Avengers: No Road Home #5 Review

You’re going to need to read the last page.

March 13, 2019

Avengers: No Road Home is the sequel to Jim Zub, Al Ewing, and Mark Waid’s excellent No Surrender story of last year, which has put Hercules in a tight place. All his family is dead and only he and a few Avengers stand in the way of a god we only just learned about. His world is being rocked, but in this latest issue, a new character enters the scene that could change everything.

So what’s it about?

The official summary reads:

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As the Scarlet Witch works to escape Nyx’s prison of darkness, the Hulk takes on Hypnos, Lord of Sleep, in the realm of Nightmare!

Why does this matter?

All I’m going to say is…just wait for the cliffhanger to this issue.

Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?

Great dress.
Credit: Marvel Comics

This issue is the satisfying conclusion to Scarlet Witch, Hercules, Spectrum, Vision, and Voyager’s battle with Nyx and her children. She’s plucked the eyes away from Scarlet Witch and basically made the battlefield one-sided so it’s quite exciting to see how the tables turn here. While all that is happening Hulk, Hawkeye, and Rocket Raccoon have a battle of their own over in the Nightmare realm, but when you have a horror show like the Hulk the real nightmare is on their side. The real winners of this issue are Hulk and Scarlet Witch, who both find an edge to win. The way Scarlet Witch finds her edge is quite clever and it’s a great idea to combine two characters’ ability. Hulk meanwhile continues to be one of the biggest badasses in comics.

Sean Izaakse draws this issue with color by Marcio Menyz and Erick Arciniega (with letters by Cory Petit) with some rather impressive results. The color of Nyx’s white skin has a depth that draws your eye and her all-black dress (with stars it seems like dotted within it) is never lost. The use of Spectrum’s light powers is quite well used too, especially in a panel with her fist glowing on Scarlet Witch and Spectrum’s face. Plus the cliffhanger pages are magnifique!

This is largely Hercules’ story.
Credit: Marvel Comics

It can’t be perfect, can it?

Not really a problem with this issue, but the weekly format does make each installment hard to jump into and at times decompressed. This issue has a nice flow to it though with satisfying turns in the story and a killer cliffhanger. That said the amount of time that passes in this issue, like the rest, is mere minutes.