Back in 1972, a ragtag group of vigilantes battled the ancient
Deathwalkers in a campaign to prevent the apocalypse. Decades later, the
Deathwalkers are back and they’ve kidnapped the vampire hunter Blade in order
to perform a ritual to put an end to humanity. Luke Cage and his Avengers must
uncover secrets from the past in order to save the world.
Mighty Avengers Volume 3:
Original Sin – Not Your Father’s Avengers collects issues 11-14 of Mighty Avengers, written by Al Ewing and
illustrated by Greg Land and Salvador Larroca.
This volume of Mighty Avengers is
told through a combination of flashbacks and present day action. The first couple
of issues is set primarily in 1972 and details the adventures of a ragtag band
of Avengers as they battle the Deathwalkers. These Avengers reveal themselves
to the current ones in order to rescue their one-time teammate Blade from their
ancient foes. The second half of this arc kicks off with a rather impressive
battle against the mystical Deathwalkers.
Despite being a tie-in to Original
Sin, it’s clear that the Mighty Avengers’ conflict with the Deathwalkers
had been planned for quite some time. The seeds of this arc had been planted in
the first volume and began to grow towards the end of the second. Ewing does a
great job fleshing out the ‘70s-set characters in the flashbacks, giving each
one a distinctive tone and purpose. Unfortunately, Ewing seems to drop his
present-day characters in the process. Spectrum and co. are all but relegated
to bit-parts, utilized only marginally in the final fight against the
Deathwalkers. This is especially unsatisfying considering how short this arc is
(a measly four issues).
Land returns as the primary artist for the first two issues, while
Salvador Larroca hops on board for the last two. Neither artist impresses me
much. Land continues to offer his familiar style of “realistic” faces and
unrealistic body proportions to readers. If I’m being fair, Land does do some
decent work here. The male characters look pretty great and the character of
Constance Molina doesn’t suffer from his dubious porn face syndrome. Still,
there’s a rather deplorable shot of the Bear – a blond-haired female member of
the ‘70s Mighty Avengers – where her waist looks to be about ten inches and her
breasts a whopping E-cup. Larroca’s art, however, is far worse than Land’s. It’s
rough and portrays the characters in a rather harsh light. The musculature of
the women is rather disturbing and the faces of just about everyone look overly
aggressive. Though Larroca was one a promising artist circa 2001 when he was on
X-Treme X-Men, his work since then
has been lacking in quality and consistency.
Despite being a relatively fun read, Mighty Avengers Volume 3: Original Sin – Not Your Father’s Avengers lacks
the qualities of a good concluding arc for a series. Ewing loses his way early
on, largely due to the flashbacks, and never quite manages to pull the focus
back to the characters he’d spent 10 issues developing. To make matters worse,
the art is inconsistent and often cringe-worthy. There still is quite a bit to
like – such as the inclusion of Blade in the cast, the expansion of Power Man’s
abilities and the mystical unification of the Avengers that helps defeat the
Deathwalkers – but ultimately Ewing failed to pace out his arc well enough. The
flashback sequences should have been shortened and the focus should have swung
back to the present Mighty Avengers, returning the spotlight to Blue Marvel,
Luke Cage et al. Thankfully, Ewing was given the chance to continue his work
with Captain America and the Mighty
Avengers and The Ultimates.
RATING: C+
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