Marvel Comics Presents (Vol. 2) #7 (Story 4)

Background

The new Guardian, Michael Pointer, is having trouble controlling his powers. They seem incredibly unreliable which might have something to do with his unpredictable emotions. After the collective mutant powers of all the de-powered mutants on Earth entered him, he destroyed his home town in Alaska, killing everyone he ever knew. Now in the Guardian suit and being forced to pay for his crimes, the Canadian government is doing their best to help him through his psychological issues. USAgent, the resident jerk on the team, doesn't like the situation very much and is being kept in the dark by the team's liaison; Agent Brown.

Story 'Weapon Omega (Part 7)'

The issue opens up with USAgent chewing out Agent Brown about Pointer being unstable. For some reason, Brown is wearing a suit with a bowtie and a scowl. Apparently he's gone completely over to the dark side of "evil government agent". Ah, Agent Brown, you could have been the Canadian Val Cooper, but instead you're the Canadian Henry Gyrich. Anyway, USAgent and Arachne are both working leads to find Pointer as Brown apparently refuses to tell them what's up with him. Arachne's daughter walks past USAgent in a trance due to her encounter with Pointer, and naturally USAgent can't tell the difference between a child ignoring him and a girl stuck in a trance. That's not so much a complaint as it is an observation that USAgent is probably really really terrible with children.

Pointer does some exercise in the Canadian's government's training room (my tax dollars going to a Danger Room rip-off?) and Pointer proceeds to wreck everything they throw at him. Brown steps in to ask if he's ready to stop, but apparently he enjoys spending hours destroying giant robots. Hard to argue with that actually.

Down in the holding cells where the captured super villains are being held, we find out that energy is being siphoned from them to fuel Pointer. I'd take credit for calling it, but that wasn't exactly a tough prediction. The villains are getting pumped full of mutant growth hormone and then getting that power pumped into Pointer. I guess Pointer hasn't learned to control his mutant sucking power just yet.

The issue ends with Archne noticing a new shipment of super villains being brought into the base.

General Comments

The story has thankfully stopped hinting at the drab mystery and we're getting more than USAgent working on it now. The promise of Sasquatch in the following issue is a nice one, but in a story about Omega Flight, must the only constantly reoccurring Canadian be Agent Brown? It's hard to lament for a character who's only been around for a short while, but the cliché he's become rather bothers me.

The actual story seems to be picking up its pace which is nice, and it actually feels like a full 8 pages this time. It may be a case of too little too late, but any improvement is better then none. I just wished I cared a little more.

Andrea Divito continues to do some great work. I can't help but think some fun is being had with USAgent as nearly 90% of the images featuring the guy sporting a scowl. I'm not sure who put that bowtie on Agent Brown, but it's the one misstep the art took in an otherwise strong issue.

Overall Rating

An improvement, however slight. A well executed chapter of a story that has yet to show itself to be compelling.