Avengers by Jason Aaron vol. 11: History’s Mightiest Heroes

The Avengers have to go back in time… to save the future!  That’s the thrust of this volume as Mephisto begins his assault on the timestream to wipe out the one thing which stands in his way of multiversal domination:  The Avengers of One Million B.C.  So the Avengers of the Present Day have to stop the Lord of Lies and make it all the way back to then in order to reinforce their ancestors.  He’s not going to make it easy on them as the path back to that fulcrum point is going to be easy, or even a straight line.

Which means that it’s time for Aaron to have things get extra-crazy as we get to see more past versions of familiar Marvel heroes.  Witness Sergeant Szardos the “Soldier Supreme” fighting against the demonically-possessed Nazi U-Boat U-666 and then trying to exorcise Mephisto from the timeline in a dogfight at 20,000 feet.  See the Ghost Samurai, who rides the night itself, turn all opposition against him into a bloody red mist.  Thrill to the adventures of Reno Phoenix and the Starbrand Kid as they aim to make the Devil’s Posse pay – in blood!

If you’ve made it this far into Aaron’s run, then it’s safe to assume that you’re like me and find his efforts to make the Marvel Universe more insane than it already is more endearing than irritating.  That remains to be true here, and it’s always more impressive when he manages to mix that stuff with some actual character development as seen in Starbrand’s spotlight issue.  Artists Javier Garron and Ivan Fiorelli are up to the task of wrangling this craziness onto the page and both succeed admirably here.  It all leaves the series in a good place as the story moves onto the endgame of the writer’s run.

Though there’s still more to talk about before we get there…

(And I’m not talking about the “Judgment Day” tie-in issue from writer Mark Russell and artist Greg Land included in this volume.  It has nothing to do with the story being told here as it involves Hawkeye trying to prove that he’s more useful than a mailbox.  No, really.  Though it may sound extremely silly, it’s actually a nice little character piece that didn’t bother me too much by its out-of-place inclusion here.)