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Avengers Invaders #4

Posted: Friday, August 8, 2008
By: Ray Tate

Alex Ross & Jim Krueger
Steve Sadowski, Inlight Studios (c)
Marvel Comics
For the good of mankind, SHIELD scientists intend to dissect Toro, the first mutant. Iron Nazi admits nothing that would ease the Invaders' minds and instead sends armies of LMDs to attack Captain America. Bucky sees the ghost of future past, and a new player with an interesting history enters the arena. Ares, the Greek god of war, intends to kill Wolverine, Iron Fist and really just anybody in his way. Remember the good ol' days when the noble Thor was a charter member? Prove to me that this cosmos isn't really one of Marvel's parallel universes. I dare you.

Ross and Krueger continue to portray Tony Stark as an extraordinarily inept dictator. Either that, or maybe he's on the sauce again. Stark no longer can tell the difference between right and wrong. He also will do whatever it takes to preserve his position of power. Oh, he claims that he's preserving history, but really who can believe that? The dude's lost all credibility.

Even his zaftig martinet Ms. Marvel is smart enough to know what will end the fight:

"Reach out to him as a friend, Tony. It's the only way."

Tony Stark, though, no longer has friends. Villains only can have temporary allies. How long before the Avengers begin to stab him in the back like the false Feds do for routine advancement in the mirror universe of Star Trek?

The resistance, also calling themselves the Avengers, attempts to rescue the Invaders, and this finally gives the fascists somebody they can hit. I've never seen these alleged "heroes" acting so bellicose. Their utterly ludicrous personalities, so wonderfully over the top and evil, make them a joy to experience.

With great evil comes great stupidity. If you look closely at Steve Sadowski's lovely drawings, you'll notice that the Avengers really behave in a clumsy fashion against the resistance and that they will clearly lose the battle. The wannabe Superman in the blue cape for instance aims himself at Iron Fist, and he misses! That made me laugh out loud. If you want to imitate Superman, you should be able to at the very least tag a super-hero who wears slippers. Ares tries to use a sword on Wolverine's claws. Unbreakable adamantinum claws, but Ares tries a sword anyway. When you think about it, the only smart people Iron Man appears to have working for him is the Black Widow, and even she's not at her best. How on this alternate earth did he get so far?

Sadowski's illustrations aren't just potent in the fight scenes. The Washington D.C. architecture is detailed and looks accurate. He embodies frustration to a sword in the stone scene. The scientists wanting to perform a live autopsy on Toro maintain a certain detachment. The flame on moments impress as does the evocation of another golden age hero.



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