Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Javier Garron
Color Artists: David Curiel, Morry Hollowell, Erick Arciniega & Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover Artists: Javier Garron & David Curiel
Publisher: Marvel Comics
The war for the Multiverse continues as Avengers from all across the Marvel Multiverse assemble to face an army of evil trying to seize ultimate power from the mysterious God Quarry. However, the ancient devil Mephisto has been setting the pieces in place, biding his time, and is now moving to act. See what Mephisto has in store for our heroes in Avengers #66.
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Review:
Now, this comic is honestly more of the same with this storyline. A lot of grand developments with little emotional investment or engagement behind them, and a slew of missed opportunities for cool moments or battles. However, what can be said is that the comic does explain a few things and proceeds to do its damnedest to set things up for what can only be described as the final push for this storyline. Fair warning: there will be slight SPOILERS here and there throughout this review, like in the next paragraph.
The first quarter of the comic follows Mephisto just hanging back and waiting out the chaos as all sides engage each other in battle. He has a short conversation with Kid Thanos to use as recap by Jason Aaron to catch readers up to speed on what’s transpired in the last few parts of this storyline. Once it’s done, Mephisto proceeds to join back up with his Council of Red, who are furious at him for misleading them about the Avengers’ collective strength and using them. Surprise, surprise! Mephisto deceived his own variants for his own gain.
In the previous part from Avengers Forever, we saw that our Mephisto gave himself an upgrade by assimilating the bodies of the other remaining members of the Council of Red to become Ultra-Mephisto, basically a giant version of himself. Well, the first portion of the comic shows exactly how he does it. And it’s here where get both some good and bad when it comes to the art and colors in the comic. See, when Mephisto makes his move, the page showing him in action is a little chaotic, and because Mephisto is colored red almost the same as his variants, it’s a little hard to see where he’s at in all the chaos. But there’s an easy trick: Just follow the blood trail and you’ll find the main Mephisto.
From there is where we get the worst of the comic. Mind you, by worst I mean just dull and expository setup, nothing worse than that. There are even a few cool moments, but that’s where the good praise stops. Yes, we get to see Avengers Mt. become Mt. Deathlok as he annihilates some Dooms, and yes we get a neat double page spread at the end, but it feels a little hollow. Even Mephisto becoming a giant is hollow because he doesn’t do anything cool or special, at least not by Marvel Comics’ standards.
And the big moment at the end is very unearned or at least not as impactful as it could’ve been because this whole storyline lacks the necessary emotional investment from readers to make it a very powerful moment. Other than that, the comic is mainly setup for the true final showdown in the Omega issue of this whole storyline.
Final Thoughts:
Avengers #66 continues the deadly battle between the Avengers and Doom Supreme and his army of Dooms while showing what Mephisto has been up to. It’s not the most amazing thing done with Mephisto, but it’s fine. Despite the potential of what this powered-up Mephisto has to offer as a villain, he doesn’t do much here, and it seems like the storyline is saving that for the next few parts instead of really showing Mephisto in action for this issue. Other than that, the comic is mostly recap and setup for the next two parts with some new appearances that should definitely provide more engaging action.