Avengers (Vol. 4) #34

Background

The original Avengers have been reunited. The long thought dead Wasp has been found alive just very, very small in inner space (the microverse) by a rescue team of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Giant Man. Now all they have to do is get back to the regular sized Earth…

Story Details

In Central Park, the perimeter of the rescue site has well and truly been secured. Every active Avenger is present along with several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and thier military vechiles. Acting Commander Hill turns up and criticises Director Johnson for going over the top and they get into a bit of spat. They ultimately decide they should go to Hank Pym’s lab and get some Pym particles so they can send a recon mission to inner space. Wonder Man has beaten them to it though and shrinks down to inner space determined to prove himself to the others.

In the Microverse, the battle isn’t going great but the Avengers are holding their own. That is until Lord Gouzar has Captain America by the throat. Fortunately Simon turns up at this point, uppercutting Gouzar and helping the Avengers turn the tide. Iron Man’s suit finally adapts to the Microverse (it’s not been 100% since arriving) and finds a power source it can use. Tony uses this to set off an impressive light show taking down all of Gouzar’s forces at once whilst Wasp delivers the final blow the centaur.

With the citizens of inner space no longer under the rule of Gouzar, the Avengers return to the regular sized Earth. Unfortunately Lord Gouzar has managed to tag along and is a giant in the regular Earth. Fortunately every Avenger is present to deal with him and they send him back to the Microverse.

The story ends with a party at Avengers Tower to celebrate the return of Janet. Captain America and Iron Man find a quiet spot where they decide the Avengers need to go bigger.

General Comments

So that’s it! The end of volume 4 of the Avengers and it was quiet a good story overall, although I had a few problems with the final issue. The conclusion to fight in the Microverse was a little deus ex machina. For the past three issues, we’ve seen how Iron Man’s suit isn't working very well and neither are the Pym particles Wasp and Giant Man use. However, suddenly Hank and Janet can grow and shrink without a problem and Tony gets a power source that can wipe out an entire army! The way the Avengers just sent Gouzar back to the Microverse following their fight was a little convenient too (Spider-Woman says as much in the issue!).

I thought the fight in Central Park could have been done a little better. Artists from previous Avengers issues were brought in to provide a page splash of the fight. Whilst this was a nice touch, I think it would have been better if we could have seen the full range of Avengers in the fight instead of Red Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Spider-Man taking preference. Did they not discuss it amongst themselves and divide the Avengers up accordingly? I guess not! I suppose they compensated by having a range of Avengers at Janet’s party. It would have been nice to have them out of costume for the party (similar to the last page of New Avengers: Finale); a little more natural and fitting with the party theme. But then maybe with so many Avengers present we wouldn’t have recognised who’s who and some of them do have secret identities from each other.

Overall Rating

On the whole though I enjoyed the story and it’s nice to have Wasp and Wonder Man back.