Avengers #59: Review

Aug 2022

Jason Aaron, Javier Garron

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Story Name:

HMH part 3 - The Wild West's wildest outlaw Avengers in ... Death rides the sky rails

Review & Comments

Rating:

Avengers #59 Review by Rob Johnson (August 12, 2022)

This is another episode of the Avengers battling Mephisto across time alongside hitherto unknown bearers of their powers.

Next issue is the Judgment Day tie-in featuring Hawkeye. Even if it doesn't have any of the regular Avengers this would only sidestep the question of how JD and the time journey fit together.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Avengers #59 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

The Avengers are trying to get back to the 1 Million BC original Avengers to protect them from Mephisto and the Multiversal Masters Of Evil. But they keep getting diverted to other periods where bearers of their Legacy Powers are threatened by Mephisto. This time it's the American Wild West.

It begins with a classic scene of a man hanged at a crossroads and another man asking the Devil for a deal. Mr Dredge wants to be the fastest gunslinger in Arizona. He makes his mark on a contract in the hanged man's pocket and Mephisto speaking through the dead man gives him his own fiery gun. Unfortunately for the cowboy the gun transforms him into a demon, 1 of the Devil's Posse.

Later Reno Phoenix and the Starbrand Kid are trying to stop a Shi'ar Sky Train full of abducted humans. Both chars enable their horses to fly after it. Reno knows that there are 3 Shi'ar Warbirds waiting in orbit to escort them to Shiar space so the Kid pulls out his pistol and shoots them, blowing them up. Phoenix's fiery lasso grabs the head of the train and drags it back to the ground. The duo then help the victims out of the carriages. Apparently the Kree, Shi'ar and Skrulls all make a habit of this sort of thing.

But then the occupants of the 'engine' emerge and they're masked humans but all with Mephisto's demon guns. A gunfight begins. But a horseman lassos some of the civilians and rides into the sky with them. Reno Carlotta rides after him leaving Starbrand to deal with the others. He takes them all down at the cost of a wounded shoulder. But then a load more demon gunmen emerge.

Reno is ambushed in the sky by more demon gunmen hidden in storm clouds. Her Phoenix-powered rifle kills some of them but more appear. She and her horse are taking hits. But then another Phoenix riding a horse of Phoenix fire appears, accompanied by Valkyrie on her winged horse firing her own fiery pistols (provided by Phoenix or her own mutable weapon Undjarrn?). It's our Avengers come to her aid, and our Phoenix manifests a fiery cannon.

Meanwhile the Kid has killed many more demons but has gained more wounds, which exude maggots. The leader of the remaining demons unmasks and it's Mr Dredge who says they all made the deal with the Devil. But then Iron Man and Thor turn up for a showdown. However Tony Stark doesn't wait for the countdown to draw and just blasts them all. They help Starbrand up but then the Iron Inquisitor joins in the attack. Tony doesn't know that inside the armour is a version of his (adoptive) father Howard Stark from another timeline. But he's confused because he recognises (the style of) the armour as his own. They start to fight.

Reno's horse is riddled with bullet holes but she still flies it onwards and almost reaches the lassoed humans. But the mystery rider lets them fall. Reno remembers when she and her husband were trapped at the edge of a bluff with other Abolitionists. The others got shot but the pair jumped to fall into the river far below. And only she survived because the Phoenix Force made her its avatar. Now she releases small Phoenix-fire birds to stop the victims' fall.

The rider is revealed as a Mephisto who tries to tempt her with the offer of the return of her husband if she gives up the heroing. Her answer is to blast a hole through him. They start a flying gun duel, but Mephisto jibes that the newbie heroine is nothing without her more experienced partner Starbrand. So of course the Avengers' Starbrand flies up to fill the gap. She knocks the Devil off his horse and carries him away. And at this point Mephisto and the Avengers all disappear.

The 2 cowboys get back together and compare notes. Then they head to the hanged man at the crossroads and start a duel with the Devil.

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