Starlin managed to pique my interest a little in the first issue with a couple of interesting concepts and some occasionally sharp art, but he loses that interest here with the second issue. Though the Egyptian motif remains impressive, the cosmic crossover plot offers nothing in the way of suspense. What's really surprising about this issue, though, is that not much of anything happens. The plot is no further ahead by the end of the issue, and the main characters are hardly the most personable or grounded ones in the Marvel stable.
Akhenaten has slain the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, the planet's most powerful champions. That leaves an unusual array of defenders as humanity's only hope to avoid becoming the powerful pharaoh's slaves. Doctor Doom uses an undetected spy camera to lurk about Akhenaten's lair, but he's not the only one. Meanwhile, the leaders of Earth's various pantheons of gods gather to heed the warnings of Horus, an ancient Egyptian god who's aware of the pharaoh's ruthlessness and newfound power. And elsewhere, Thanos confers with the hastily assembled roster of the Defenders.
When Starlin is concentrating on the original concepts introduced in the first issue of this series -- namely, Akhenaten and the mix of cosmic and Egyptian elements -- the artwork is quite strong on this book. Outside of those moments, though, the visuals on the book strike me as being rather ordinary at best. I don't get a sense of the majestic or magical when looking about the gathered forces of Earth's gods, and Doom's surroundings lack the medieval touch that speaks to the dichotomy of mysticism and science in his background.
There are interesting moments in the script. Akhenaten's dalliance with revenge for perceived wrongs he experienced during his time as a mortal was a nice touch. It could have really brought out his sadism and ruthlessness nicely. Unfortunately, Starlin doesn't instill a lot of rage or edgier visuals in the scene to really drive the point home.
The point of this issue seems to be to set up Doom's plans to stop Akhenaten's rampage and to usurp his power. Starlin tries to hint around it, to develop an air of mystery, but it's so obvious that I don't see why it isn't just explicitly stated. The nature of the plan doesn't seem to require this level of exposition for the setup either, making it seem as though Starlin is just spinning his wheels.
