Liverpool Sound and Vision * * * *
The dead shall rise, for in the land of darkness, heroes never truly rest easy, their bodies may be still, slowly fading from our view but in the chaos of war, nothing truly ever sleeps easy, the eyes, ever vigilant, will always be sense that death commands sacrifice; humanity will always require saving, protecting. For the Marvel graphic novel fan, as with the other large publishing house in which such wars are the staple diet of intrigue and perspective, death is rarely ever forever, death is just the deep inhale between states of consciousness.
Occasionally the dead come back, it is extraordinary to see a whole host of the once former living come back to the world and protect those they left behind but when they do, it is done with pride in the art and the knowledge that the Chaos War will be consuming more than you can bear to stand.
As part of the Chaos War crossover, which encompassed several publications from the Marvel house, including Alpha Flight, two episodes of Thor, X-Men, and three issues of the Incredible Hulk, the dead Avengers are ones that the reader knew they would see again one day but arguably never in such a way that you have the likes of The Swordsman, Rita DeMara’s Yellowjacket, Vision, Dr. Druid and Captain Mar-Vell occupying the crease and surrounded by the comatose living Avengers.
What the writers have done in the Chaos War: Avengers is to urge the reader to know that death is not absolute, a concept they have long since been successful with, but in which the ingrained belief of the Avengers is upheld, long after the final breathe has been taken. It is the honour that we carry right up until that last moment which defines us, and which if called upon, if wished to inspire those that come after you, carrying your crest, clutching your name like a shield, should and would be seen as the beacon to stride purposefully alongside. It is there by an extension, the sense of the religious perhaps, that many appeal to their patron saint, their God, their ancestor’s blood, to help them in their hour of need.
As a short series, Chaos War: Avengers is just about right in length, the story is compact, it has roads within in which it could travel, or at least see the reintroduction of some of the more time-honoured characters pursue a new life within the land of the dead. After all, in the world of the imagination and the tale, death is just another adventure waiting to happen and for the comic book hero it is only Time that stands in their way.
An intriguing proposition, a doorway of illusion and power for the graphic novel lover to find and one that could arguably cause more debate and controversy than many other of the titles that have come in the last 15 years; after all chaos loves company.
Ian D. Hall