After the epic storyline that Busiek has created for the last year or so of his Avengers, it probably wasn't a bad idea to end on something a little lighter and more character-oriented. Unfortunately, rather than reading like a finale to his run, with send-offs of sort for favorite characters, it reads more or less like an inventory story, with B-level protagonists and C-level antagonists, introducing the interesting gimmick of the Avengers' accountants and using it largely to tell a standard slugfest tale. The art performance matches the story in terms of being capable but not terribly flashy, and once again Smith's colors seem muddy and indistinct.
This is the kind of story that Busiek excelled at in Astro City, exploring the notion of the roles that ordinary citizens play in a super-heroic world. The question of the accountants who deal with the Avengers is one that could make for a cute one-off story, and there were some fun moments in the issue, including She-Hulk putting her lawyer skills to use or Thor missing the intricacies of the U.S. legal system and money.
Unfortunately, the gimmick is mostly wasted, used as little more than a framing device for a battle between a group of randomly assembled Avengers and the third-string villains the Elements of Doom. The story had settled into a predictable pattern within the first few pages, and the intended humorous juxtaposition of the Avengers' reports and what really happened never really comes through that well. The characterization is solid, including an old-school style Beast, Busiek's usual dead-on portrayal of Captain America and Thor and a nice performance by She-Hulk, but the story is an old chestnut that doesn't really stir the interest.
To give credit where credit is due, Paquette and Snyder do their best to turn the combat into something fresh and exciting. Unfortunately, the Elements aren't terribly visually impressive in the first place, and the drab colors make them even more dull, so that it's hard to really connect to the idea of the villains being legitimately dangerous. Much more impressive is Paquette's strength on the characters and their interactions; I was particularly happy with his interpretations of She-Hulk and the Quitely-redesigned Beast.
This is by no means a bad issue of Avengers. In fact, it's got all the basic elements of a team comic, including interesting characters, a cute storytelling gimmick and some solid action. I suppose I was just hoping for more of a "final words" type of story from Busiek, and this story doesn't have anything that sets it apart from every other "Avengers fight super-villains" story.
