The Revolution has been excited by Dan Slott becoming the writer of The Mighty Avengers. His style appeals to fans of the traditional Avengers books. For all that he had to accomplish to recreate a traditional Avengers team, the first story arc has been well done. It won’t go down in history as the greatest Avengers story ever but it is a good solid return to what has been missing in the Marvel universe.
I do believe that Marvel needs to continue the traditions established in the previous Avengers series. Let’s see how the wrap up is to the first story.
Creative Team
Writer: Dan Slott
Pencils: Khoi Pham
Inks: Allen Martinez and Danny Miki
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
In Broxton, Oklahoma…Thor is puzzled by the void that exists where Asgard was located. He talks with Loki about it. She says that Asgard has vanished. He tells her that any force that could make Asgard disappear would be too strong for any earthly help.
Wundagore Mountain, Transia…Hank Pym, U.S. Agent, Hercules, Stature, The (young) Vision. Iron Man, Bova, Bruce Banner, and Modred are gathered. Iron Man announces that he is there to take over. Hank lists various things that Iron Man has messed up.
Iron Man says he is taking over because their leader is Hank. They free Bova from her chains and use them to tie up Modred. He is gagged so he can’t speak any spells. Bova explains that Modred is not the threat. He used he Darkhold to summon Chthon to Earth. Chthon has possessed the body of Pietro (Quicksilver). Pietro’s soul is now trapped in the Darkhold book.
Hercules explains that Chthon was able to come to Earth because he was no longer being kept in check. Atum was another Elder God who fought Chthon. He died during the Skrull invasion.
Stature is worried about having to fight a god. Iron Man says that Chthon is a reality rewriter similar to Korvac, Grandmaster, and Shaper of Worlds. Once they are defeated, reality returns to normal.
Amadeus Cho contacts Pym through an Ant Man helmet he pieced together. Cho, Jarvis, and Jocasta are on the outskirts of town. A tidal wave of tentacles is headed towards the town.
Iron Man uses his sensors for a better picture of the tidal wave. It is a sea of teeth, eyes and tentacles. It is absorbing everyone it touches.
Iron Man divides the group into teams. Pym protests. He was put in charge of this team. Iron Man says that his leadership is lacking.
The Chthon possessed Pietro is at the front of the wave. He cries out in pain. Iron Man, Hercules, and U.S. Agent are trying to destroy Wundagore Mountain because it has always been the source of Chton’s power.
Chthon tells the people that it is time to worship him. Pym wants to stop Chthon but knows that his team does not have the firepower. The face of Scarlet Witch appears to Bruce Banner. She is able to make him mad so he turns into the Hulk. Hulk starts smashing the wave of chaos.
Chthon uses the area as a transmitter to spread fear around the world. Pym tells everyone not to worry. Everyone starts worrying more. This makes Pym mad.
Pym adjusts something on his helmet. Pietro suddenly starts speaking nonsense. Pym determined that Pietro had to speak the spells. What Pym did scrambled Pietro’s language center.
Hulk and Stature beat on Pietro. Chthon leaves Pietro and moves to Modred’s body. Modred breaks free. Pym grabs the Darkhold. He has Vision read it in a matter of seconds. Vision then knows the spell to return Chthon to the Darkhold.
Now that the crisis is over, Iron Man leaves. Pym follows him. Iron Man tells him not to screw up. Pym invites the others to start a new branch of the Avengers. Hulk is not interested. Pietro is pursuing his study of the Darkhold in the hope of finding his sister-Scarlet Witch. Scarlet Witch appears and transports the new Avengers away.
Across the world it is announced that Hank Pym and the Avengers saved the world.
In Broxton, Asgard is now returned. Loki says that she would never let another god take over. She looks into a mirror and we see her reflection is the image of the Scarlet Witch. She used her magic to impersonate the Witch and create a new Avengers team. And this time she will not let them get away from her.
Commentary
The Good: Dan Slott stepped it up a notch here. He now has the new team in place. He brought things full circle by having Loki involved with their creation. Loki was involved with the creation of the original Avengers many moons ago. I like this kind of synergy.
I enjoyed the interaction between the different heroes. Hank Pym showed why he was originally selected to lead the new team. The fact that the team did not have complete faith in him was understandable. Based on Pym’s past, he needs to rebuild confidence. This story goes a long way towards rebuilding his image.
How many readers remember Shaper of Worlds, Grandmaster, and the legendary Korvac? I love the fact that Slott is throwing in connections to Marvel’s past. It may seem like a small thing, but long time readers appreciate the little connections.
The return of Bova, Wundagore Mountain and Chthon were also classic touches. I always enjoyed the stories involving Wundagore Mountain. I would guess that at some point, Slott will have a quest for the Scarlet Witch story. It should be a good one. With Slott at the helm I believe she will be handled properly. I never bought into the Bendis deconstruction storyline.
The art was good. In some places it was even spectacular. Pham is developing into a good artist. The pages that featured the possessed Pietro were my favorites.
The Bad: I don’t like seeing Iron Man portrayed as a jerk. In an earlier issue, he put Hank in charge of this team. Now he is already trying to replace him? At least at the end he left.
Thor and Hercules do not need to both be on this team. When you get that much fire power, the others start to become unnecessary.
I don’t believe that magic based menaces are the best for the Avengers. At least Slott brought back a classic villain for the initial arc.
Overall: A good beginning to a traditional Avengers series. With all the darkness surrounding the Avengers this book is needed. I hope to see a mix of new and classic villains for this team Zodiac anyone?
3 thoughts on “The Mighty Avengers #23 Review”
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Rokk, I don’t think it’s Pym who has Vision read the Darkhold; I believe it’s Amadeus.
I agree that Iron Man WAS portrayed as a jerk. Didn’t like that either. Especially if he’s dealing with Hank, who has just lost his wife and apparently blames him.
Would they bring back Kang?
The plot in MIGHTY AVENGERS #23 is a mess. Chthon’s shtick is getting himself into Earth’s dimension in bodily form so that he can take over. He tried that in AVENGERS #186-#187 and in Dr. STRANGE, SORCERER SUPREME #89. The STRANGE issue established that Chthon resides in his own dimension and generates his own power; his only limitation is manifesting himself on Earth.
Given Chthon’s abilities, practically nothing in the plot works. Pietro’s soul wouldn’t be transferred to the Darkhold; Chthon could just suppress or eliminate it. Chthon wouldn’t need to cast spells to invoke his own power, so Pym’s tactic wouldn’t work, and the heroes would have been helpless against him. “Trapping” Chthon in the Darkhold is meaningless, since the god himself isn’t there — and reciting spells written in the Darkhold invoked Chthon’s power, so the sequence in which Pietro’s soul is swapped for Chthon’s is just meaningless gibberish, worse, even, than Heinberg’s attempt to explain how Billy and Tommy were actually the sons of Wanda (and the Vision) in YOUNG AVENGERS #11.
Given that the plot is a disaster, such glitches as Slott supposing that the Vision II has a hard drive (??!) are more amusing than irritating — although there is an “idiot plot” aspect to the Avengers thinking that Wanda would suddenly appear to regroup them. The plot material from AVENGERS #186-#187 was recycled to such an extent that there was no point in doing the story. At all. The plotting fiasco just makes me think that Slott needs to attend one or two workshops on writing fantasy fiction.
SRS