One Minute to Impact: New Avengers #14


PREVIOUSLY ON NEW AVENGERS

Having taken over every copy of Dum Dum Dugan’s LMD body, Agent Garrett confronts and traps Songbird (Da Costa’s triple agent), after revealing the Da Costa himself is going to apparently die. She manages to get a signal out to Roberto, who sends Max Brashear, Power Man and Cannonball to get her. Meanwhile Toni Ho connects with Pod and Pod’s operator, Aiko Jokkinen – which gets interrupted by the New Revengers attack led by Maker, a.k.a. Ultimate Reed Richards (he comes in slices!).

NEW AVENGERS #14

Well, it finally happened. New Avengers shed whatever connection it had to Civil War II and became a tie-in in name only, or a "red skies crossover," as it’s called in the comic industry. The term comes from the days of DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths which was advertised as having an effect on every title published by DC at the time. Really what it meant was that for many of those issues, their only connection to the main event were red skies on the horizon.

What this means is Ewing can for the most part ignore Civil War II and focus on giving his title as explosive a finale as possible. The downside is that, this being the halfway point that’s primarily focused on Maker’s assault on A.I.M.’s Savage Lands base, this isn’t an issue that provides much to talk about.


The other, smaller portion of the issue is devoted to the Songbird rescue mission. As Max Brashear, Power Man and Cannonball reach her, we learn that she did reveal the location of the A.I.M. base (being connected to a polygraph and threatened to be shot in the head for lying does that to people); but if I’m being honest, with the mastermind record Roberto has by now, I don’t think she knew the actual location. So I don’t think that missile Agent Garrett fires from the helicarrier will actually end up anywhere near the base.

I don’t particularly expect (though I could be wrong) that Ulysses’s vision of Roberto’s funeral that we learned of last issue to actually mean that he’ll die by the series’ end. Considering our underdeveloped Inhuman clairvoyant friend only saw his funeral, not his death, I fully expect everyone to hold a fake ceremony and thus cheat "fate."

Thankfully, the chemistry between Vic and Max is fantastic enough that the portion doesn’t feel like a waste of time. The Stealth Zero sequence is terrific and I loved how Paco Medina presented Vic gaining power from the helicarrier’s history.


But let’s get back to the main portion of the issue. We finally get snippets of backstory on each member of the New Revengers, that give us some understanding on them while still leaving their individual histories shrouded in mystery. That’s probably for the best; they pretty much serve as a means for Maker to make his move. The only one of them that really matters is Angela del Toro, the former White Tiger resurrected by the evil ninjas of the Hand, who confronts the current bearer of this title, Ava Ayala. After their last confrontation Angela has the power of tiger gods from two universes, while Ava only has her martial arts skills. This means that she can be killed with one hit. However...


That’s my girl.

Elsewhere, Maker reveals the reason for his assault on A.I.M., and why it’s currently for the most part bloodless. Basically, every law of physics is different from what he is used to in his dead universe. Just a bit, but eventually this adds up to a difference he can’t overcome. So he needs to build a machine to solve his problem, and for that he needs scientific minds of this world. Thus, the takeover of A.I.M. that he prepared for so long, after months of successful surveillance with...


Oh, I love Roberto so much. He’s like an actually fun and super-powered Tony Stark.

This means A.I.M. could prepare for the attack – including a hidden toy Toni built for this occasion.


Her grandpa, Ho Yinsen, would be proud.

Meanwhile Roberto is trapped in mission control by Maker’s AI, O.M.N.I.T.R.O.N.I.C.U.S., which has turned the entire room into a trap filled with weaponry that it then starts firing. Let me repeat that. It trapped a graduate of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters – which has a Danger Room as its training course – in a room filled with weaponry that it then starts firing. There’s many ways to call a situation like this. The New Mutants call it…


Unfortunately, Roberto’s showing off gets interrupted by his M-Pox symptoms and he gets shot at with a stun ray. Another one and he’ll be toast.

And that’s when his former New Mutants teammate Warlock shows up.


Like I said, there isn’t a lot to discuss this issue – but it’s still a well-crafted part of what promises to be the book’s grand finale. There are many great character moments, the exposition is handled deftly, and I’ve even grown to like Paco Medina’s art. We’ll continue the explosive final arc next month, along with the Ultimates.

Dominik Zine is a nerdy lad from northeastern Poland and is generally found in a comfy chair with a book in hand.