I'll be the first to admit that the Kang story went on a bit long... in fact, it ultimately made me decide to stop reading the book regularly. This issue, however, the first of two epilogue issues that will cap Busiek's run on the title, almost made me want to go back and get the rest of the run, because this is everything that I've been missing in Busiek's Avengers. The sense of history is there, but what really drives this one are the characters, tying up a couple of character arcs that Busiek brought on to the series, clearing the decks for the new writer but also providing a solid closure to those stories.
There have been some pretty big problems with the whole Kang War story. Though I'm no fan of crossovers, I am a fan of consistency, and the scope of events in this book seemed almost silly when the overall status quo was unaffected in the rest of the Marvel Universe. The Triune story seemed badly placed in the middle of the story, and was generally too complex and uninteresting anyway. However, these problems fade into the background this issue, as the story focuses more on the human aftereffects of the war, from Carol Danvers's surprising actions against the Master to the death of Avengers security liaison Duane Freeman. While the characterization certainly hasn't been absent in the last few issues of Avengers, it is definitely stronger here than it has been in some time.
From the start, Busiek has paid a fair bit of attention to Iron Man and Warbird, both of whom have gone through personal difficulties and change in their time on the Avengers, and the resolution that these characters find in this issue makes for a good conclusion to these long-running character arcs. Not quite so long-running, but just as satisfying, are the conclusions of sorts to the character arcs of Thor, Firebird, Vision and Triathlon. There is some genuine emotion in these pages, and the last page is particularly heart-breaking, representing both a tremendous loss and the triumph of the heroic spirit that defines the Avengers.
As with most of the issues since the departure of big names George Perez and Alan Davis, the artwork is somewhat spotty. I place the blame less on Patrick Zircher, who has proven his talents time and again, and more on the rough inks of Scott Koblish and on a pretty flat and sometimes garish coloring job. The basic storytelling is strong, but the consistency of faces and bodies is sometimes off, and the coloring is sometimes too dark and almost always lacking in subtlety, not blending as well as the work of so many talented colorists these days.
It's not many creators who stick with a series for almost five years anymore, and whatever problems I had with the last year or two of Busiek's run, I have to give him credit for building such a long-running story and leaving his mark on such a big book for Marvel. It's good to see that Busiek is going out on a high note, even as he clears the decks for a new direction from writer Geoff Johns.
