Broken Frontier

The novel things about this crossover is that it’s been a while without one, and thankfully we are not given some try-hard excuse behind its rationale. There’s no  portal or parallel universe or whatever, which means the story can begin straight away.

Literally the first half of the issue is fighting, but that’s what fans expect from a crossover book. In other words, less talking and more pummelling. The Mighty Avengers continue their fight with Cybeforce member Ripclaw and it’s not long before his female team-mates Velocity, Cyblade and Ballistic show up. At least Ballistic wears a logical outfit to battle, but this book is all about the eye candy. Throughout the shouting, Ripclaw in his best berserker rage, effectively beats the Avengers, and in the midst of it all we learn that Cyblade and Black Widow know one another, and not exactly as BFFs.

Ripclaw explains after the dust has settled that it was some sort of Bizarro version of him that attacked the team in the first issue and is now being held by Norman Osborn in Thunderbolts Mountain. After a trip aboard the Avengers jet, that’s exactly where the two teams land, leading to some terse words between Tony Stark and Norman Osborn and a harsh lesson for the curious Venom which will lead to more battles next issue.

The Hunter-Killers don’t show up, but they will eventually. All four teams can’t be centre stage with every issue. The series would quickly feel overcrowded otherwise. Frequent writing partners Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning know how to take their time and though the emphasis falls on Marvel’s characters, which isn’t a surprise considering they’re the most popular, each character has their own moment to shine and the dialogue appears to ring true. There’s no lengthy exposition or continuity explanations either, which guarantees a streamlined and accessible adventure.

Tyler Kirkham’s pencils are great and don’t really reflect the work of either publisher at the moment. His renderings are closer to Jim Lee than say, Ian Churchill and that’s a good thing. There’s a barrage of unique characters to draw in these pages and he doesn’t miss a beat. There’s a handy guide to all the characters in the intro, which will be helpful as I’d imagine most readers would only be vaguely familiar with at least one of the four teams in this series. The superhero curious will be ably rewarded here.