Monday, July 20, 2020

Avengers #34

Avengers #34 opens with a flashback to explain the recent actions of Moon Knight in targeting allies to draw power from them to feed his god Khonshu in an attempt to prevent something far worse from happening. The powers taken have allowed Khonshu to remake the world, but is it truly for the benefit of mankind or is the god, yet again, playing with Marc Spector's mind for his own ends?

The latest issue features a memorable appearance by Mephisto who appears, in part, to be behind the danger to come (although it doesn't look like he'll be around to savor the fruits of his labor). While most of the Avengers have been beaten, and Black Panther is prisoner to Khonshu's acolytes (in the comic's most problematic scene featuring the white-clad minions whipping a black man in chains which is at best ill-conceived), there are still a few heroes left whose powers the god covets.

It's hard to separate the tone-deaf Black Panther scenes from the rest of the story, which is a serviceable middle-issue to the larger arc foreshadowing more trouble to come and a larger threat still yet to be identified.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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