Mighty Avengers #13

Writer – Al Ewing
Artist – Salvador Larroca
Colours – Matt Milla

After capturing Blade, the Deathwalkers now have all they need to complete their ritual – his blood!  So it is now up to the Mighty Avengers, both the present team and that from the past, to come together so that they might face down the threat of the Deathwalkers, the were-beasts and to rescue Blade before all hell breaks loose on Earth.  Al Ewing does a great job scripting this completely underrated Avengers book, merging the two storylines from the past few issues into one major confrontation.  It is not too often that anyone bothers to play in Marvel’s mystical sandbox and having a team of Avengers do so is a little strange, but highly welcome.  Having Blade join the team is still one of the best ideas Ewing has had on the book, not to mention the rest of the fantastic roster which includes White Tiger and the Blue Marvel.  He could have gone the safe route and just picked up the members that nobody else was using, but instead has delivered a book that maybe was not wholly original in concept, has been flawless in execution.  It can always be counted on for a ton of action, some dramatic moments and even a little comedy sprinkled throughout making it one of the best-rounded Avengers books out there.  The big bad of the book, the Deathwalkers, are a great bunch of villains and it is wonderful to see them giving the team a run for their money.  The new Power Man is still kind of lame, but is actually starting to get a bit more interesting as his power-set is explored.  With some vibrant artwork from Salvador Larroca and Matt Milla, this issue hit all the right buttons and ended on a great cliff-hanger.

4 out of 5

Inhuman #3

Writer – Charles Soule
Artist – Joe Madureira
Colours – Marte Gracia

Lash has just brought his newest recruit to Orollan, the other city of Inhumans, and starts to indoctrinate him against Black Bolt and their ways.  Back on Attilan, Lineage has a message for Medusa about a threat that will take all of the Inhumans to battle it.  That includes everyone from Attilan as well as Orollan.  So it is that Medusa and her team head over to Orollan to either ask for help or to take it.  Prolific writer, Charles Soule, tasked with taking the reins of the book after Matt Fraction departed it, has been doing a great job.  It is a little sad that it has taken so long for the issues to come out as it really killed the momentum the book might have had, but it has still turned out to be quite a fun issue with Medusa showing everyone what it means to be a Queen.  Some of the new Inhumans are interesting, Inferno for one, but it would be nice to see a little more focus on the original crew as they are the ones most people are familiar with, as well as being exceptionally cool.  Joe Madureira’s art is its usual polished self and looks fantastic, especially his depictions of Medusa with her hair all over the place.  Fun stuff and with the next book scheduled to ship soon, hopefully it can keep it up.

3.5 out of 5