Daken long enough to watch Rogue escape Reaper and charge Wanda, stabbing her through the chest with her borrowed Wolverine claws. Wanda falls and Simon follows her down. Grim Reaper gets the drop on Rogue as she reaffirms to herself that it was the only way to stop Wanda. Reaper stabs her through the heart with his scythe and then, with his enhanced powers, leaves no room for doubt that she's dead as Wolverine, dispatching Daken, sprints towards him, watches him electrify her. Simon rushes to Wanda's side and, as she dies, he pours all of himself into her to power her spell, dissipating himself to help her finish her plan, calling all the mutants to rise against the twins.

Geez. Huge issue. Two major characters die and one Wonder Man maybe dies. I'm not sure how much more I have to say about this. The past thirteen issues of UNCANNY AVENGERS built to this, from Rogue and Wanda's feud to Wolverine's insistence that everyone find a no-kill solution to Wonder Man's non-violence to the return of Grim Reaper and Daken, among the other horsemen, to Rogue's killing of Grim Reaper to the mutant solution to just everything all comes down to this issue, where Rogue kills Wanda and then Grim Reaper kills Rogue all while Wolverine watches. Nearly perfect culmination of everything that Remender's been working towards all along and something that very clearly isn't a conclusion but a climax. Although it's something that we've been building towards, it's not the final step, we still have plenty to look forward to. Let's also not overlook the fact that he just killed off a couple major Marvel Universe characters, for however long. What a big and well-executed issue.

Avengers Assemble 21
DeConnick (w) and Buffagni (a) and Woodard (c)

INHUMANITY has started and the Avengers have to deal with the slew of Terrigenesis cocoons that have started popping up. Among those cocoons is the social studies teacher of Anya Corazon, aka Spider-Girl, who brings her case to the Avengers, hoping they'll be enticed by the fact that he was kidnapped while in cocoon. Spider-Woman and Black Widow team up with Anya to form a full blown spider-lady team and strike at an AIM lab that has connections to the kidnapping. They hit the lights, giving them ten seconds to dispatch of the beekeepers inside, which they manage to do with relative ease. As they start to question one of the fallen, they're surrounded by a secondary AIM team led by Widow's former foe Kashmir Vennema, the inter-dimensional arms dealer Widow ran into back in CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BLACK WIDOW. Vennema reveals that one of the cocoons they captured died (Anya's teacher) and the other is still available for sale. She also decides to have the three Avengers killed, knowing she's protected because AIM is an officially recognized entity that has now been invaded. Meanwhile, June Covington aka Toxie Doxie is on the hunt for cocoons and for vengeance for her purchased and subsequently exploded cocoon.

Nice to have a little bit of a less tense book following up AVENGERS ARENA's conclusion and UNCANNY AVENGERS' biggest issue probably ever (kind of willing to say it might be one of the biggest issues of any non-event series in recent history). Not to say this doesn't have its tension...actually, it kind of doesn't. I feel like maybe it should have had more but it's really hard to say if the lack of tension is created because it's, you know, just AIM and they're Black Widow, Spider-Woman, and Spider-Girl or if it's less tense because I'm so fresh off reading these darker and grittier books. Not to say this isn't still a fun book; there's a lot of great characterization stuff between the three leads of this issue as well as between Captain Marvel and Spider-Girl, who spar a bit over what's important and who's being condescending to whom (hint: it's Captain Marvel to Spider-Girl). Fun issue, nice little arc developing. I still really like this book as a bit of a more relaxed and character-focused Avengers title. Nice issue.