Avengers Undercover #10

By: Dennis Hopeless (Writer), Tigh Walker (Artist), Jean-Francois Beaulieu (Color Artist), VC’s Joe Caramagna (Letterer), Francesco Mattina (Cover Artist)

The Story: The Undercover Avengers finally expose themselves.

The Review: Let’s assume it’s Cammi on the cover of the issue, as she is wearing Cammi’s outfit despite having a different facial type and is holding an apple for some reason that’s probably metaphorical but escapes me. Let’s also assume this because Cammi becomes the breakout star of this already-stellar issue.

The normal device of using a singular character’s voice as a narrator is completely abandoned at this point, in favor of a more simple, straight-forward portrayal of our story. It’s the wrap-up of what’s been happening from the beginning of Avengers Arena in 2012, and nearly every story beat that we’ve been hoping for has by now been addressed, and there’s even room for some set-up for more.

The young heroes get a great send-off, as most are genuinely in better positions from where they had started. We can breathe a sigh of relief that our heroes have gone through their gauntlet and are now safe, but most of this is implicit and in the background of the story. After all, most of them had their individual denouement in previous issues, leaving Cammi to take the spotlight here. This unfortunately comes off as more of surprise than a fulfillment of suspense, since her subplot had taken the back-burner for most of the series, but we can accept her being the deus-ex-machina here (actually, in a very literal sense) because her display of power is so spectacular and genuinely wins the day in a well-spoken heroic declaration. Connect this with her previous portrayals (with her mom, and by being arguably the leader of the Avengers Undercover) and there’s some deep respect for Cammi by the writer. As a reader, my only disappointment is that she failed to be so  visible in latter issues.

We also get the answer to some mysteries plaguing the series so far, such as Arcade’s ultimate fate (he makes a great comic foil for the seriousness around him) and Coriander, who’s been the unknown Cabal member teased as far back as issue 7. It’s to the book’s credit, though, that Baron Zemo really shines as the antagonist. He comes across as more than a stereotypical villain here, and is in fact more in line with his pseudo-heroic version of the Thunderbolts. His use of SHIELD resources was not to simply take over the world but to offer the world an opportunity to save itself, asking “who is the real villain here?” This also casts his entire Cabal in a different light– after all, Constrictor, Masque, and Hellstrom have all toyed with that line between villain and antihero, so perhaps the writer has struck upon a new iteration of the concept of a villain team and we never realized it until now.

There’s so much to talk about the plot and character development because there’s so much good stuff going on with plot and character development. Not so much can be said about the art. Once again,Tigh Walker provides us some basic art that nevertheless shows a few flaws. There are some quite demanding sequences, especially when there’s a cast of dozens that must navigate the layouts, and when Giant-Man threatens to throw off the size relationships of the same panels. What’s more disappointing, however, is when the art fails to support what’s going on in the scene– the citizens of the world exhibit the most calm behaviour for a world-takeover that I’ve ever seen. If someone ever tries to swipe my phone’s screen while I’m looking at it, I immediately switch into full-on Mr. Hyde-mode, but here people lounge at the cafe and Abigail Brand eats a donut in SWORD headquarters. Similarly, but not as significantly, I wonder if there’s a disconnect in the final scene, which takes place in “some stupid lake somewhere” but has the heroes barbecuing legs of meat usually reserved for the opening sequence of the Flintstones.

In terms of craft, too, the characters too often slip off-model, with lines filling faces in ways you don’t expect in portraiture, and is at least one sequence that doesn’t work– When Arcade comes bounding in at one point, his dialogue reads from left-to-right, but his movement is depicted as right-to-left. And you’d almost think that Arcade was hoisted by his own petard, so to speak, at the end, left in a deathtrap in the final page, because it’s too hard to tell if he’s strapped to the back or front of the Helicarrier until the last panel. Which, to be fair, is a *hilarious* illustration. And perhaps fitting, as it’s often how the readers have felt when experiencing the roller coaster experience of the book overall.

The Bottom Line: It’s a bittersweet farewell to a great series– there’s enough action, reveals, and  character moments to be a satisfying cap to the story, despite the feeling that the plot/subplot structure could have been smoother and that there could have been more significant moments for all our players spread around. There’s nothing left lingering here, except the wish for more. Marvel may have taken a chance with a series like this from its start as Arena, but it was a gamble well-taken, because it’s surely to go down as one of my favorite series.

The Grade: A-

-Danny Wall