It's that time again! It's time to join Earth's Mightiest Heroes in their epic battle against the evil Immortus! Last issue, we saw the destruction of Chronopolis. What is Chronopolis? Well, if you read the last issue, then you'd know that Chronopolis was the home and main headquarters of long-time Avengers villain Kang the Conqueror...who was also Immortus's past self. With the destruction of the City that Touches All Times, Immortus was able to obtain the Forever Crystal, a powerful artifact that would allow the temporal tyrant to alter and twist the time-stream as he wished.
He also planned to kill long-time Avengers and Hulk buddy Rick Jones as Jones's ability to access an energy called the Destiny Force would seemingly bring humanity down a path to a future of destructive conquest. But Kang the Conquerer has fought to stop his future self, and Rick Jones has used the Destiny Force to summon members of the Avengers from various points in time to protect him. So, how will things go down here? Let's find out by looking at Avengers Forever #4!
The cover is a Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino piece and it's pretty cool. The only complaint I have about it is that it spoils the future Avengers team that we meet in this timeline. It is a basic "team reveal" cover, but I've never seen this combination of characters advertised as an Avengers team before. As such, it makes me interested.
"Running Out of Time"
Writers: Kurt Busiek and Roger Stern
Penciler: Carlos Pacheco
Inker: Jesus Merino
Colorist: Steve Oliff
Letterers: Richard Starkings and Albert Deschesne
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras
The story begins with the time-tossed Avengers traveling through the timestream in Kang's big ol' Time-Sphinx.
This makeshift group of Earth's Mightiest Heroes (alongside Libra) are convalesing after the destruction of Chronopolis in the last issue. The situation seems...a bit hopeless. Immortus now has the Forever Crystal. This means that he can now literally change the timeline to whatever he wants it to be. But Rick Jones tries to get some hope back into this bunch. After all, he can walk again thanks to the Destiny Force, and the Avengers are still alive. Where there is life, there is hope, that kind of thing.
Libra also tries to assure the Avengers that Immortus can still be defeated. However, Hawkeye is fed up with the supervillain-turned-balance monk, and tries to take a swing at him with his bow. The two briefly scuffle, and Libra decides to take a powder.
(I'm out of here)
Nice work, Clint. Thanks to you, the Avengers don't even have a guide to what's going on. Luckily, Yellowjacket and Giant-Man are able to figure out the Time-Sphinx's controls (Remember, both these men are Hank Pym, just at different points in time).
Giant-Man discovers that the destruction of Chronopolis left a big ol' chronal anomaly behind. It's something the Time-Sphinx's instruments can measure and analyze. The time machine's instruments detect imbalances in the time stream at three points in history. Wasp puts together three teams to check out these chronal imbalances:
- Hawkeye, Yellowjacket, and Songbird
- Giant-Man and Captain America
- Wasp and Captain Marvel
Rick Jones will stay behind, much to his chagrin. After all, he'll be safer in the Time-Sphinx. Since it's currently outside the timestream, Immortus can't find it. The three teams head out. The first to arrive in their location is Giant-Man and Captain America. They find themselves in the future, and a war has broken out.
The two heroes leap into action, fighting valiantly to protect the humans from the Martian Tripods. But thankfully, there are still heroes in this time.
Killraven! Jocasta! Crimson Dynamo! Living Lightning! Thundra! Black Panther! The Last Avengers! The aged Wakandan king is overjoyed to see his old comrades and friends. He tells them they have arrived in time for what seems to be Earth's last stand against the Martians.
We go next from the dark future of the Martian Invasion to the wild past of the Old West. Tombstone, Arizona in 1873, to be exact. Funny enough, the real life Tombstone would be founded in 1877. With the help of the Time-Sphinx, Hawkeye, Yellowjacket, and Songbird get into some appropriate clothes.
Hawkeye is as happy as a clam. He's a bit of an Old West fanboy, so he's in heaven right now. The three heroes witness two of the Marvel Universe's Old West heroes, the Rawhide Kid and Kid Colt, emerge from a saloon. They're met with another Old West hero and future Avenger himself: The Two-Gun Kid. The three encounter Kang, the man who has seemingly got Tombstone under his power. And he sends a nasty surprise at the three gunfighters.
Don't you just hate it when dinosaurs rampage into your standoffs? Hawkeye leaps into help, but Songbird stops her compatriots. The three gunslingers manage to escape Kang's dinosaur. So, why did Songbird stop Clint and Hank from helping the gunslingers? Well, it turns out that the events we saw here will lead up into the events of Avengers # (). Kang had tried to conquer the 20th century by conquering the 19th. Eventually, the Western heroes will get help from Thor, Moondragon...and Hawkeye to stop the temporal tyrant.
They believe that this is not one of the anomalies. As such, they decide to take their time-craft and return to the sphinx. Only one problem. The time-craft is gone. As such, they're stuck in the past.
But enough about the Old West! Let's go the California coast of 1959! Captain Marvel and Wasp arrive, and get all dressed up for the occasion.
The two heroes find a newsstand and learned that there's going to be a 4th of July celebration at the local fairgrounds. And some bigwig muckamucks himself will be there, including one Richard Milhouse Nixon himself. Wasp figures that the anomaly may wind up involving him. The two head to the fairgrounds.
It does make sense that Nixon would be a target for something like this. In 1959, he was Vice President under Dwight D. Eisenhower, and preventing him from eventually becoming president would cause plenty of problems. For example, say he did not get to make his 1972 trip to China, which helped build diplomatic relations between the two nations. Or the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Someone overhears Wasp and mistakenly believes that she plans to kidnap Nixon to take him to China. The two Avengers make their way to the fairground where Nixon is at. Genis-Vell's Cosmic Awareness goes off, revealing that ol' Tricky Dick is actually a Skrull. The two come to a tent and slip into their costumes. And they have some company.
Meet the Avengers of the 1950s. Or as modern Marvel fans may know them as...the original Agents of Atlas. They actually are not in the past of the mainline Marvel Universe. They are in an alternate timeline, particularly in What If #9 (June 1978). That comic asked, "What if a group of 1950s-era heroes were the original Avengers?"
This was a pretty good issue. There's a nice balance of action and character stuff. Clint being a hothead, Yellowjacket being a philandering jerk, that kind of thing. I especially loved the story tying into actual Avengers history, continuity and history buff that I am. I got a good chuckle seeing Hawkeye geek out over being in the Old West. I was a fun little relatable moment. Another favorite bit of mine was seeing the future Avengers fighting the Martian Skorpsmen. It showed that even in this grim future, there were still Avengers fighting the good fight and trying to save what was left of humanity and Earth.
I do like Pacheco's art, but I will admit, something about his faces comes off a bit...off to me. I'm not sure why. But his faces are rather expressive.
If you want to read this yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2011 trade paperback Avengers Forever. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get vaccinated! Join me next time when we look at the beginnings of a Battlestar...
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