The Black Order. The Lethal Legion. Two teams of powerful villains bent on destroying each other have arrived on Earth, and they don’t care who gets caught in the crossfire. But who’s pulling their strings? And what is the secret of the lost Avenger?

The second part of “No Surrender” is here with Avengers #676 and it ups the action and intrigue! Who’s Voyager? Most of that is answered here as we’re (re)introduced to this long lost Avenger and all of that works, pretty well. It’s a fun re-write of continuity and the writing team of Mark Waid, Al Ewing, and Jim Zub along with artist Pepe Larraz place the character throughout Avengers history.

But what’s really going on?

We get our first hints in this issue as the Avengers are still trying to figure out how to deal with all of the threats and get organized with such a large team. But, it’s the arrival of the Black Order and Lethal Legion that give us hints as to what might be happening. The two go to battle but are stopped by the mysterious individual pulling the strings. The Earth is referenced as just a setting for the battle between the two, which points to the Grandmaster as the person being behind it all. With a quick appearance of that character (along with Kang), it’d make sense that’d be who’s manipulating things.

And it’s that pondering along with the “new history” that are some of the most fun things about the series. There’s an actual sense of epic about it all and the issue flows nicely. Everything gets ample opportunity to play out and there’s a lot there to cover.

As I said, Larraz’s art is fantastic with a lot of characters each look great. But, where the art really stands out to me is the “flashback” moments with Voyager which are rendered in the style of the time. It’s a small detail but one that enhances it all and makes it go from eye-rolling retcon to fun and entertaining. Larraz and the writers are enjoying themselves and that’s apparent on the page. That begins with Mark Brooks‘ cover which is one of my favorites in a long time.

It feels like a lot of the recent stories have promised “epic” and have failed but this one has delivered so far with two issues that up the action and danger and tease out the mystery of it all. This is an “event” that’s paying off and the weekly pace is helping a ton so far. I know I wouldn’t want to wait a month or even another week for this fast paced adventure.

Story: Mark Waid, Al Ewing, Jim Zub Art: Pepe Larraz Cover Art: Mark Brooks
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review