Now this is what an inter-team, double-sized crossover comic should be like. Gone is the soap opera, gone the personal angst and/or relationships. This is about a team of some of the most powerful creatures on Earth coming together to stop a world-threatening cataclysm. Each member of the team(s) gets a chance to shine, to demonstrate exactly why they're members of the Avengers (East of West coast), though I'll admit that Mockingbird and Tigra are a bit underplayed in today's comic. That makes sense, as their power sets, such as they are, are much better-suited to close quarters combat, rather than taking on a giant, planet-powered would-be god. And that's all I'll say about today's villain. Today's comic is a wonderful example of how Mr. Stern and Mr. Milgrom can take what is ostensibly a soap opera starring superheroes and turn it into the action movie that we all know and love from the MCU. That juxtaposition is actually something that I find lacking in the filmic versions of the Marvel superheroes. We have attempts at the soap opera-ness of Marvel comics in most of their television series, but that leaves out a very important aspect of the larger team and hero-based properties. We only every see the Avengers as the action heroes, never as the soap stars. And while this elevates them in some ways, perhaps to the more pantheonic level of the Justice League, it neglects a rather wonderful aspect of this team. There are gestures toward the soap opera - the burgeoning relationship between the Scarlet Witch and the Vision (though it's filmic depiction is a bit problematic) springs to mind.
I will offer one criticism here - where the heck has Tigra's tail gone? If you Google Tigra images (warning - there's going to be NSFW pics there), every single one has a tail. But Mr. Milgrom seems to have decided that she doesn't need one. Further, her face lacks any feline properties, making her look like she's been badly-spray tanned, at least when we don't see her striped body. I find it odd that these things would have slipped past an editor, especially one as fluent in the Marvel U as Mark Gruenwald. But, I suppose, we're all only human.
To be continued.
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