Avengers: No Road Home #7 Review
Writers: Jim Zub, Mark Waid & Al Ewing
Artist: Paco Medina
Colourist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Thanks to Spectrum's capable leadership, the library Avengers find a way to follow Nyx into the Hyborian Age and keep fighting her.
Monica is handling the point of view this week, and that might be the best news this issue has to offer.
Conan's introduction to more Avengers goes as poorly as possible. He starts battle-axing would-be teammates when Wanda fails to make the necessary "these are friends" introductions.
How about Team Hulk? Their escape from Nightmare's Realm gets all of two pages. Hulk's obviously got a plan, but he forces Rocket and Clint and the readers to play along with a tiresome "let's go on a vacation" joke that's less satisfying than silence would be.
Visually, No Road Home #7 delivers excellent character art; the faces and poses are delightful throughout. But this issue, even more than previous ones, takes place in The Land Of No Backgrounds. There's a stiffness to a lot of the battle art, too - characters that look great on their own clonk together into frozen tableaux that don't quite convey action.
The colours work overtime to substitute for the mostly-absent settings, and a lot of high-intensity shades help sell the conflict. Scarlet Witch is at her scarlet-iest. Most impressively and importantly, Monica pulses in shades of icy blue light that develop into a close match for Nyx's colouration. This is Not An Accident.
That colour match brings me back, after picking a peck of nits, to this issue's strongest selling point: It's the Monica Rambeau show, and it is amazing because of that. Monica's leadership is impressively Machiavellian, and her manipulation of the plot is lashed tightly to superb character work going on in her inner monologue.
We probably have Al Ewing to thank for this, as Monica is picking up the strand of "am I still human?" angst she last explored in his Ultimates volumes. Here, she pushes it to frightening places even before diving into toe-to-toe combat with a vengeful night goddess.
The outstanding character spotlight is something of a double-edged sword. While it safeguards this issue against disappointment and is a joy to read, it also serves as a chilling reminder that Monica is a strong contender in this story's "somebody's gotta die" sweepstakes. I believe the odds are still tilted furthest toward Voyager or Hercules, but Spectrum falls just behind them. And this issue works all too well to remind us that losing her would be a tragedy.
No Road Home #7 ratchets the plot-gears forward with an artistic and narrative performance that flirts with disappointment. A complex, satisfying star turn by Monica Rambeau is the shining beacon that steers this issue safely onto solid "good comics" ground.
Artist: Paco Medina
Colourist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Thanks to Spectrum's capable leadership, the library Avengers find a way to follow Nyx into the Hyborian Age and keep fighting her.
Monica is handling the point of view this week, and that might be the best news this issue has to offer.
Conan's introduction to more Avengers goes as poorly as possible. He starts battle-axing would-be teammates when Wanda fails to make the necessary "these are friends" introductions.
How about Team Hulk? Their escape from Nightmare's Realm gets all of two pages. Hulk's obviously got a plan, but he forces Rocket and Clint and the readers to play along with a tiresome "let's go on a vacation" joke that's less satisfying than silence would be.
Visually, No Road Home #7 delivers excellent character art; the faces and poses are delightful throughout. But this issue, even more than previous ones, takes place in The Land Of No Backgrounds. There's a stiffness to a lot of the battle art, too - characters that look great on their own clonk together into frozen tableaux that don't quite convey action.
The colours work overtime to substitute for the mostly-absent settings, and a lot of high-intensity shades help sell the conflict. Scarlet Witch is at her scarlet-iest. Most impressively and importantly, Monica pulses in shades of icy blue light that develop into a close match for Nyx's colouration. This is Not An Accident.
That colour match brings me back, after picking a peck of nits, to this issue's strongest selling point: It's the Monica Rambeau show, and it is amazing because of that. Monica's leadership is impressively Machiavellian, and her manipulation of the plot is lashed tightly to superb character work going on in her inner monologue.
We probably have Al Ewing to thank for this, as Monica is picking up the strand of "am I still human?" angst she last explored in his Ultimates volumes. Here, she pushes it to frightening places even before diving into toe-to-toe combat with a vengeful night goddess.
The outstanding character spotlight is something of a double-edged sword. While it safeguards this issue against disappointment and is a joy to read, it also serves as a chilling reminder that Monica is a strong contender in this story's "somebody's gotta die" sweepstakes. I believe the odds are still tilted furthest toward Voyager or Hercules, but Spectrum falls just behind them. And this issue works all too well to remind us that losing her would be a tragedy.
No Road Home #7 ratchets the plot-gears forward with an artistic and narrative performance that flirts with disappointment. A complex, satisfying star turn by Monica Rambeau is the shining beacon that steers this issue safely onto solid "good comics" ground.
A Look Inside
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