Michael Avon Oeming

When I read the Avengers Disassembled trade, I was left feeling it was incomplete. This collection helps fill out the story by focusing on the titular heroes and what happened to them in and around the event. I do recommend readers start with the Disassembled trade because this book never explicitly addresses what caused the event and that context is necessary to follow along.

The best section of this book - by far - is Thor. When just about every Avenger EVER showed up in Disassembled, Thor show more was absent. Here we learn why he didn't respond in the Avengers' time of greatest need: Ragnarok. Long-time Marvel fans might roll their eyes at this because Ragnarok has happened before, more than once. Yet, the writers have come up with a fresh take on "the end of the world" and why it keeps happening to Asgard! It was a very clever and truly satisfying story arc. Thor learns of Those Who Sit Above in Shadow. As before, Loki is the "cause" of Ragnarok. Only this time, Thor is going to "help" him see it through to the end. This story stands out not only because it was exciting and well-executed, but also because it is complete and can stand alone. There are several epic battles included, and the one between Loki and Thor has an astonishing and hilarious result. And I have to mention how much I loved Thor's armor as depicted here; it is much more kingly and is the most appropriate I have ever seen on him. The end was a surprise for me as Asgard truly falls and Thor will not rise again until Starczynski's run, post-Invasion.

Captain America was next, and was the second best of the three. Parts of it were fantastic, but one part left me completely confused and with unresolved plot points. There are three small sections that compose Cap's part. The first features Iron Man and how his duties as Secretary of Defense conflict with his role as Avenger when he is ordered to dismantle a weapon hidden in Avengers mansion - without alerting the Avengers. This was a short, action-heavy piece that was fun but felt unconnected with Disassembled. The second part ties directly to Disassembled but is also the weakest part because there is not enough context or resolution. Scarlet Witch figures prominently in a mission (and love life!) of Cap and Falcon where they have apprehended a "super sailor" gone rogue and a biological weapon, which turns out to be DNA. "Cap...you do realize whose DNA that is...?" I think readers are supposed to intuit whose it is - only newbies like me will probably have no clue and the story simply ends there. We don't know what happens to the prisoner or the DNA, or if this even happened or was a delusion of the Scarlet Witch. The last section follows Cap post-Disassembled (I *think*!) and his renewed relationship with Diamondback. Only, her motives are not entirely romantic and she may not even be who she appears to be. This story has the return of Cap's nemesis, Red Skull. This story stands mostly on its own and was a solid way to end Cap's section with action, romance and surprises.

The Iron Man section was short, weak, and pretty boring. I think the main purpose of it was to "put the cat back in the bag" vis-á-vis Iron Man's secret identity. The section opens with Iron Man's mental breakdown before the United Nations; a scene which also occurs in the Disassembled trade, which is the only reason I know it is tied into the event. After that, I am not sure if what takes place actually happens or was a delusion. Someone is framing Tony Stark by stealing his armor and pretending to be him. Many people, including an old flame, end up dead and Pepper and Happy Hogan are married in this world. I could have skipped this section entirely because it didn't add anything to Disassembled and so much was out of context I was lost anyway.

Overall, the Thor section alone was worth the purchase of this collection, but the Captain America section also had some really great material. This was a valuable addition to the Disassembled event and I highly recommend it. show less

An excellent installment. The noir feeling is very present in the first two volumes in particular, Pilgrim is as snarkily foul-mouthed as ever, and yet the continuity of earlier volumes feels present and important. The latter truly makes me feel like I'm reading great new steps in an ongoing saga, rather than simply smaller standalone stories, and by the time you're on the fourth omnibus of something, that's kind of important to keep the interest up.

The stories here are deeply personal to show more the two protagonists, and that makes them all the more exciting to follow. I've always liked Powers, but I'm unsure if I've ever liked a collection as much as I liked this one. All the thumbs all the way up. show less

I really enjoyed this one. One of the issues inside was modeled after a tabloid magazine based around people with Powers, and it was really just this nice bit of fresh air in the middle of the story. The main arc dealt with Olympia's death, an event we saw depicted in the pilot of the TV series. And while I adored that the TV show tied his death in with the bigger arc of Sway and what that is and does to people, I really liked the fact that he just dies of an orgasm in this. It was so show more ridiculous it was lovely. show less

The first story in this volume, "The Sellouts", is a typical "Powers" murder mystery with a superhero twist, and it works well (though I feel the second season of the TV show, clearly inspired by this arc, made some better use of the central premise of a confused, aging person with the powers of a god), with some properly chilling moments and memorable interactions. The highlight, though, is the longer "Forever" arc, where the book temporarily abandons its detective procedural format to give show more us a surprising look at the history of the world of "Powers", and some rather mind-blowing insights and revelations regarding the protagonist. My only complaint here is that, as is all too often the case, Oeming's art (while otherwise cool and suited to the book) is just not clear enough to convey plot moments in facial expressions and character reactions when there isn't dialogue to spell it out. This gets close to completely ruining many pivotal moments for me, as I have to backtrack multiple times to try to figure out the gist of the story points, and often only many pages later through revelations in dialogue can belatedly reconstruct and deduce what I was supposed to have surmised from a close-up facial expression in the last chapter.

But even with that, "Forever" remains one of my favourite installments of this series, and has me very excited for volume 8! show less