An Impossible City has come to town, and its members, the Ashen Combine, have each picked a city to destroy and feed their unique, monstrous appetites. Cityslaying may be an artform, but as Tony Stark aptly informs the Ashen Combine… everyone’s a critic. And so are we! Join us, as we critique Avengers #3, written by Jed MacKay, drawn by C.F. Villa, colored by Frederico Blee and lettered by Cory Petit.
Armaan Babu: Before we begin, I want to note that plans for the big Timeless crossover spinning out of the pages of this series have been announced at SDCC — and you know what? I have looked at none of it. Peeking too far ahead into the future is how you get Kang. Too much of that is dangerous. No matter how much Jed MacKay is making me desperately wish we could just skip to the next issue already. The pacing of this series has me a little on edge; I don’t think it’s quite hit its stride yet… but damn if C.F. Villa and Federico Blee don’t get their time to shine, here.
Anna Peppard: I’ve been to SDCC so I can confirm — the experience of being there is exactly as exhausting as being asked to get excited months in advance for teasers of comic book crossovers affecting a rebooted series that’s only just published its third issue. If that’s your bag, good on you! But I’m not a futurist or time terrorist or a denizen of an impossible city. I’m just a basic “let’s talk way too much about the depiction of Toronto, aka the greatest city in the world, in a comic book published today” kind of girl. So let’s get to doing that!
Toronto (and Earth, we suppose) is Under Attack!
Anna: So the Earth’s under attack by the Ashen Combine of the Impossible City, Accomplished Interdimensional Cityslayers. Idol Alabaster attacks Vatican City. The Citysmith attacks Toronto. Lord Ennui attacks Manila. The Dead attacks Australia. And Meridian Diadem attacks Helsinki. These folks are new for this series, and while it’s too soon for me to say whether I’m invested in these latest cosmic menaces as interesting cosmic menaces, I do appreciate the thought that’s gone into their evocative names, designs, and powers of our antagonists. I’m hooked enough to see how our heroes are going to battle them, because each hero is deliberately chosen to oppose a specific member of the Ashen. What’s your mileage on our baddies, Armaan?
Armaan: Well, I’m of two minds. They make a great first impression, that’s for sure. Their designs are distinct, and as cool as hell, and each one has a unique approach to their city-slaying — unique enough, I’d say, that any single one of them would do as a villain in their own right, even up against an Avengers team. The fact that the Avengers have to split up to fight them does feel like proper, global stakes — a good first course of villains in the lead-up to the eventual Trials we were teased about last issue.
There are too many of them introduced at one time, however, for any one of them to really sink their hooks into me. The way they were introduced — as the first trial of many others — doesn’t help. Despite how great their designs and their concepts are, they have as much significance to this run as Terminaut did in that first issue; they’re little more than a fire for the Avengers to put out while looking cool doing so.
The Ashen Combine are fascinating. They are powerful. They have great designs (Idol Alabaster especially). I just wish there was something in the book that made me feel like they were important.
Another thing I was th —
Anna: Is it time to talk about Toronto now?? (Don’t answer, I’m doing it anyway.)
I believe the castle-y building in the first image of the Toronto cityscape is meant to be the Gooderham Building, aka Toronto’s own Flatiron Building, which isn’t as good as the NYC version but that’s Toronto for you — New York prices with shittier stuff. (Toronto I love you dearly but you know it’s true.) If I’m right, that means I’ve worked in two of the office towers in the background, which don’t look quite true-to-life but it is clear Villa modeled this after an actual image of the Toronto financial district and I appreciate it! We all deserve to imagine ourselves in a Marvel comic (having our buildings and bodies horribly warped by incomprehensible alien artist-terrorists).
Armaan: I agree, and what’s really cool here is tha —
Anna: MacKay is Canadian, but he’s an East Coaster. Traditionally, East Coasters (like most of the rest of Canada), hate Toronto. You see, Canada doesn’t have a lot of huge cities. Our country likes to imagine itself as rural and rustic but not the way the United States also likes to imagine itself as rural and rustic because we’re very sure we’re better than Americans but also, like David Bowie, very scared of them and if a politician suggested building a wall, I bet it would get an alarming amount of support.
Anyway, lots of Canadians who don’t live in Toronto hate Toronto because it doesn’t fit their idea of what Canada is or should be. Some of that’s boilerplate racism and some of it’s resentment about the fact so many of us have to leave our hometowns and provinces to find a job in the Greater Toronto Area, where you’ll get stuck sitting in gridlock and paying way too much for a roof over your head for the rest of your life.
Anyway — I’m not impugning MacKay’s character here. Even if he does dislike Toronto there are some valid reasons to do so! Part of my love for my city is my certainty that it can and should be better. However, I’m also defensive about my city, which is compounded by the historical treatment of Canada in Marvel comics. Remember in Uncanny X-Men #120 (1979), when Wolverine wanders the streets of Calgary and thinks about how “all those big shiny skyscrapers downtown can’t hide the poverty that’s here”? He’s not wrong, but also — Marvel comics likes to portray Canada as evil in ways that are, it’s fair to say, out-of-step with reality.
In Marvel comics, Canada is an authoritarian nation with a huge military industrial complex and also one of our major department stores kinda founded the Weapon X program? I’m here for it because it’s hilarious, but it also means I’m always apt to read way too much into every reference to Canada that appears in a Marvel comic.
Armaan: You don’t say.
Anna: In the comic at hand, the captions describe the Citysmith’s view of Toronto thusly: “He sees the brick, the mortar, the stone and glass and steel and pipe and above all, the people as his materials. The Citysmith chooses his prey for what they can be. What he can make of them.”
That hurts, Citysmith. While I agree Toronto is a wellspring of untapped potential, it’s also so much more than that. It’s got a rich history and while it might not be the prettiest city, I love every part of it anyway. He’s the bad guy so he gets a pass, but if you want to read some superhero stuff that loves Toronto as much as I do (in all its mess and complexity and underappreciated beauty), go check out Jason Loo’s The Pitiful Human-Lizard series. In the meantime, I hope Tony saves the Gooderham Building. It may be a shittier Flatiron but it’s our shittier Flatiron.
Armaan: You know, I joke, but your deep-dive into what Toronto’s appearance means here is the main sore point I have with this issue. There are… a lot of really cool ideas being crammed into a single issue, and the foreshadowing of bigger plots and crossovers to come is a large shadow being cast here, diminishing what’s in the present somewhat. That’s thematically appropriate, I suppose, given the Timeless-ness of it all, but not in a way that I think was intended. I want the space to be excited about what’s here.
Obviously, how important all of this ends up being in the long run is a matter of speculation at this point, here in Avengers #3, but it does make me miss some of the more old-fashioned, compressed comics experience. Where there was room for not only a splash entrance and an explanation of a villainteam’s powers, but also how the superteam’s powers fared against them.
This team makes me think a lot of Thanos’ Black Order. Introduced in “Infinity” [Ed. Note: technically, New Avengers (vol. 3) #8, right before Infinity #1], they were all fascinating characters in their own right, but it took a long time for the dust to settle enough to be able to see that, as they made little appearance hops across a multitude of series.
I mean, I suppose this is a good problem to have? “Dear Avengers Team, you have made your characters far too interesting and I would like a series of one-shots starring each of them, please.”
This feels a lot like the start of a crossover — but this is one that, for the moment, is confined to the pages of The Avengers, and there’s just not enough page space to give us everything I’m excited to read about here.
A Moment of Friction
Armaan: So, earlier, Carol compared the Avengers to firefighters, and there’s a lot of truth to that. One of the crucial differences, however, is that firefighters have a certain expertise in what they’re dealing with, there are plans in place, and protocols. Superheroes, however, have to come up with entirely new strategies every time a new villain, a new scheme, a new cosmic catastrophe starts threatening lives, and it’s there that we have one of our first points of contention with this team.
Captain Marvel wants to go in immediately, guns blazing, figuring things out on the fly — a strategy that tends to work well for her. Black Panther, however, is used to taking a little more time to plan things out — it may cost lives now, but losing to the Ashen Combine could lead to far greater losses later.
They’re both leaders, used to taking charge — and for about the space of a panel, we see Carol chafe at what seems to be a challenge to her leadership. Lord knows The Avengers comics have had plenty of those. But T’Challa threads the line between humility and firmness — he’s not challenging Carol’s leadership, but supporting her by pointing out something she’s missed in her blind spot.
Carol agrees to put five minutes aside for strategizing (something I don’t think an earlier Carol would have done), but I don’t think this moment of tension is entirely resolved; just put aside for now. What did you think of this scene?
Anna: I liked it! Carol is a good character when she’s a flawed character but flawed in the right ways. It’s also believable to not want to show weakness when you’re a woman in a leadership position, especially when most of the people you’re responsible for bossing around are superpowered men. I’ve got empathy for that and respect for the way Carol handles it, admitting she’s wrong while knowing it’s important to remain confident and own the responsibility of leadership. which is good for her character development which is in turn good for helping us like and understand her. I continue to be on-board for this version of Carol and eager to see where MacKay takes her.
Brief Iconic Examinations
Armaan: Thor, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, the Vision and Captain Marvel split up to each take on a thematically appropriate member of the Combine. Two pages each, one showing the villain taking control, the next giving each of our heroes a grand entrance and a statement that strikes to the heart of what each character is.
We have Thor vs. the Idol Alabaster. God vs. False God. Thor’s always taken his responsibility as a god rather seriously — about connecting to the mortals he protects, living amongst them when he can. He understands, to a degree, the gods who would inspire worshippers through fear. In either case, he believes in gods putting the work in to gain their worshippers. He has a clear disgust for any would-be god who simply steals devotion.
Tony Stark goes up against the Citysmith. Cynical Engineer vs. Cruel Artist. Tony’s always been a futurist — and he’s had his own experience with crafting a city, with trying to build towards a world that could be. I think, more than the fact that the Citysmith is killing people and doing irreversible damage to the city, Stark is more offended by how artless all of it truly is. There’s very likely a large part of Tony that’s not thinking about how to save the day — but how, if he were the Citysmith, he’d be doing a much more interesting job.
Tony’s always been a hair away from outright villainy, and in his black, blue and silver stealth costume (his red-and-gold one is now copyrighted by a man who took over his company, long story, go read Iron Man)… he does look very much like he’s straddling that line, and only just managing to come up on the heroic side.
We have the Scarlet Witch going up against the (somewhat unimaginatively named, but hey, they can’t all be winners) Dead, bringing her pained past against a cosmic necromancer who would use the past to haunt the living. It’s a great moment here. Wanda’s continuity is one of Marvel’s more tangled pieces, and her past instability, and the guilt of it, hangs heavy on her shoulders — but she keeps her back straight regardless. She will not let the Dead haunt her.
I think I may have enjoyed the Vision’s pairing most of all. We have him going up against Meridian Diadem. The Construct — and father — who’s fought all his life to be human vs. a woman who would rob people of their humanity to make them “better.”
For all the comics that have separate the Vision from his emotions, time and time again, he has constantly fought for his place amongst humanity. He has fought against the cold tyranny of absolute perfection that so many robotic overlords like Ultron have tried to impose on humans, it’s his core cause. I love that he’s so offended that as he hovers over her he isn’t even facing her, he’s just cross and tsk-tsking over the horrible work she’s wrought. She may be a threat, but someone who can only see the very worst of humanity? As far as the Vision is concerned, she’s beneath him.
And for the (edge)Lord of Ennui, a black hole of a heart, desperate to feel something again even as he quells every emotion he comes into contact with? He’s put up against the Star. It’s not a pairing that’s obvious at first, but it seems to speak to what this run’s focus on Carol is: she’s meant to be an inspiration. Someone whose symbol is meant to inspire hope, bravery, and empowerment. Your mileage may vary, but that the Star is the leader of the Avengers says a lot about what this creative team wants the Avengers to mean as a super-team.
Anna: One of the things I love about Vision is that he’s always bucked a certain trope about robots, namely, the one that says they need to be cold and emotionless. He’s hardly the only Marvel character to do this (Ultron also bucks the trope in his own way), but I always enjoy when comics play with it. Here, Vision’s seeming impassivity as he stares down Meridian Diadem (barely) masks the anger issues he’s always had, which are informed by insecurities about his humanity, all of which has frequently gotten him into trouble in the past. Vision wrecking other robots because he hates himself and loves too much? Classic Vision, sign me up.
One quibble I had with the Scarlet Witch’s faceoff against The Dead, which may or may not be addressed next issue, was that there was an opportunity here to tell a deeper, more resonant story about race, ethnicity, and colonialism. I could be wrong, but the cemetery The Dead draws from seems like it might be a military cemetery? (Again, I could be wrong, I did a cursory search to see if it was based on a real cemetery, but my knowledge of Sydney landmarks is very deficient compared to my knowledge of Toronto ones.) That could be interesting, but doesn’t directly connect to Wanda. Imagine if Wanda, a Romani mutant, had to negotiate allegiances between white settlers and Indigenous ghosts… Anyway, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how each of these thematic battles plays out.
Armaan: Three issues in a row now, the creative team here has given individual Avengers this spotlight moment that defines them. Their labels, their themes, their skills, their personal quirks, their histories. We’re being told, again, and again, who these people are, in large, bold panels, underlined in a way that only comics can. It’s starting to feel a little repetitive, but the moments themselves are undeniably cool.
I do appreciate how these spotlights focus on different aspects, however. If the first issue spotlighted what each member contributes to the team, and the second issue focuses on their skill sets, then this third issue seems to be focusing on them as icons. What about each of these heroes is so awe inspiring, and what are the thematic inner strengths they have that are unique to each of them, and only them.
I’m impatient, yes, to get to the fights, to see power against power, but I still have the room to appreciate these spotlights nonetheless. The pacing of this comic is leaving me restless, I don’t think it’s quite hit its storytelling stride yet. But these individual moments are as cool as hell.
Anna: So far, this is definitely a book where I wish I could enjoy the first story arc as one piece, rather than a collection of monthly installments. But of course that’s such a silly complaint, since so many serialized superhero comics are like that; it’s the joy and pain of this form. There’s just something about the bigness of this book, and the ensemble nature of this book, that makes each issue strain against its borders. But as you discussed above, wanting more isn’t a bad thing.
Armaan: There’s no room left, after all that, for Black Panther and Captain America to get their iconic spotlights, but it’s teased that’s sure to come next issue, as the two explore the Impossible City. Last issue I complained that as cool as the name was, I was more interested in knowing what about the city actually made it so impossible — or at the very least, deserving of interest?
This issue teased enough of an answer to satisfy that complaint: the city, it would appear, is sentient. A floating vessel infused with a spirit that the Ashen Combine apparently captured for their evil wicked ends. This, here, is the thing I feel has been missing from the comic. Sure, there are grand portents, fantastic art, intriguing thematic redefinitions… it’s been a wild ride of individual moments.
But what’s being teased here is a story. One I’m deeply interested in getting to know more about. It’s about time.
Avengers Assortments!
- Poor Thor and Wanda continue to be the Avengers’ Magic School Bus.
- It is a nitpicky amusement that Carol yells out the iconic “Avengers Assemble!” as an order for them all to split up across the globe.
- It’s cute that Carol let Tony “give” the Vision all the raw data Tony could gather, as if the Vision would not have had access to the exact same data himself.
- I (Armaan) want an Idol Alabaster figurine so. Very. Badly.
- Tony Stark’s experiments in city-building can be read in the Iron Metropolitan arc of Kieron Gillen/Joe Bennet’s Iron Man run.
- We’ve got our first lettercol in this issue! Always love a lettercol, which taps into the “classic” spirit of this book.
- We mentioned it above it but bears repeating: Villa really kills it on the character designs. 90% of my interest in the Ashen is due to how he draws them.
Armaan is obsessed with the way stories are told. From video games to theater, TTRPGs to comics, he has written for, and about, them all. He will not stop, actually; believe us, we've tried.
Anna Peppard
Anna is a PhD-haver who writes and talks a lot about representations of gender and sexuality in pop culture, for academic books and journals and places like Shelfdust, The Middle Spaces, and The Walrus. She’s the editor of the award-winning anthology Supersex: Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero and co-hosts the podcasts Three Panel Contrast and Oh Gosh, Oh Golly, Oh Wow!
