Avengers #690

By Mark Waid, Al Ewing, Jim Zub, Pepe Larraz and David Curiel

Avengers #690 wraps up the weekly No Surrender storyline. It’s hard to judge this recent series without talking about the format of a weekly comic. It’s actually been pretty cool having the issue coming out every Wednesday, and replacing all of the current monthly Avengers titles in the process. For fans who were a little leery about going with a weekly book, this should quash your hesitation. It’s almost like this was a television show and every Wednesday you would get your newest fix. Having said that, we’ve reached the final installment and many of the loose ends need to be tied up before we can move on to another Avengers team and relaunch.

This is just the wrap up issue that sets everything up for the books moving forward. Zub, Waid and Ewing touch on all the major storylines that went on throughout the series, the most interesting one is where Sunspot will be heading. The writers leave many ambiguous plot points, like what happened to Quicksilver and what will Voyager’s next move be. One element of the book that ties into Civil War II is the conversation between Hawkeye and Bruce. The writers leave this open and we’re still not really sure what will come next for either of these characters. The great thing about this issue is that it answers some questions, but leaves us with many more. There are exciting things coming for many of these characters, and as a reader and a fan, we want to know where they’re going. The writers have done a great job with this series overall, and should have piqued your interest enough in what will be happening next for Earth’s mightiest heroes.

The pencils by Pepe Larraz are spectacular. He has been great on this book and this issue solidifies the serious talent that he has. If there was one scene that shows that Larraz has the chops to be a top level talent, it’s the panels between Clint and Bruce. These panels show a bunch of facial expressions as the two discuss how Clint Killed Bruce during Civil War II. We see anger, hurt, pain and remorse all in the span of 2 pages. Larraz also shows great attention to detail in panels where Toni works on getting Vision up and running. The rivets in his arm or the little markings on his head are all very well done. The colors by David Curiel also really enhance this issue. He can go from dark and moody, the epilogue, or bright and hopeful, panels where Wasp hugs Jarvis as he returns to the mansion. There is also a really great panel where Synapse is talking with Wanda and Doctor Vodoo and there is an awesome red sky in the background.

While this was a set up issue for the new series that will be hitting shelves soon, it did raise some interesting questions about where characters are going and what they’ll do next. As a whole, No Surrender was a great success and a joy to read. Top shelf art and a great story make this another classic Avengers story.