And lo, there should come a day when earth’s mightiest reviewers assemble to tackle books that no one reviewer could tackle alone. So they assemble to become the mighty Marvel Rundown! It’s an Avengers focused week on the Rundown as our main review looks at the conclusion of Aliens vs. Avengers. Then the Rapid Rundown breaks down this week’s issues of The Ultimates, Avengers, and Godzilla vs. Avengers. Can Earth’s Mightiest Review Team tackle what Marvel throws at them? Keep reading to find out!
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Aliens vs. Avengers #4
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Esad Ribić
Colorist: Ive Svorcina
Letterer: vc’s Cory Petit
Recently writer Jonathan Hickman recently gave an interview on the Off Panel podcast about how unlikely a return to either Avengers or X-Men would be. In some sense, this Aliens vs. Avengers series feels like his farewell to both franchises but with the added bonus of getting to integrate the Alien franchise. A final story bringing in ideas and themes from those earlier works. Meanwhile he uses the xenomorphs as one last impossible challenge for the two teams. While he and artist Esad Ribic aimed for the stars with that ambition, the final issue crashes on return entry.
That enormous scope makes this final issue so frustrating. This was a series built on big science fiction ideas. The art by Ribić and colorist Ive Svorcina art brought to life the various storytelling modes from sci-fi landscapes to monstrous superhero battles to atmospheric horror. There was also the looks for all of the older Marvel characters in this story from Miles Morales’s xenomorph symbiote, to Captain Marvel’s more battle ready armored look. Then there were the many weird ideas in the early issues. The David androids from Prometheus and Alien: Covenant revealed to be seeding xenomorphs on various worlds throughout the multiverse to truly eradicate all life. The potential of Xenomorphs with radical abilities based on the Marvel alien species they incubated in. The Engineers from Prometheus trying to eradicate any planet seeded by David. There was even a Weyland Industries and Stark Enterprises corporate merger! Any one of those ideas on their own honestly could have made for an intriguing crossover series.
But this was a series with all of those ideas and honestly, four issues, even at 44 pages each, was not enough spaces to satisfyingly explore any of those ideas in detail. Instead, we’re left with a final issue that brings us back to the beginning (remember the Wakandans?), sees one last final fight with a character only introduced last issue, and ends bleakly. Ribić renders it in beautiful detail and the moment of triumph is gloriously gory but to what end? This is a hollow victory for the heroes. The ending might echoe the first two films with a few survivors escaping into the unknown. Yet as we know from earlier in the story, the Marvel Universe is now seeded with this infestation of death. When the universe is dying, where do the survivors go?
Can the Alien films be bleak? Sure, we’re talking about a film franchise where a company exploits its workers in the hope they can make money off a lethal alien species. Even Ripley, the poor company employee stuck fighting these monsters over the course of a hundred years, gets tangible victories.
Wanting to give a send off in the form of a far future of a far future adventure seems to have become more common for modern superhero storytellers. If this is Hickman’s idea of a farewell and final adventure to both the Avengers and X-Men characters though, it certainly comes across as a desire to raze everything and salt the earth. Even Days of Future Past which saw a future X-Men team get obliterated in brutal fashion, at least hinted there was a possibility of victory. There is no moment of triumph here. Only an acknowledgement that survival and death and entropy are inevitabilities. This final issue gives this series such a bitter feeling. There is horror and then there is despair. Aliens vs. Avengers, for all of its intriguing ideas, in the end looks into the face of the abyss and becomes it.
Verdict: BROWSE
Rapid Rundown!
- Ultimates #13
- It’s always a good week when Ultimates releases, and with the launch of “Ultimates 3.0” in Ultimates #13 by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri, there’s much hype surrounding this issue. And boy, does the issue meet it. This issue holds nothing back in terms of the new Ultimates goal and shifts their priorities from trying to reclaim the past to embracing and changing the present. Giving people something new to believe in. There’s an excellent montage where Tony, in the fashion of a diary entry, explains to his father the Ultimates new method of spreading knowledge, truths, and power to the citizens of the world. Making people rise instead of individuals. There’s even a funny scene of Tony making a “YouTube tutorial” on how to make a Molotov Cocktail. Tony is a great mind to follow as he’s been here from the start, so I can see how much he’s grown and changed. This issue feels like the “act 2” of the Ultimates storyline; now that all their failures are behind them, the story shows how the Ultimates have learned from their mistakes and intend to rectify them. For fans who have been reading Ultimates since issue 1, you’re likely already going to pick this up but make it the first of your pull list you read to see how the Ultimates are going to shake up the Ultimate universe now that they’ve evolved their plan. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, and good teamwork isn’t always present. Deniz Camp leaves the issue on a cliffhanger that has an ominous horror to it, making one wonder just how far the main characters are willing to sacrifice themselves to achieve a better world. – LM
- Godzilla vs Avengers #1
For the past few months, Godzilla, everyone’s favorite atomic fire-breathing kaiju, has stomped through the Marvel landscape, taking on the heroes of the Marvel Universe in different eras of their publishing history. This next instalment is a bit of a misnomer as it mainly pits Godzilla, the King of the Monsters, against the other “King of Monsters,” Fin Fang Foom, with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes caught in the middle. Writer David F. Walker is a master storyteller with a wicked sense of humor, joined by comic veteran Georges Jeanty on pencils with inking by Karl Story to showcase the Brian Michael Bendis era Avengers. Told in a flashback framework, the Avengers are being debriefed by Maria Hill after the encounter with Godzilla, Fin Fang Foom, and Jet Jaguar, a funky-looking Mecha character that only a movie aficionado like Walker would have the gusto to use. It can’t be easy writing Spider-Man’s neurotic word bursts or Tony’s arrogance while balancing the monster-on-monster brawl, but Walker’s dialogue adds that comedic touch, reminding me more of the late 80s Justice League while still giving us that Marvel magic. And readers of the rundown know how much I love the traditional comic technique of pencils with inks. Jeanty, along with Story, delivers in the comedic pacing and storytelling, and you can tell they are having fun with the issue. Bottom line, Walker, Jeanty, and Story are in that creative pocket with this fun, quirky story of kaiju vs. kaiju vs. mecha/superheroes that everyone can like and enjoy. – GC3
- Avengers #27
- Sam Wilson’s stand against the Mad Thinker’s resurgent Masters of Evil gains reinforcements from Black Panther. The One World Under Doom tie-in arc forgoes directly tying into the main event and instead focuses on this Under Siege style story. Jed MacKay’s Avengers run has been pretty solid so far and this addition is no different, MacKay has a great sense of pace and build up to his writing. He has a very satisfying rhythm, honestly. Avengers #27 follows a familiar story structure to the past issue as Cap and Panther take down two members of the Masters of Evil and make their way to the Thinker. This issue is effective and enjoyable. The character moments with Sam in this arc have solid as MacKay explores his feeling of being powerless in the face of evil but still wanting to fight back. The art in this issue is split between Andrea Broccardo and Farid Karami. Broccardo does the lion’s share of the issue and does well in Valerio Schiti’s place. Stylistically, they are very similar and this is aided by Federico Blee’s colors. Karami handles the Prism world issue and captures a nice stylistic break from Broccardo but again looks like it belongs in the same issue thanks to Blee’s color styling. A great colorist can give books a homogenous feeling. While this arc is inconsequential for the larger One World Under Doom story, this issue is a great piece for any fans of Sam Wilson. -JJ
Come back next week for more reviews or go through our archives to read past reviews from the Rundown team!
