All-New, All-Different Avengers #8

Writer – Mark Waid
Artist – Adam Kubert
Colours – Sonia Oback, Edgar Delgado, Israel Silva
Letters – VC’s Cory Petit

Mark Waid and Adam Kubert take us on a quick excursion to Pleasant Hill where things are not exactly as they seem. The Avengers have just come to realize that as they have recently awoken from their carefully crafted lives as citizens of said town. Now that they are awake, both the All-New, All-Different team and the Unity Squad, they want some answers before Kobik comes to put them to sleep again and the best place to look would be to the various Maria Hills that have brought them here. What is soon apparent is that Maria Hill is not herself either and that they are also surrounded by a ton of villains looking to put the hurt on them. Waid writes a fun story, one that fits into the rest of the crossover currently taking place quite perfectly. For the most part, this latest event has been pretty good, but at the same time, almost like a tale that could have been told with fewer issues, instead being dragged out for the sake of padding out a collection later on. In the context of this run, this book has nothing to do with what came previously and for the moment, it is unknown if any of it will carry over later on. More than anything, it just seems like an inconvenience to Waid and to the readers who might not be buying any of the other books to the series. One thing that can be gleaned out of everything that happened out of the series and this issue in particular is that S.H.I.E.L.D. will never be the same after this, especially Maria Hill. After all is said and done, she may have enacted one too many covert plans and if the newly-invigorated Steve Rogers has anything to say about it, Pleasant Hill might be her last. As a whole, the book was enjoyable and even though the heroes that star in this book essentially took a backseat to everyone else, they still had a few moments to shine here and there. Surprising to see was Deadpool being the key character in the issue and essentially saving the day.  Good story and great art by Adam Kubert make this book a win by any standard.

3.5 out of 5

Hercules #6

Writer – Dan Abnett
Artist – Goran Sudzuka, Dalibor Talajic
Colours – GURU-eFX
Letters – Joe Sabino

The latest series starring everyone’s favourite Olympian god comes to an end and it does so on a dour note. After the thrilling events of last issue, Dan Abnett and fill-in artists Goran Sudzuka and Dalibor Talajic turn the dial down a lot and deliver a character portrait about our hero and while it was not essentially bad by any means, it was a bit of a letdown compared to the last five issues. After the battle with the Storm, specifically Cryptomnesia and Catastrophobia, Hercules, Gilgamesh, Ire and the rest of the gang decide to take a little downtime to celebrate their victory. So they sit down, have a little Ragu and a little conversation after which, Hercules has a chat with his old friend Iron Man. Hercules has been reaching out to his friends of late, just trying to reconnect and though it is good to see Tony again, what he says to Hercules is perhaps a little more sobering than he would like which then leads to the end of the book and an uncertain future. The best thing about that particular ending is that it is not the end of the story as Herc will return in another miniseries, to tie everything up one would guess. What was quite the bummer about this issue was the fact that the series was not only cancelled, but Abnett did not have the time to end the story within the book itself. It is a shame too, as the story was quite good, the artwork top-notch and this interpretation of Hercules different than the norm. Again, while the book was good in a sense, it would have been nice to see it go out on a high note instead the way it did.

3 out of 5