Look, if you're gonna pull a 'the power of friendship' type ending on me, you know it's gonna kick me in the feels. Jed MacKay fluffs it up a bit by having it more to do with the legacy of the Avengers and the nature of heroes, but it's basically the same thing, and it always, always gets me.
I still get the feeling that MacKay's run was truncated, which is a huge shame. There were so many other trials that they were meant to go through that we never got to see, and I'd have loved to have gotten the full story. That said, what we did get was always stellar, with great character work as well as a much bigger overarching story. Kang's a hard villain to get right, but MacKay's always made him just the right amount of arrogant that it rings true when he basically defeats himself.
The only thing in this volume I didn't like? That bloody Brian Bendis anniversary story. The guy just...cannot pay attention to any type of continuity to save his life. But I'm not letting that mar the enjoyment here. One of the best Avengers runs I've read in a very long time comes to a fitting, if shorter than I'd have liked, conclusion.
Sticks the landing pretty well. It’s arguably a little TOO neat and tidy. All the toys are put back in their boxes. The new elements are given credible reasons to disappear, maybe forever. It’s all satisfying, but it doesn’ fully distract from the feeling of the run being a bit short. This is orders of magnitude better than Jason Aaron’s run and that lasted for much longer. I gather that not everyone was as much of a fan of this run as I am, but I do think it speaks a bit more to the current state of the industry than it does this run’s merits.
Again, I think this is the best Avengers I have read since Hickman’s. In some ways, it felt like a direct follow up. I suspect it may come to be more appreciated in hindsight.
This series just never reached more than OK status for me. This is probably the first Jed MacKay series I haven't loved. All the stuff with Kang ends like you'd expect with no surprises. The character designs for the Twilight Court are really dumb looking. Not sure who designed those but there's way too much goofy head wear going on. And it look like we are getting a several month break from the Avengers until Armageddon starts up.
I’m glad it’s over. This is the least of Mackay’s work and will go down as a forgettable run after Jason Aaron’s lamentable one. Hopefully Chip Zdarsky can ignite a new era with Armageddon and get us back to something like the Bendis days. Here’s hoping.