Hank Pym continues his war on Reed Richards to regain a doohickey he needs to re-tether his interdimensional doorways to Earth. Hercules and Vision impersonate the Red Hulk and Red Ghost to distract the Thing and Human Torch. Stature tells all to her old friend the Invisible Woman. And the Mighty Avengers triumph.Well, it's their comic, innit? While Hank Pym is a tad creepy this issue, Reed Richards is the bigger arsehole, utterly consumed by arrogance. I was delighted to see Hank outthink him. I only hope Hank is de-creeped soon as by now he's even infected the previously innocent Jocasta with his slightly warped worldview. I loved it when the robot actually tunes into her Jan Pym brain patterns to give annoying Cassie Lang a kick up the backside, but what she does next . . . brrrr.
The rest of the characterisations are a delight, from a 'ballad' composed by Hercules to Amadeus Cho's reaction to Valeria Richards. The Loki/Scarlet Witch business is off the table this time, as is the Quicksilver and USAgent side story, but that's fine, there's always next month and I plan to be back.
I wasn't keen on the art jam this time, as four people - Stephen Segovia and Noah Salonga, with Paco Diaz and Harvey Tolibao - handle things. There are one or two great pages, plenty of decent ones and a few less lovely ones. The scratchy style wouldn't be my choice, I think Slott's script demands the classic, clean look of a Paul Pelletier or Ron Frenz, but until then I'll take consistency and Koi Pham returns next month, so that's something. Anyway, good on all #26's illustrators for telling the story well enough and getting the book into my hands. Meeting deadlines, that's heroism enough for me.
Marco Djurdojevik provides the cover, and it's a beaut. Could someone commission him to do an Annual?
Can you imagine how great this book would look if Ron Frenz drew it? I can't even imagine.
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