This takes place before the siege of Asgard, an event that is already two issues over. I’m pretty much anti-event as it is. If you ask me, both Civil War and Secret Invasion should have taken place solely within the actual Avengers title (or titles). And I feel the same way about Siege. Let the story be the event, not the sales plan or the marketing strategy. Furthermore, if the folks in charge can’t make the publishing schedule work on time, they have no business attempting such an event. But that’s just my opinion.

The cover is our only fix of Pham art this time out, giving us a good look at the new Quicksilver costume and a tease of what could have been had Khoi gotten to draw Thor inside the comic. Shame, because both are amazing. I love this cover. Not only does it depict an event that actually occurs inside but if I wasn’t already getting Mighty Avengers, it would pique my interest enough to pick it up. Even in absentia, Khoi rocks.

Subbing on art chores inside is Neil Edwards, whose style can best be described as adequate, and lacking dynamicism. A better artist could have enlivened the more pedestrian scenes in this issue, making them pop rather than simply fade further in the background. The art is a serious disappointment, and sadly, it’s not the only one.

There’s a good news bad news vibe to Mighty Avengers #34. The writing is solid Silver Age/Bronze Age goodness. Writer Dan Slott demonstrates his usual encyclopedic knowledge of Earth’s mightiest heroes and reproduces scenes that would have rolled perfectly in the 1970s or 80s but still feel fresh. This could have easily have been written by David Michelinie or Roy Thomas, and I mean that as a compliment. That’s how classic these classic Avengers of Slott’s feel.

The bit with Jarvis gathering ingredients for breakfast is wonderful, as is his brief pep talk about not needing more members. The meal table meeting talk is beautifully old school, and if Thor talking aloud to himself in the first few pages isn’t Silver Age, I don’t know what is. As the story races to its conclusion, much too quickly by the way, I began to notice that Slott was slowly slipping in the present day of the comics industry in. The trap was sprung.

The powers that be at Marvel Comics hate Henry Pym. He will be forever known as the wife beater. It doesn’t matter that he has been redeemed, forgiven, saved, etc. many many times in the past two decades, it’s the slap that remains. Funny how Spider-Man can knock Mary Jane on her ass, but no one talks about that. Hank Pym still gets the short end of the stick. He’s a madman, a menace, a loser, a screw-up. I knew it. I knew this entire Mighty Avengers thing was all a set-up. No one at Marvel would let Pym get a real shot at redemption.

We are headed toward yet another one of Hank’s breakdowns, you know, the ones that have been written away to a variety of reasons over the years, and that he should be much better from. Loki has intimated that he scammed Pym into believing he was Scientist Supreme, and Hank followed up with asking Loki to join the team. I so don’t like where this is headed. And there is also Ultron on the horizon. And since there is no mention of Pym post-Siege, and Newsarama was nice enough to spill the beans about Hercules’ demise, this is going to be very very bad.

I have to give Mighty Avengers #34 two and a half stars out of five possible stars, and that’s only for the writing in the first three-quarters of the comic. The ending, and the art, plummet any possible higher score. I am so disappointed. In a week where my comics haul also included Kevin Smith’s brilliant Green Hornet and the first issue of First Wave, this could have been the best thing of the bunch. Unless the next and final issue of Mighty Avengers redeems, this may be the biggest disappointment in quite some time.

	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.