Spider-Man has a resequencer in his hand. It’s a little complicated to explain to the people who are after him, but they’re being controlled by someone calling himself the Grand Manipulator. There’s a problem, though: the people who are after him just happen to be Earth’s mightiest heroes. They’re the ones being controlled by the Manipulator in the fifth and final issue of All-Out Avengers. Writer Derek Landy concludes a fun series with artist Greg Land. Though it’s largely action sequences, the overall premise has played with the nature of storytelling in a way that has been entertaining enough to suggest quite a bit more than mindless action.

To make matters worse, the Avengers are absolutely certain that it’s Spider-Man who is having his mind controlled. Everything is very congenial as one hero confronts several others in a simple matter of confusion, which couldn’t possibly result in any kind of physical aggression, and it might NOT...but this IS an issue of All-Out Avengers, and things are bound to get a little physical. The Avengers feel that if Spider-Man isn’t stopped, all of the minds of everyone in New York will be wiped out. Spider-Man feels that if the device isn’t operated on by a friend of his, the Avengers will be stuck in their current mode of mind control forever. So naturally, there’s going to be a physical confrontation...

Landy’s script plays with the reader’s expectations in interesting ways. It is so very rare that a superhero script seems at least kind of unpredictable. There are so many unwritten rules that have to be followed. With the final issue of All-Out Avengers, Landy keeps the reader guessing who is truly being manipulated. And then there are a couple of plot twists at the end that make the whole thing that much more clever. Landy isn’t reinventing the superhero genre, but he IS playing with it in a way that is fresh and original. 

Land flings Spider-Man across the page with respectably agile art. The flow of action from one hero to the next feels reasonably graceful. If there was just a BIT more of a sense of motion from one encounter to the next, the visual reality of the final issue would have felt nearly as brilliant as the script. As it is, Land’s art is stylish and kinetic enough to keep it all together and solid enough to hold the density of the drama that occasionally hits the page. There’s a clever tumble to it all that ends the series with every bit as much fun as it’s been for the four issues that have led to it.

The final twist is the big set-up for the next mini-series. Given the villain involved in the next series, it’s difficult to imagine it being nearly as much fun as All-Out Avengers has been. The villain in question has been kind of a problem ever since he debuted back in 1984. With the right direction, it could really turn into something. Landy’s done a good job with this series. Hopefully, he can do something similar with the next one. 

Grade: A