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Avengers #688 Review

Comic Books

Avengers #688 Review

Quicksilver, quick read.

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Quicksilver’s been a villain, a hero, a loner and a teammate. In Avengers #688, will he be the savior of the WORLD? Is it good?

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The Skinny

The Challenger — excuse me, GRANDMASTER PRIME — is pissed at being cheated, and he’s taking it out on Earth. Luckily for us, the Hulk is pissed about being a pawn, and wants to take it out on HIM.

But for there to be an Earth for the Hulk to save, the remaining unfrozen Avengers will have to combine their powers to avert disaster.

It may be Voyager’s power that’s the most valuable of all, or at least it would be, if Quicksilver can fulfill his own mission. With a little help from his sister and his love, he might just do it.

The Lowdown

The POV is on the unique perspective of Quicksilver in Avengers #688, as communicated visually by pencillers Kim Jacinto and Stefano Caselli. Each of those guys is a titan on their own, and together they manage to create a freeze-framed, dare I say elongated(?) representation of Pietro Maximoff’s super-speed, as well as that of the Hulk being shot into orbit after daring to step to the new Grandmaster.

Avengers #688 Review

THAT MEANS, however, that while the art in this issue fits and even accentuates the story, the overall visuals clash with the rest of “No Surrender.” Non-regular colorist David Curiel uses a more muted palette than seen previously, and thus is also unable to create a sense of cohesion.

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The writing team of Mark Waid, Al Ewing and Jim Zub are good to show how each member of the Avengers can contribute to the desperate rescue effort, but amidst the rapid fire panels, Quicksilver’s monologue gets redundant. There’s also a good amount of telling rather than showing, as some of Pietro’s thoughts could have been kept to himself, with the art communicating the same thing.

Avengers #688 Review

The Upshot

The art of Avengers #688 is a good fit for the story, but it makes for a read as quick as the mercurial speedster himself. The plot is advanced, and Voyager gets a nice moment as a reward for doing the right thing, but it’s almost as if the writing team ran out of things to say half-way through, and decided to just finish the captions with Silver Age mastheads. Still, it’s an enjoyable chapter of “No Surrender,” even if it might have been better off as just a couple scenes and not an entire issue.

Avengers #688 Review
Avengers #688
Is it good?
It's fine, yet somehow unsatisfying. It seems like the big moment at the end should feel BIGGER, and Quicksilver should avoid telling us things we already know.
Art matches Quicksilver's POV
We get a big story beat, but it doesn't feel as big as it should
Art is incongruous with the rest of the story
Repetitive, redundant captions toward the end
7
Good

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