PANELOLOGY
By Sean McQuaid

AVENGERS FOREVER #2

On sitting down to write this review of Avengers Forever # 2, I realized the biggest drawback of reviewing a single-story limited series: it's like reviewing every chapter of a book, as opposed to just reviewing the entire book. Your view of the early chapters changes as you see how they feed into the later chapters, for one thing; and more importantly, you run the risk of rampant repetition if you devote too much attention to elements the various chapters have in common. As such, this review of Avengers Forever # 2 will be inevitably shorter than my review of the previous issue since they share certain things in common: a well-paced, well-researched but acessible action-adventure epic story with intriguing mysteries aplenty, courtesy of Kurt Busiek; and expressive, imaginative, well-referenced and conscientiously detailed art by Carlos Pacheco. In short, the creative team on this book continues to impress.

For those of you just tuning in, Avengers Forever is shaping up to be one of those sweeping cosmic epics that suit the Avengers so well. In a conflict that an observer from the future refers to as "The Destiny War", rival powers battle to determine the fate of Avengers associate Rick Jones-- and in so doing, supposedly determine the fate of all humanity. On one side of the conflict, old Avengers foe Immortus--self-styled guardian of the timestream--plots to kill Jones, ostensibly to safeguard the future. On the other side of the conflict, claiming that Jones must be protected for the sake of humanity's future, are three more old Avengers foes: the Supreme Intelligence, a ruthless alien computer entity who meddles in Earth's evolution out of scientific curiosity; Libra (the hooded mystery man from last issue), longtime terrorist turned scholarly agent of cosmic equilibrium; and Kang, the time-spanning warlord who is actually a younger past incarnation of Immortus, determined to thwart the ambitions of his future counterpart for reasons of his own.

To aid their cause, the pro-Jones forces recruit seven Avengers from various time periods to protect Jones--seven Avengers who, according to Libra, represent the proper "balance" of elements necessary to combat the cosmic imbalance threatened by Immortus. The resultant Avengers roster is a very eclectic mixture, even by Avengers standards: roughly present-day incarnations of Giant-Man and the Wasp; past incarnations of Yellowjacket (the present-day Giant-Man), Hawkeye and Captain America from years ago; and two Avengers from the future who have yet to join the team in the present, wanted criminal Songbird and ne'er-do-well adventurer Genis-Vell, who has assumed his late father Mar-Vell's legendary Captain Marvel guise.

How these characters represent balance remains unknown as of yet-- that being one of many intriguing mysteries Busiek folds into the story--but some possibilities are apparent. Wasp, as a commanding figure from the present, seems like the balance between past and future Avengers, as well as an element of stability that offsets the madness, insecurity, uncertainty and immaturity represented by the six other Avengers. At the same time, Wasp and the six other Avengers each seem to inidividually represent aspects of balance and transition in various ways: the contrast between Wasp's childish younger self and the mature fighter she is today; a mad young daredevil Hank Pym (Yellowjacket) paired with an older, saner but more uncertain Hank Pym (Giant-Man); a new prodigal Captain Marvel who, like Wasp, represents a progression from childhood to maturity; Songbird, a reformed career criminal who represents a transition from good to evil; Hawkeye, plucked from a moment in time when he was at a crossroads, abandoning his brief role as a superhuman powerhouse (Goliath) for his more traditional role as a human swashbuckler; and Captain America, taken from a time when he was at an even more momentous crossroads, on the verge of renouncing his heroic calling in despair--a Captain America at the peak of his strength (he was superhumanly strong during this period in history), but weaker than he'd ever been before on an emotional level. Strength and weakness, faith and disillusionment--this is a more "balanced" Captain America than the usual upstanding icon we're used to seeing.

Hardcore Avengers fans Busiek and Pacheco are giving us a series steeped in Avengers history, and their clever incorporation of that history is nowhere more apparent than in the Avengers selected for starring roles. We have Rick Jones, the honorary Avenger largely responsible for founding the team--an appropriate participant in an epic that spans Avengers history. We have a present-day Wasp, an excellent choice since she's one of the key Avengers who gets less attention in the current ongoing series, and was badly in need of some exploration (Busiek's work on the Wasp to date has seemed more like a caricaturish echo of her old flighty persona than anything else, but here he gives us a Wasp who better reflects the character's present-day maturity); even better, we get to see Wasp's long-neglected leadership qualities in action since she's the one natural leader in this ragtag assemblage. Giant-Man, another lesser-seen present-day Avenger, is also a nice choice--not just for the chance to explore his character, but also because of Busiek's brilliant decision to give us two Hank Pyms, the present-day Giant-Man and his past incarnation as Yellowjacket--more specifically, a Yellowjacket who was mentally unbalanced and totally uninhibited. Hank's darker days have seemed to be largely swept under the rug for years, but it looks like this series will be examining them in spades since the present-day Hank gets a chance to literally confront his past self in person. The Hawkeye Busiek uses is an attractive choice for two reasons--one being the fact that the scrappy, unpolished early Hawkeye is simply a fun character, the other being the selection of a Hawkeye in transition, a Hawkeye who's had a chance to play powerhouse but chose to return to a more human heroism.

Even Songbird and the new Captain Marvel, Avengers from the future, resonate with past Avengers history. Songbird is an old Avengers foe, a past member of the infamous Masters of Evil, and a current member of the heroic outlaws known as the Thunderbolts, a team led in the present by longtime Avengers member Hawkeye. Genis, the new Captain Marvel, is the son of the original Captain Marvel, one of the Avengers' most formidable and respected recurring allies, a legendary hero whom the Avengers declared an honorary member of their team when he died of cancer. Genis has fallen far short of his father's legacy in the present, but this future Captain Marvel indicates that Genis may yet grow into his father's legend. Characters and readers alike are encouraged to see Songbird and Genis on two levels, the characters they are today and the Avengers they may become in an undetermined future. It's an interesting dichotomy.

The mightiest master stroke of them all, though, is the inclusion of the 1974 Captain America. Captain America is the cornerstone of the Avengers--their greatest warrior, their natural leader, the core of their fighting spirit. As such, he tends to figure prominently in great Avengers epics, and this story is no exception. What is exceptional, though, is the fact that we're seeing a thoroughly disillusioned and demoralized Captain America, Cap as we was after his traumatic conflict with the Secret Empire in 1974 issues of Captain America, a conflict that ended with the Empire's leader revealing himself as a highly placed United States official (implied to be the President) and killing himself rather than face justice. Captain America was so shaken by this experience that he actually gave up his Cap identity for some time. The Avengers comics of the day paid relatively little attention to these events apart from Cap being absent from the team for the duration of the storyline, but now we have a chance to see how the Avengers function with a Captain America who, for once, is in no shape to serve as the backbone of the team, a Captain America at his lowest ebb. It's a clever casting choice on Busiek's part, and it serves the story well.

The story exudes Avengers lore apart from the Avengers themselves, too: the inclusion of old Avengers foes Kang, Immortus & Supreme Intelligence; the references to past storylines such as the Kree-Skrull War; the flashbacks to old Avengers foes the Zodiac, and the welcome resurrection of Zodiac's most intriguing member, Libra. Busiek even throws in a reference to Oort the Living Comet, an obscure minor villain from an old issue of Avengers West Coast. This is a tale filled to bursting with Avengers history, but as before Busiek applies it in such a way that newer readers can enjoy the basics of the story, too, even if they don't recognize all the superfluous details.

Apart from the high cover price and my continued fears regarding the extent to which this story might reveal aspects of the team's actual future, Avengers Forever continues to impress. After two most excellent issues, this is shaping up to be one of the best Avengers stories ever.