Savage Avengers #10 // Review
The old saying goes “all good things must come to an end,” and it seems the most accurate with comic books. With modern comic runs from The Big Two often based around the creative teams rather than a legacy numbering system, seeing a comic end is something fans are becoming used to. However, few of those endings truly feel like an end… but Savage Avengers is different.
Savage Avengers issue 10, Deus Ex Machina, comes to us from the keyboard of David Pepose, with art by Carlos Magno. Espen Grundetjern provides the colors, and VC’s Travis Lanham letters the pages.
With the Savage Avengers finally freed from the monstrous bodies that Ultron of 2099 had mutilated them into, the final battle for the future has arrived. Despite having been soundly killed and maimed the last time they fought, can these fierce Avengers come together and stop Ultron from perverting the timeline in his own image?
I mean, Marvel has yet to announce an Age of Ultron: 2099 series, but I don’t want to spoil you.
Savage Avengers has been a book that has been one hell of a thrill ride so far, and the final issue does not let fans down. With the final conflict between Ultron and these time-displaced Avengers, we finally see their best selves. Pepose’s dialogue is peppered with development for all of these characters who have often been ignored by Marvel, genuinely making them seem like the kind of demented found family that you would expect to come from teams like the X-Men. Magno’s art is also running at full speed, with the action being fast and frantic… but also detailed enough that fans of 2099 are going to catch a lot of fun references. Some of the twists that this creative team came up with are truly unexpected and help deliver one hell of a climax.
Grundetjern’s colors are also to be commended, with background splashes of color making what could have been a bland colorful heroes vs identical grunts battle pop. Shades of orange dominate much of the book, but there is a large variation in the colors used that it doesn’t feel generic or even repetitive. Bonus credit also goes to Lanham’s lettering, with the sound effects almost becoming a cast member of the book. Sometimes, you can almost hear those panels instead of reading them.
With most books, when the final battle is over, that’s it. The book wraps things up. Savage Avengers hangs around a little longer, like the ghost of 80s John Hughes showed up to help write a few pages of the book. You can almost hear a cover of Simple Minds’ Dont You (Forget About Me) in the background during these pages as the comic wraps itself up in a respectful way to the characters and the reader.
It’s sad to see a good comic go, but Savage Avengers is one of those books that will stick in the minds of readers for a long while. Thanks for the ride, guys.
