Writer: Jed MacKay
Artist: Farid Karami
Color Artist: Federico Blee
Cover Artist: Cafu
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
The Avengers are making a final dash to find the Grail. After finding out the origins of the “Missing Moment” and how seizing will end the Universe, the Avengers make all preparations to find the Grail and stop Myrddin. Read Avengers #30 to see the beginning of the end for this long journey Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have been on.
Review:
Alright, so the story gets right to it. Jed Mackay has Carol call in the X-Men and tells them, and by extension the reader, just what this story is, what the stakes are, and what they’re about to do. They’re going to pursue the Grail through the spaces in between Universes to seize the Grail before Myrddin does and ends the Universe. The X-Men are ready to protect the Earth in their place, and the Avengers essentially lock in.
Mackay is definitely writing the final story arc for this Avengers run, at least that is what it appears to me. He has the final bow out, which is really a final roll call, as the heroes use all of their powers and abilities together to make the trip through the Rupture of black holes and travel to “Sub Rosa. The No-Place of the Universe” where they find Myrddin is way ahead of them and already has the Grail. Of course, it’s not over yet as the Grail still needs to initialize itself and the Avengers try to take him. Doesn’t work.
Myrddin sics the Marvel Zombies on the Avengers, at least the ones who were on Battleworld. Farid Karami does a good job with the art as the Avengers and Marvel Zombies going at it. Admittedly, the fight isn’t as epic or exciting as I thought it would be, but it’s fine for the short time it lasted, especially once Hyperion shows back up and his arrival kind of just ends the fight. Mind you, Hyperion didn’t really do anything, he just flew through Zombie Ben Grimm and Groot and made a superhero landing. That’s it.
And then we get one of the year’s most obvious twist character reveals ever in comic books: Myrddin is actually Kang! Not much of a reveal if you’re competent and realized since his introduction that this was either one of three things: another Kang variant in disguise, a brand new supervillain, or a reskinned older supervillain. To be frank, this keeps things simple, but at the same time it does nothing for me since this run didn’t really elevate Kang the Conqueror as a character. This big reveal only works well if you already like Kang as a villain, but since this run has him beaten twice by the Avengers, this reveal just feels underwhelming but practical.
Final Thoughts:
Avengers #30 starts the fight for the Grail as the Avengers journey to find it before Myrddin does, but the villain is two steps ahead. The comic does a solid job setting this up as a big event for the Avengers. They even get to fight some Marvel Zombies, or at least the ones left on Battleworld. However, the big reveal of Myrddin’s true identity will shock a few readers but not many others who probably saw it coming since his introduction. We’ll see how things unfold in the next issue.