Written by, Mark Waid, Al Ewing, & Jim Zub
Art by, Kim Jacinto & Stefano Caselli
Colors by, David Curiel
Letters by, VC’s Cory Petit
Recap
Previously, The Grandmaster and The Challenger used the earth as a cosmic playing board. However, The Grandmaster cheated by planting his daughter, Voyager, on the playing field, which led to his victory. Defeated, The Challenger went to earth to destroy it. Most of earth’s heroes are held in stasis by The Grandmaster. Unless QuickSilver can catch the beacon that’s holding the heroes captive, Earth will be destroyed.
The story begins, earth is dying as earthquakes and natural disasters erupt all over the globe. Only Quicksilver can see the beacon that is holding earth’s heroes captive. However, even he isn’t fast enough to catch it. Bruce Banner, enraged by The Challenger’s destruction of earth, confronts him as The Hulk. A promising start ends with The Hulk on a trajectory off planet at the hands of The Challenger.
Meanwhile, the rest of the heroes devise a plan to fix the corrupted data entering the World Engine. The Grandmaster designed the World Engine to maintain earth’s delicate ecosystem; however, he now uses it to destroy the earth. Wanda aids Quicksilver in catching the beacon, which frees the heroes; however, Quicksilver’s survival is questionable.
The art in this issues enhances the epic feeling of the story throughout. For example, the Hulk’s off planet trip is beautiful if not deadly. The pacing of the story is quick. However, intrigue increases for the reader due to Quicksilver’s selfless pursuit of the beacon. I would recommend this story to fans of the Avengers and fans of these epic, hero-team, stories.
