It's that time again! It's time to join Earth's Mightiest Heroes in their battle against Immortus! Last time, our heroes battled in certain points in time, and made a shocking discovery about a minor villain from their early days. They decided to take the fight to Immortus himself! So, how did that go down? Let's find out in Avengers Forever #7!
The cover is a Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino piece. It's pretty cool, depicting our ragtag Avengers making their way through what appears to be a medieval castle. Yellowjacket's pose makes me chuckle, though.
"Into a Limbo Large and Broad..."
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 Avengers building a big gizmo.
Page 1, Panel 3
The device was created from one of Kang's chronospheres. It's meant to allow the Avengers to penetrate the dimension of Limbo, where Immortus has his stronghold. Before the Avengers begin their journey, Genis-Vell tells Rick Jones to stay in the Time-Sphinx. This is important, hold on to it for later.
The Avengers fly through the timestream, witnessing various events of their past, in particular the relationship between the Vision and the android hero of the 1940s known as James "Jim" Hammond, aka the Original Human Torch. During their travels, they notice another strange moment.
Page 4, Panel 4
This appears to be a "missing" adventure from the Avengers' early days, possibly in another timeline. Eventually our heroes arrive at Immortus's stronghold.
Page 5, Panels 3-5
Yeah, because of the properties of this dimension, Immortus's stronghold constantly changes appearance. Limbo is weird.
The Avengers arrive at the stronghold, and it proceeds to mess them up.
Page 7, Panel 2
Did I mention that Limbo is weird? Okay, good. The stronghold is trying to disorient and separate our ragtag Avengers. And it's very successful at it. Hawkeye finds himself in a gallery full of statues of himself in various costumes...and encounters a very angry Tempus. Captain America finds himself in what looks like a medieval castle, where he encounters a old friend.
Page 9, Panel 1
Nick Fury, as he appeared when he fought with the Howling Commandos in WWII. The two talk and Fury convinces Cap that maybe the war is over for him. The Wasp finds herself in a building that would make M.C. Escher proud. She's being blown by gale-force winds. Hank Pym calls out to her, telling her to follow his voice. She tries to, but then seems to hear Hank everywhere.
Page 10, Panel 3
The dialogue you hear from Hank in all those bubbles is actual dialogue Hank has said in previous Avengers issues. Pretty cool, huh? Next, we look in on Yellowjacket. He finds himself in a room full of monitors similar to the Time-Sphinx. Keep in mind, at this point in history, Yellowjacket is utterly unaware that he is Hank Pym. The monitors reveal that he is Pym, showing images of his future trial and arrest for treason. Yellowjacket is determined to prevent that from happening, as he doesn't want to return to a future of misery and failure, in his own words.
Songbird finds herself surrounded by darkness. The only light is a spotlight pointing directly down at her. The voice of a judge is heard. Melissa Gold was once a runaway, and a supercriminal. She seeks redemption and freedom from her guilt as an Avenger. The judge states that despite that, she cannot escape her past. The "judge" is revealed.
Page 12, Panel 1
These are people from her past. Her boyfriend MACH-1, her former teammates in the Grapplers, her former partner in crime Angar the Screamer, her parents. The figures taunt her, saying she abandoned her, couldn't be a good child, etc. Melissa screams that she tried to please them, tried to be what they wanted her to be. Genis-Vell is also there, and he tries to get her to see this is Limbo manipulating her fears and regrets.
Back at the Time-Sphinx, Rick Jones notices that the craft's scanners can't read Limbo. It's left him worried if the Avengers are alright. He decides "Screw this, I'm going to go help out", despite Genis-Vell warning him to stay in the sphinx. Speaking of Genis, he was able to snap Songbird out of it with a kiss. Meanwhile, Hawkeye fights and is able to defeat Tempus.
In the medieval castle area, Cap and Fury continue their talk, Fury shifting into his appearance as a CIA agent in the 50s, and then in the uniform he wore when he became the director of SHIELD. He tries to convince Cap to give up, as it seems that the battles they fought never seem to end anything. The Nazis, HYDRA, AIM, the Secret Empire. Defeat one evil, and a new one always seems to take its place. Cap realizes that this was an attempt to play on his doubts. Remember, Cap had just recently endured the events of the first Secret Empire story, and it left him rather demoralized. But the Sentinel of Liberty refuses to quit, as he believes those battles did matter. He busts out, observed by Libra. Give 'em heck, Cap!
We go back to Songbird and Genis. Why did the Kree Avenger kiss the former villainess? Well, Genis wanted to jolt Songbird to reality, but he let his feelings get the better of him. You see, he comes from a point in time after Songbird's, where the two were a couple.
Yeah. It's here that the Avengers regroup, with Immortus sending his Time Army after them, a force filled with warriors throughout history, from angry cavemen to post-apocalyptic cyborgs looking like Eddie straight out of the Somewhere in Time album.
Seriously, why has there never been a comic book that has been inspired by this? What, do I have to write it?! Iron Maiden, call me! Let's talk about this! This album cover needs to be a comic book! Anyway, the Avengers are forced to retreat, reluctantly leaving Yellowjacket behind.
The group find that Rick Jones has, well...up and wandered off, much to Genis's frustration. It seems he was hoping to prevent something. Huh. Anyway, the story ends with Yellowjacket and Immortus making a deal: Yellowjacket helps him destroy the Avengers, and Immortus remakes history so he never reverts to Hank Pym.
I liked this issue, (It's Kurt Busiek on Avengers, how could I not) but I did get the feeling not a lot was going on. Maybe it was because the previous issue was a bit more action-packed. Still, I loved the call-backs to past Avengers storylines, and there's a bit of subtle foreshadowing with the Avengers going through the time-stream. Yellowjacket betraying the others did make sense to me. After all, it fits him. Keep in mind, at this point in his history, he's basically a cocky jerk version of Hank Pym who is utterly unaware that he's Hank Pym. Considering what happened to the man afterwards in the comics, it is understandable why he betrays the other Avengers. Still a jerk, but yeah.
This issue did make me wish that George Perez was drawing it. I like Pacheco's art fine, but this is clearly a story made for George Perez to draw.
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