When Avengers #24 begins, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are in a bit of a tough spot. Despite their attempts to break into the Grandmaster’s casino and take back the Missing Moment of time Kang the Conqueror sought, the time traveling warlord out-played them with the help of Felicia Hardy, aka the Black Cat. And now Kang’s armada is primed to destroy the entire casino – killing the Avengers and everyone on board!
Throughout this run, Jed MacKay has showcased two things: an ability to tell big stories that still feel self-contained, and a clear love for all corners of the Marvel Universe. Both of those are on full display here, as Kang displays the full force of his time traveling abilities and the Avengers utilize their various skills to save thousands of lives; meanwhile, the Black Cat’s role in this story comes to a surprisingly satisfying, very emotional conclusion.
With its story taking place in a casino that belongs to one of the most powerful beings in Marvel’s cosmic roster, and one of Marvel’s biggest superteams facing off against one of their long-time enemies, you need an artist who can go big. Luckily, Farid Karami is more than up to the task, drawing pages of spaceships firing upon the casino, and said casino seemingly sinking into the maw of a massive singularity. Federico Blee renders all of this in vibrant color, with the black hole standing out the most due to the golden rings surrounding its seemingly endless maw.
Marvel
The real coup de grace, however, comes when the Avengers have to work together to escape the black hole. Here, they put their various abilities to great use in order to weather the cosmic turmoil while saving lives – and MacKay, Karami and Blee work together in tandem, as well. A glorious two-pager features Captain Marvel absorbing the full force of a star, Storm directing the cosmic winds, and Scarlet Witch weaving reality to save countless souls. If there was an image that could sell you on a comic, Avengers #24 delivers with that one.
While the current arc has come to an end, that ending teases two different stories: Mryddin’s future plans for the Avengers, and the Avengers eventually learning of Doctor Doom’s takeover of the world. The latter is no doubt going to take precedence, especially with One World Under Doom getting underway, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t more intrigued about what’s up with Mryddin. He’s been a thorn in the Avengers’ side since Mackay’s run started, and I’d love to see more of him.
Avengers #24 closes out its heist story the only way the Avengers could: as big as possible. MacKay is working as much as he can to make sure the Avengers are a team to follow, and with artists like Karami he’s definitely succeeding in delivering the kind of stories you’d expect from Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
You must be logged in to post a comment.