MIGHTY AVENGERS #34

WRITER: Dan Slott
PENCILER: Neal Edwards
INKER: Andrew Currey with Andrew Hennessie
COLORIST: John Rauch
LETTERER: Dave Lamphear
COVER: Koi Pham, Craig Yeung & John Rauch

Warning: Contains Spoilers

When Dan Slott took over this title after Brian Michael Bendis’ departure with his promise of “Avenger-y” Avengers tales, I find it hard to believe MIGHTY AVENGERS #34 was what he had in mind.

With only a few issues to go before its cancellation and the relaunching of the entire Avengers franchise, unlike its fellows Dark and New it seems Mighty has been given the job of shooting itself in the foot as Hank Pym’s team of C-listers enter the ongoing Siege storyline in a rut while its creative team trys to save what is left of a plotted, possibly great Ultron arc.

Dan Slott has the Beaver Cleaver role to Bendis’ Wally: mess up your guys and fall apart, ruining (at least it seems) months of great Pym characterization while my boys ease into the attack on Asgard intact and with our heads held high. Heck, God has practically landed eagle-like on Steve Rogers’ team from Siege #2, none of which includes Hank’s “real” Avengers with the exception of the Vision and Stature, more parts of Young Avengers herein than the Pym team. Could Steve not trust his old buddy Hank, the guy who helped pull him from the ice in the first place? Who is Steve’s Heroic Age adviser, Tony Stark?

I applauded as usual Pym’s seeming ability to think of magic as a science he does not understand as he overcomes the odds through sheer intellect. The capture of Loki, I thought, might led to something great instead of this silly confrontation with Thor, the “old table cloth trick” shtick that it was Loki (not Eternity) who named Pym “scientist supreme” as a ruse (which may or may not be true, granted), and most if not all the team departing Hulk-like. Amadeus Cho, who had built a real bond with the new Wasp, acts totally out of character in the final part of this adventure by taking a powder.

Top all this off by the impending return of Pym’s “son” (a story at which Slott had hinted to which I was looking forward) which will now be a watered-down telling at best coupled with a bonehead move from Hank in asking Loki to join his Avengers. What the d’ast? Even Loki cannot believe it as he turns his back on a would-be brave leader who is now, once again, a sucker.

I do appreciate the angry reaction of Pietro upon learning he has been duped all these months by his own team, thinking they were seeking the real Scarlet Witch rather than Loki-as-Wanda. And I loved Jarvis’ shopping trip, one of those small things that has made this run by Slott so much fun.

It is a run I will miss, and it deserves a better sendoff than this if the final few issues follow the path of #34. Not since the end of The Defenders’ original run have I seen so valuable a property so mangled and misused as what occurs to this team of Avengers.

Not much to recommend here, folks. Not much at all.

Hope to see you in the Heroic Age, Jarv. It’s been real.

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