Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Avengers / Invaders #12 (of 12)

Usually, when you reach the end of a maxi-series like this, it's exciting to see how it all works out.

But not this time. We, the reader, have known for months how it was all going to wrap up, since everyone's favorite miracle machine, the Cosmic Cube, is involved.

Which is not to say that they didn't manage a surprise or two in there (and corrected a long-standing mistake by bringing back a character killed off poorly decades ago).

But those surprises weren't enough to make up for the incredible mediocrity of this series, which could have been told in four issues, but instead was dragged out to an even dozen.

And this is a series I looked forward to when it was first announced. Combining the modern Avengers with the World War II super-team, the Invaders, was a terrific idea - but one executed badly.

The series features some great covers by the excellent Alex Ross, and the interior art by Steve Sadowski and Jack Herbert has some good moments, but it can't make up for a story that's just loaded with sour notes, poor characterization and obvious plot turns.

The series succeeded in getting me to buy a copy of every issue, but that's just because I wanted to see if the story would ever turn things around and bring back the heroes I enjoyed reading so many years ago.

As it turns out, it didn't. Shows what I know!

Grade: C-

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