Mighty Avengers #10 – Review

By: Al Ewing (Writer), Greg Land (Penciller), Jay Leisten (Inker), Frank D’Armata (Color Artist), VC’s Cory Petit (Letterer)

The Story:
Sad times on the Blue Area of the Moon, and prices aren’t the only things being slashed at the Biggest Buy store.

The Review:
One thing that’s rapidly characterizing Al Ewing’s run on Mighty Avengers is a good, conscientious use of continuity, both in context of the book itself and in the Marvel universe overall. This issue in particular picks up ongoing subplots and, even with a cross-over into the narrative of the Original Sin, does well to stand on its own as a solid example of comicbook storytelling.

The events of the Original Sin storyline show up twice here: One, as the Avengers battle a Mindless One in New York, and Two, as Blue Marvel checks in on the Watcher’s family. The battle sequence is quick– only three pages– although it offers Photon a key moment, where she builds a powerful attack that lays the monster low. It’s a nice moment for Photon, where she also explains a bit about her previous experience with NextWave. Unfortunately, it’s not a very clear explanation. It’s equally unfortunate that after her attack she only appears one more time, if you count being in the background of a small panel with her head cut off by the frame as “appearing.”

The more extensive use of the event brings Adam Brashear/Blue Marvel to the Watcher’s “family,” namely Ulana, his “wife,” and their baby. This naturally extends from the Brashear’s friendship with the Watcher (long-standing continuity, apparently), but it also provides a way for him to deal with the events of previous issues and the loss of his own family. It’s effective characterization for Brashear, while also providing a lot of humanity (for lack of a better word) in memorial for the Watcher. (That “humanity” is doubly ironic since the scene explores many quite alien concepts.)