Let’s start at the top with regular artist Khoi Pham’s cover for this issue. We’re looking at old school Silver Age comic book cover symbolism here as a giant unhelmeted Norman Osborn as the Iron Patriot holds a Cosmic Cube, with the Wasp imprisoned within, while he smiles maniacally. This is great stuff, even though at first I thought Norman’s grin a bit over the top. It was only with further inspection I saw what Khoi was trying to achieve, consciously or not. This is the face of the Green Goblin. Perhaps it’s been too long since we thought of him in this identity, but this cover brings chills when seen in this light.

The previously page brings what has become a highlight in recent issues, excerpts from Cassie Lang’s online journal. I had complaints at first, but I’m really starting to groove on this. I mean, come on, if such a page is necessary, why not make it entertaining, and furthermore, why not use it to show a bit of personality and character in one of the players that sometimes slides into the background of a title with a large cast. Should this series continue (in some form at least), I wouldn’t mind seeing Cassie switch off with the other Avengers using this method. Anyone for Amadeus Cho’s blog or Henry Pym’s notes? And I particularly love Cassie’s comment on the panel shown - "I am totally going to make Osborn buy Uncle Hank that Coke." Beautiful.

The situation as it stands is the Absorbing Man has absorbed the power of a Cosmic Cube at Project Pegasus, and both the Mighty Avengers and the Dark Avengers teams stand ready to take on this threat. While it didn’t bother me that both team leaders, both thinkers, Pym and Osborn, are trying to find a way to stop this menace by standing around giving orders and learning about the situation - it did strike me as dumb that one or both of them didn’t walk away so they wouldn’t overhear each other.

The truth-to-reality power that the Absorbing Man exhibits is unique from a storytelling perspective but I can’t help but wonder why he would do this, or what would make him do this. Let’s face it, Creel has never been the brightest bulb in the box, so where does this come from? It’s neat to see him separate Sentry into his two selves, but why would he even think to do that? And Creel’s reaction at being left out of a scheme when he realizes Venom/Spider-Man is Scorpion and Ms. Marvel is Moonstone is priceless.

There are fun moments, moments of the type that have become Slott’s trademark in these pages, like Moonstone’s reality punch remark dissing the Distinguished Competition’s Superboy Prime and his continuity-altering by similar means. Quicksilver vs. the Venom symbiote is also a great moment. Another happens when Hercules and the Vision use the X-Men’s ‘fastball special’ tactic with interesting results - Creel splits the new Vision into the old Vision and Iron Lad.

This is a change I really wish had held, but alas it doesn’t. The plot complications alone of having Iron Lad back - his romance with Cassie, his being the young Kang - this is all juicy stuff, but it is seeing the original, the real, if you will, Vision, that really gets to me. The Vision is only there for three panels and only speaks in two of them. It is to Slott and Pham’s credit that he comes alive so believably for this old school fan. Man, I want him back.

Meanwhile the Wasp and Iron Patriot are racing into the bowels of Project Pegasus to retrieve the Absorbing Man’s trademark ball and chain, which is also imbued with the power of the Cosmic Cube. In this issue and last, Dan Slott has given great dimension to these two as adversaries. As far as I know, they have never clashed before, but together, under Slott’s pen, they have the vibrancy of classic archenemies - and I’m loving it.

The confrontation between Pym and Osborn at the Cosmic Cube is brilliance. The Wasp tries to convince Norman that he’s won, that he’s touched the Cube and gotten everything he’s ever wanted. It is triumphant. For me, this is perhaps one of the greatest Hank Pym moments. It ranks up there with Pym rebuilding the Vision to fight Count Nefaria because ‘that’s where he fights best, in the lab,’ or when Giant-Man laid into Ultron during the Kurt Busiek run, or when Yellowjacket was wading through the Sons of the Serpent with the Defenders. Yes, he’s flawed, yes, he’s made horrible mistakes - but when Hank Pym is on, baby, he’s on.

And then comes the deus ex machina. Loki, who’s been hovering in the background throughout Dan Slott’s entire run, hands Osborn the ultimate deus ex machina. It’s a sword, a supposed ‘spellbreaker’ that will “undo any Asgardian charm.” I find that last part curious as, after all these years, Loki is indirectly undoing the magic he used originally to give Crusher Creel his powers. Osborn strikes the Absorbing Man with the sword and the threat is over, and the crowd, and television viewers across the world once again witness Iron Patriot saving the day. A little boost from Loki and everyone forgets and remembers at his whim the events of the battle. So it’s kinda like “One More Day.” Don’t get me started.

My first question however is - what happened to the Cosmic Cube? My second question revolves around Loki’s motives. Didn’t he create this team of Avengers, the Mighty Avengers, to vex Norman? This doesn’t really make all that much sense when you look at it that way. Maybe there’s something else to this. We’ll see.

And so, with the foe vanquished the Mighty Avengers leave the battlefield, seemingly unvictorious. Osborn as a parting shot even fires USAgent and orders him not to go with his teammates. Not being a huge USAgent fan myself, I’m not real bothered by this - and neither is Pym, notably. Que sera sera, though, as USAgent probably will make a better Dark Avenger anyway. Sorry, folks, it’s how I feel. The last page reveal has Pym verifying what he suspected all along, that Loki is behind a lot of this mess. It’s a little victory, but I wonder if the Wasp and his Avengers will have time to do something about it...

Because that’s not all that’s going on. Jocasta back at Infinite Avengers Mansion has been compromised. One of the big rules of storytelling is that the worst possible thing that can happen, always does. Hank Pym has been riding high of late. What’s the worst thing that can happen to a happy, stable, confident Hank Pym? You got it. Ultron is back. And odds are, with the Avengers titles ending in tandem with Siege, things really don’t look good for Pym or his Avengers. Ultron is bad news for any team of Avengers, but one led by Pym... I hope they all make it out of this alive.

It is times like this when I wish I was ten again - ten - the real Golden Age of Comics. When I was ten, there was no internet, no comics news websites, no Previews. At ten I would not know that all the wonderment I know as Mighty Avengers was soon to come to an end. Had I been ten, Mighty Avengers #33 would have been rated higher. But knowing what I know, it’s bittersweet, and spoils my enjoyment of what is an otherwise good comic. All that said, I give Mighty Avengers #33 three and a half stars out of a possible five.

Mighty Avengers by Dan Slott and Khoi Pham, rest in peace, we barely got to know you, but like Conan O’Brien’s “Tonight Show,” all good things must come to an end. So bring on Ultron, and Osborn, and Sentry, and Brian Michael Bendis – let’s get this thing over with already. Please.

Two more issues and counting. Until then, Avengers Assemble!

	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.