The Avengers confront the traitor in their midst – but as the Earth begins to fall apart around them, their greatest enemy may be their best chance at survival.

I’ve been all in when it comes to Marvel‘s “No Surrender” weekly event. I’ll admit I was a little apprehensive since so many recent events have been let downs. But, 13 chapters in and it’s been one hell of a ride where the weekly release has only helped.

Written by Mark Waid, Al Ewing, and Jim Zub, Avengers #687 is that scene in the film where the heroes need to regroup after a major discovery that rocks them to their core. It’s that moment of the film where they lick their wounds and debate what it is to be heroes before some amazing speech. And we get that here with the speech coming from Jarvis talking to Bruce Banner about recent events.

What does it mean to be an Avenger? What are they “avenging?” It’s an interesting moment that reminds us that not all heroes are flawless and that their flaws are partially what makes them heroes (and interesting).

It’s the break before the final scene and that does begin here as the Challenger is rather pissed about being cheated. It’s a lot laid out and as a chapter of the bigger story, it’s great because again the trio of writers shake up expectations of comic events. There’s less punching, lots of thought and focus on the characters is the key.

The art by Paco Medina with ink by Juan Vlasco, color by Jesus Aburtov and Federico Blee, and lettering by Cory Petit looks great. And that’s expected as the previous issues have looked great. There’s some solid framing of scenes that does its best to include a lot of the characters involved, and there’s a lot. The characters themselves just look fantastic. There’s also some really interesting things down with Quicksilver that plays into the lettering and speed, it’s just a neat presentation.

Another solid chapter of an event that has delivered again and again. We’re moving towards that end game and it should be any moment before all of the Avengers come together to fight the bad guy. Even with that common ending, I’m expecting this story has something up its sleeve. So far so good as this is an event that hasn’t disappointed yet.

Story: Mark Waid, Al Ewing, Jim Zub
Art: Paco Medina Ink: Juan Vlasco
Color: Jesus Aburtov, Federico Blee Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover: Mark Brooks Variant Covers: Chris Sprouse, Karl Story & Marcio Menyz, Jamal Campbell
Graphic Design: Carlos Lao Editor: Tom Brevoort Assistant Editor: Alanna Smith
Story: 8.25 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.35 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review