Writer: Jed MacKay
Artist: Carlos Magno
Color Artist: Guru-eFX
Cover Artists: Kei Zama & Guru-eFX
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
This is where it all ends – the Avengers vs. King The conqueror! Kang had invaded the Earth with ferocious, biomechanical, giant monsters and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes responded by using newly built mech suits. They lost one of their own in Black Panther and even allied with a time-displaced Thanos. But they underestimated Kang and are near the brink of defeat. However, Avengers Mech Strike #5 reveals the return of their lost comrade Black Panther who might bring the victory they need.
Review:
This series has been both weird and fun, but one of its big issues is how it fails to really capitalize on its concepts and ideas for maximum cool factor. This is especially evident in the series finale. See, the last issue showed that Black Panther had become the Herald of Eternity! Sounds cool, and it explains how this happened to him. It’s not too long or anything, nor is the explanation too weird or abstract, and Eternity certainly looks good. But the final product isn’t all that exciting.
The series introduces the concept of a character becoming a Herald of Eternity, similar to how individuals like the Silver Surfer can become Heralds of Galactus. Sounds like a cool way to build off what has been established in Marvel comics in an interesting way and with a similarly powerful character. But it doesn’t really do anything with this concept and just does the bare minimum with it. All Black Panther really gets is a new starry look and that’s about it. No cool powers, abilities, or anything; just a re-skinned Black Panther.
Don’t get me wrong, the art and colors by Carlos Magno and Guru-eFX are great, look no further than the fight between Kang and the empowered Black Panther. However, the confrontation is probably the most visually pleasing fight in the comic. It still wants to bank on ugly biomechanical monsters for the Avengers to fight. And mind you, stories can have wonderfully grotesque monstrosities and characters in them and still look great because of it. But mileage will vary on these monsters in this series, let alone this comic book as the fights with them get messy for the wrong reasons.
While the Avengers fight through more of Kang’s biomechanical monsters, the actual Avengers mechs are a bit of an afterthought here. The mechs don’t really maintain that much of a presence in the comic as they’re barely, and to be honest, I almost forgot about them. The grand conclusion to Kang’s invasion isn’t all that great either and feels pretty underwhelming for the series finale.
Final Thoughts:
Avengers Mech Strike #5 finally concludes this mech series as Kang’s invasion of the bio-mechanoids comes to a close. The return of Black Panther as the herald of Eternity is interesting but the comic doesn’t really do anything with it. The mechs are pretty much an afterthought in this issue, and the Avengers don’t really play a key role in Kang’s defeat, they’re all just there to fight more of his ugly biomechanical monsters. However, the art from Carlos Magno and Guru-eFX’s colors continue to be great here. If nothing else, the comic got me excited to see their work in the upcoming Kang The Conqueror series.