Post by Marvel Boy on Aug 3, 2014 10:35:40 GMT -5
My, my, we have some catching up to do. Let's have at it then! (A reminder, spoilers abound)
As you may recall, Steve agrees to be a liaison with Hill in allowing teams of Avengers to help SHIELD in handling various world threats. First day on the job, three major crisis erupt.
Widow, Wolverine, and Shang-Chi head to Madripoor to help quell and investigate large-scale civil riots that have erupted. They discover the criminal Gorgon who enacts a mystical ritual to awaken an ancient dragon upon whose head the city rests. The dragon takes flight, taking the city with it. Soon, China's new shadow/intelligence agency, S.P.E.A.R., sends in their own superhero team, the Ascendent, to help the Avengers handle this emergency.
Meanwhile, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Starbrand, and Nightmask investigate a City of the Dead in Italy only to find Morgan le Fay attempting to use the City for her own plans (think of these Cities as mystical batteries who collect tormented souls). Soon, a superhero team calling themselves Euroforce arrive, lead by none other than the Black Knight (yes, Dane!) to help our heroes with this mystical threat.
Meanwhile, AIM Island is undergoing a serious transformation. Smasher, Sunspot, and Cannonball are sent to investigate but wind up captured. Smasher is forced to undergo some strange transformation that turns her into a 'Messenger'. Cap sends Thor, Hyperion, and Capt. Marvel in to rescue them. Hyperion manages to destroy the multiversal portal thingy that AIM has been using of late but the 'Messenger' manages to thwart their attempts at a rescue.
Which leads us to #9, a spotlight on Sam and Bobby. Still imprisoned, Hill manages to contact them covertly and gives them a new mission. They've discovered what's behind AIM's latest tech upheavals. Recently, a group of Secret Avengers had recovered an inert golden Jocasta robot from the remains of an abandoned AIM outpost. Jocasta came back online and informed SHIELD that AIM has made a pact with themselves, an AIM from a few decades into the future. This future AIM is sending back tech for the current AIM to use. Hill wants Sam and Bobby to find AIM's time-travel device and use it to quell this future influx at it's source.
Sam and Bobby arrive in the future to find themselves in an alien landscape literally. Earth has become something of a cosmic way station after a few future cosmic incidents and the duo are in an area where alien mercs and bounty hunters pass through looking for work. Sam causes a fight to erupt in a bar after mentioning how they took down Thanos. Jocasta (the same one from now) rescues them while also helping them evade Taskmaster, who had been sent by persons unknown to intercept Sam and Bobby. Jocasta informs our pair of a change in plans. Instead of leading them to source of the future AIM's tech, she tells them of Hill's Secret Avengers program, of mind-wiping certain Avengers after they perform extremely black operations. Jocasta leads our duo to one of the reasons why these Avengers would submit to such action, a group of young teenagers called the Next Avengers. These are the children of the Avengers. You have the son of Giant-Man and Wasp, the son of Hawkeye and Mockingbird, the daughter of Thor and Sif, the son of Black Panther and Storm, and the son of Cap and Widow.
Which leads to #10, all three crisis erupt full-scale. The dragon reaches mainland China, Morgan le Fay sends an army of tortured souls across Europe as she gains more power from other Cities of the Dead across the continent and the Scientist Supreme of AIM unleashes his forces upon the world.
Hill is stretched thin trying to contain all these numerous threats at once. Steve is confident they will overcome them with the help of their new allies. But the Scientist Supreme takes to the airwaves with an unusual offer. He appears on a syndicated satellite TV show, announcing AIM's intentions, not to use this new future tech for their own personal greed (as might have been the case under M.O.D.O.K.) but rather to give it out freely for any-and everyone to use.
Meanwhile, Hill goes to meet Sam and Bobby, who return from the future with the Next Avengers in tow, which surprises her (for it seems the teens already know Hill...hm....) Hill then mind-wipes Sam and Bobby of their knowledge of the Secret Avengers and of the Next Avengers. Leaving her to decide what to do with them as these global threats become increasingly worse......
Nick Spencer has taken over sole writing credit for this title and it shows. There is no dense Hickman science or plots here, just straight-forward story-telling. The characters are fun to read (#9's pairing of Sam and Bobby was especially fun), and they act more like a team whose been together before. The suspense keeps mounting as you wonder how these threats will be resolved and Spencer throw in some surprising twists.
If you are looking for an Avengers title with something akin to a classic feel to it, check this title out. It's been fun to read so far.
As you may recall, Steve agrees to be a liaison with Hill in allowing teams of Avengers to help SHIELD in handling various world threats. First day on the job, three major crisis erupt.
Widow, Wolverine, and Shang-Chi head to Madripoor to help quell and investigate large-scale civil riots that have erupted. They discover the criminal Gorgon who enacts a mystical ritual to awaken an ancient dragon upon whose head the city rests. The dragon takes flight, taking the city with it. Soon, China's new shadow/intelligence agency, S.P.E.A.R., sends in their own superhero team, the Ascendent, to help the Avengers handle this emergency.
Meanwhile, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Starbrand, and Nightmask investigate a City of the Dead in Italy only to find Morgan le Fay attempting to use the City for her own plans (think of these Cities as mystical batteries who collect tormented souls). Soon, a superhero team calling themselves Euroforce arrive, lead by none other than the Black Knight (yes, Dane!) to help our heroes with this mystical threat.
Meanwhile, AIM Island is undergoing a serious transformation. Smasher, Sunspot, and Cannonball are sent to investigate but wind up captured. Smasher is forced to undergo some strange transformation that turns her into a 'Messenger'. Cap sends Thor, Hyperion, and Capt. Marvel in to rescue them. Hyperion manages to destroy the multiversal portal thingy that AIM has been using of late but the 'Messenger' manages to thwart their attempts at a rescue.
Which leads us to #9, a spotlight on Sam and Bobby. Still imprisoned, Hill manages to contact them covertly and gives them a new mission. They've discovered what's behind AIM's latest tech upheavals. Recently, a group of Secret Avengers had recovered an inert golden Jocasta robot from the remains of an abandoned AIM outpost. Jocasta came back online and informed SHIELD that AIM has made a pact with themselves, an AIM from a few decades into the future. This future AIM is sending back tech for the current AIM to use. Hill wants Sam and Bobby to find AIM's time-travel device and use it to quell this future influx at it's source.
Sam and Bobby arrive in the future to find themselves in an alien landscape literally. Earth has become something of a cosmic way station after a few future cosmic incidents and the duo are in an area where alien mercs and bounty hunters pass through looking for work. Sam causes a fight to erupt in a bar after mentioning how they took down Thanos. Jocasta (the same one from now) rescues them while also helping them evade Taskmaster, who had been sent by persons unknown to intercept Sam and Bobby. Jocasta informs our pair of a change in plans. Instead of leading them to source of the future AIM's tech, she tells them of Hill's Secret Avengers program, of mind-wiping certain Avengers after they perform extremely black operations. Jocasta leads our duo to one of the reasons why these Avengers would submit to such action, a group of young teenagers called the Next Avengers. These are the children of the Avengers. You have the son of Giant-Man and Wasp, the son of Hawkeye and Mockingbird, the daughter of Thor and Sif, the son of Black Panther and Storm, and the son of Cap and Widow.
Which leads to #10, all three crisis erupt full-scale. The dragon reaches mainland China, Morgan le Fay sends an army of tortured souls across Europe as she gains more power from other Cities of the Dead across the continent and the Scientist Supreme of AIM unleashes his forces upon the world.
Hill is stretched thin trying to contain all these numerous threats at once. Steve is confident they will overcome them with the help of their new allies. But the Scientist Supreme takes to the airwaves with an unusual offer. He appears on a syndicated satellite TV show, announcing AIM's intentions, not to use this new future tech for their own personal greed (as might have been the case under M.O.D.O.K.) but rather to give it out freely for any-and everyone to use.
Meanwhile, Hill goes to meet Sam and Bobby, who return from the future with the Next Avengers in tow, which surprises her (for it seems the teens already know Hill...hm....) Hill then mind-wipes Sam and Bobby of their knowledge of the Secret Avengers and of the Next Avengers. Leaving her to decide what to do with them as these global threats become increasingly worse......
Nick Spencer has taken over sole writing credit for this title and it shows. There is no dense Hickman science or plots here, just straight-forward story-telling. The characters are fun to read (#9's pairing of Sam and Bobby was especially fun), and they act more like a team whose been together before. The suspense keeps mounting as you wonder how these threats will be resolved and Spencer throw in some surprising twists.
If you are looking for an Avengers title with something akin to a classic feel to it, check this title out. It's been fun to read so far.