Saleswise, Mighty Avengers has been on a downward spiral since writer Brian Michael Bendis left. The only spike upward has been issue #27, which featured not only the introduction of new villain The Unspoken, but also the return to the title of ‘regular’ artist Khoi Pham. In my mind, this is an important point. Granted, this current issue’s fill-in artist Sean Chen is no slouch, but he’s not what I have come to expect when I buy Mighty Avengers. And this isn’t a shot at Pham either. I love the guy’s work and want to see it in every issue, but that’s just the thing – I want to see it in every issue. But I’ll get back to the art later.

The powers that be seem to be punching up the sales probability factor of late (except for a regular artist). They’ve added a writer, they threw in fan favorites the Young Avengers, they got Marko Djurdjevic to paint the cover, Hawkeye, um, Ronin’s back, and now with this issue, lots of guest stars. It feels like save the Mighty Avengers time.

And I remain unconvinced of the threat level of The Unspoken. Just because the writer tells us he’s bad doesn’t mean he is. Yeah, we saw him “Alpha Flight” the People’s Defense Force, but just by the use of that term it has become an unconvincing cliché. And just how hurt really were the Chinese heroes? They jumped right back to their feet to fight our two Avengers. And shouldn’t Radioactive Man of all people know better? Hasn’t he played this game numerous times as a Master of Evil, as one of the Titanic Three, and even as a Thunderbolt? I guess he’s science smart, not common sense smart.

Anyway, threat level is what brings in the guest stars in Mighty Avengers #30. After all when sales are down, you bring in the guest stars to pump up sales – and what better guest stars than current Marvel heavy hitters like Spider-Woman and the current Bucky version of Captain America? The Young Avengers are already here as Marvel has been picking that corpse since Allen Heinberg seemingly abandoned his creations for the more lucrative world of television.

So to fight our so-called Omega level threat, plotter Dan Slott and scripter Christos Gage, as well as the Mighty Avengers, bring in a rag tag group of leftovers from the other franchise books. For the last few issues we’ve had Hawkeye, I mean Ronin, who’s looking damn good with a bow in his hands. There’s also the aforementioned new Captain America and motion comic star Spider-Woman. Clint brought them over from the New Avengers along with Ms. Marvel. From the Initiative we get three long lost Avengers in Tigra, Justice and Rage (it’s old home week) as well as Gauntlet. Quite a crew here, but I wonder if any other than Cap and Jessica can help sales. We’ll see.

There are many highlights to Mighty Avengers #30. Hercules and Cho attempting to recruit the Dark Avengers is terrific, and Osborne’s line to the Sentry, “Bob, I want that door thrown into the sun.” is a classic. I also liked the use of the what-has-gone-before page as sort of an online journal for Stature. Nice.

Those are just a few of the touches that make me wonder who really came up with them between the fairly new team of Slott and Gage. Unlike previous issues, this one is quick, smart and to the point, more so than the solo Slott stories. Furthermore, if the rumor train is correct, with Dan Slott apparently among the missing at the Marvel Avengers summit, one has to wonder how much longer he’ll be with the title.

While the team collects Avengers and China gets slammed by The Unspoken, Hank Pym is visiting with Eternity in the “Macroverse.” Wow, reading that back, I have to check to make sure this isn’t a Warren Ellis book. Nope, it’s not, just not enough creepy scenes with Jocasta this time out.

I liked Eternity’s reaction to Hank Pym. Painful as it was to see, it was as it should be. The man has been put upon and pressured into a corner enough to make him feel this way. Even if you take away everyone else’s abuse (especially hypocrite Tony Stark’s) Pym still has enough guilt of his own to elicit the reaction of Eternity beating on him. As I said, good, but painful. What gets me is what Eternity calls him after the beat down…

“Scientist Supreme?” As much as I like it, I am in the minority by being a Hank Pym fan. We all know that the entire post-Bendis Mighty Avengers have been a set-up by Loki, disguised as the Scarlet Witch. We further know how the head muckety-mucks at Marvel view Hank Pym. He’s a loser at best and a wife beater at worst. They hate him. For him to get the better end of any stick is a hard pill for many at Marvel to swallow. So as much as I want this to work, I fear it won’t. Sooner or later this will be reversed. Just as Geoff Johns’ Pym fix was reversed, as Kurt Busiek’s Pym fix was, and even Steve Englehart’s – so too will Dan Slott’s. Or is that Christos Gage’s?

Is this really Eternity? Is he possibly a machination of Reed Richards to teach Hank a hard lesson? Perhaps this is simply more of Loki’s meddling. Trickery is his schtick. Or maybe some of the real Scarlet Witch’s reality-altering power? Or maybe Eternity is a Skrull. It doesn’t matter. As much as I want it to be so, it won’t last or can’t be. Marvel likes Pym as the loser.

The only thing that worries me about the Eternity encounter is that he has Hank’s face as he returns Hank back to the real world. Was this perhaps all in Hank’s mind? I hope not. The last page is one of those that gets me excited and pumped for the next issue. I just hope it all doesn’t go right to hell. We haven’t seen Loki in a while, and that has me worried. He/she might have too much to worry about at the moment with Siege and Doomwar coming, but still, you know what they say… if Wolverine can be on three teams…

Regarding the art, and no offense to penciller Sean Chen, but I have a few thoughts. First things first, one of the best things about Mighty Avengers the last couple years or so has been the work of artist Khoi Pham. I must confess my disappointment when I saw he was not on the pencils this time out. One of the hallmarks of the Avengers franchise since writer Brian Michael Bendis took over several years back has been consistent art. I miss Pham, but it should be said that any interruption of a creative team is an interruption of flow and familiarity.

Sean Chen does do a great job, but as I said, it’s not the job I wanted to see. Speaking of things I don’t want to see, the weird long sleeves on Quicksilver’s costume are back. I say stick with Pham’s Quicksilver design from a few issues back, that’s awesome. And while we’re on Pietro, can we have his hair wings back please? The speed rushed hair just doesn’t cut it. He needs his wings back.

Speaking of hair, remember the good old days of George Perez when we could see our three male blondes (Cap, Hank and Clint) on one page out of costume and still know who was who? Yeah, it’s a tough trick, but I think it’s one that every artist on an Avengers title should aim for. I have to admit being momentarily confused on page five for just that reason. I alternately thought that both Speed and Clint were Hank. Be careful, folks.

Chen’s action is solid, except where it counted. Page sixteen for Avengers Assemble, for instance. Yes, they are essentially walking out a door, but who among us would have complained about a rushing forward attack panel? It is what the battle cry calls for after all. Still, Clint with a bow, yelling “Avengers Assemble!” I got chills. Everywhere else, Chen is amazing. Even when I find fault, it’s still better than most anyone else out there.

All that said, I give Mighty Avengers #30 a solid three and three-quarters stars out of a possible five. Could be good, could be bad, really it all depends on the outcome next issue. I wait with baited breath, like I’m sure many of you.

	Glenn Walker
	Glenn has been a fan of Marvel Comics' Avengers since the early 1970s, when their current adventures were chronicled by Steve Englehart and their early exploits by Stan Lee in classic reprints featured in Marvel Triple Action. He has persevered through many incarnations of the team and he still loves the Avengers to this day.