Weakened by the absence of Iron Man, but with the Black Widow on board, Earth's Mightiest Heroes take to space this time to deal with an intergalactic threat. Is Starmark really that dangerous?
Every planet must defend itself
Since the dawn of time, our Earth has been exposed to numerous threats from space. So the planet attracted a meteorite that carried great power in the form of Starmark. Each creature endowed with it gained supernatural abilities, allowing it to fight even with the strongest enemies. One of the dinosaurs became the first defender. Then this gift, and at the same time a curse, changed its bearers. Although little heard of in recent years, it has awakened somewhere in the galaxy and immediately caught the attention of Galactus’ former heralds, Shi’ar guardians, and the Avengers. So everyone set out to look for him, having completely different intentions towards the new owner. Who will emerge victorious from this battle? And who will the new Starbrand turn out to be?
Cosmic chaos
The sixth book in the Avengers seriesby Jason Aaron gives us exactly what the screenwriter has already accustomed us to. There is a lot of action and fighting, events are fast-paced, there is a pinch of humor, but the story also has a large dose of chaos. As in the previous volumes, here too we go back to prehistoric times to learn about a broader spectrum of events from the present. Once again, the plot is engaging and hard to comment on. It’s worse when we move to modern superhero adventures. The main problem here seems to be too many of Aaron’s ideas told in too few pages. The creator does not have the space to properly develop and present everything, but he also does not want to reject anything and thus creates too much confusion. Just ideas for the fight between Ghost Rider and Silver Surfer.
Tidying up
As far as the Avengers scenario. Return of the Starmarkcould be much better, the graphics are really good and it’s hard to have any comments here. Ed McGuiness is responsible for the drawings, assisted in his work by, among others, Andrea Sorrentino and Paco Medina. We get a solid portion of the classic superhero genre here. The artists did not mess with the characters too much and presented them in a well-known and liked way. Noteworthy, however, are the new elements of their wardrobe – such as the special armors of She-Hulk and Black Widow, which look really epic. Also the transformed Thor or Captain Marvel with a burning head are quite impressive. The paradise garden from millions of years ago is also beautiful. Praise is also due to the fact that, despite the fast-paced action, the cartoonists keep up with the events, at least a little eliminating the chaos introduced by the screenwriter.
Is it worth going into space with the Avengers?
Although at the beginning of Avengers. Return of the Starbrand contains a brief summary of the events of the previous volumes (thanks Egmont!), but it will still be difficult for you to start reading the adventures of the Avengers group from volume 6. It is theoretically possible to read the comic as a single issue. The adventure has its beginning, development and conclusion here, but in practice it will not be possible to capture all the references to the events presented so far. In addition, there is a large disorder introduced by the author, which may discourage the series even more. What attracts, however, is the graphic design, which is really worthy of praise.
