Review: ‘Avengers’ #10 Shows The Darkest Hour Is Imminent
by Tony Thornley
The Avengers might be the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but even they have to make allies with some of the foulest villains sometimes. In the current volume’s latest issue, they actually have to do it twice.
Jed MacKay, CF Villa, Federico Blee, and Cory Petit show the Avengers that the path forward is way scarier than they may realize.
The Twilight Court’s attack on the Avengers is just a distraction, giving their leader Myrddin an opportunity to attack Kang. But this attack may just make their new mission to stop the Tribulation Events even more difficult, even if they win. As they’re about to learn, there’s more on the line than they realize.
MacKay has a lot of fun with this issue. Though it’s the climax to the current story arc, this issue is more about set-up than many stories like it. In the Kang storyline, that resolves a few points, and makes the team’s directive to fight the Tribulation Events more difficult than it seemed it would be from the initial arc. The Nightmare storyline is a lot of teasing with some decent character moments for Thor and Wanda.
The problem is both are so decompressed that it makes the issue feel slight. On its own, it would probably be fine. But the series as a whole has had a problem with decompression — the first arc having full issues focusing on each single character’s fight one at a time, now a climactic issue largely focusing on teases for the future- that it makes that more frustrating than fun. It’s fine right now, but it won’t be if it continues.
The art is definitely a bright spot here. Villa’s action scenes are incredibly dynamic, with a great sense of motion that drives the pages along. A good chunk of the story is a bad guy hanging over a man in a hospital bed, but he switches up angles, points of view and such that all makes the story more engaging than simple talking heads. It doesn’t make up completely for the faults of the script but it helps a lot.
Blee’s colors add a lot of life to the pages. There’s a lot of alien energy and demonic landscapes in the issue and he makes it all come to life, while also making it all clear how fantastic it is. Petit has a lot to do with his letters. He makes the dialogue clear and all the effects help create a soundscape.
Avengers #10 is available now from Marvel Comics.
Overview
I did enjoy this issue, but it also shows what could be this series’ faults. The art looks great, and there’s a lot of interesting story here. I think if the pacing problems are fixed, this can end up an all-time run.