Sunday, October 27, 2024

Sunday Splash Page #346

 
"Down a Dark Hall", in Marvel Universe vs. The Avengers #1, by Jonathan Mayberry (writer), Leandro Fernandez (artist), Lee Loughridge (color artist), Cory Petit (letterer)

One of a group of 3 mini-series about an Earth where everything falls apart and civilization collapses in a maelstrom of killing. But not zombies! No, everyone is still alive, they just randomly become really angry and really hungry. A bit like 28 Days Later, I guess, though the source of the problem is not disclosed in this mini-series (and I didn't read the other two, which focused on Wolverine and the Punisher, respectively.)

Mayberry uses Hawkeye as the POV character. Probably because he's the most human, or least superhuman. Highlights his exhaustion, the fatigue and frustration at fighting to hold a line that may not even exist, since there's no rhyme or reason to when someone changes. Despite that, he's not really a Hawkeye I find familiar - it's odd to see the Black Widow hesitating at killing former friends, when Hawkeye's apparently accepted the necessity - but it's a big multiverse.

Mayberry takes advantage to do basically whatever he assumes will be emotionally affecting. Captain America dies in the first issue, as the Punisher's hands. Hawkeye has to listen to an infected Luke Cage kill Jessica Jones and their child over the phone. Doom shows up at the end of the first issue, promising a solution. Deadpool hangs around him like a Renfield.

The heroes' numbers dwindle in a series of brief fights that are silent except for Hawkeye's caption boxes, rendered in short panels with a longview perspective. Hastily sketched figures, vaguely recognizable characters, killing each other. (It is funny that Multiple Man keeps popping up, presumably at least one dupe keeps surviving.) It works in the sense this is not the typical hero vs. villain fight but a struggle for survival, so Fernandez shouldn't draw it like a typical comic book fight.

Also, all the fighting is pointless, anyway, so there's really no reason to focus on it. Just death throes. Doom's "solution" is one of control rather than cure. *shocked Pikachu face* Hawkeye faces him down and wins, vowing to keep going forward as the last Avenger. Which could be either inspiring or pitiable, depending on your mindset, but it's ultimately meaningless. Thor, who left earlier in frustration with the moral compromises, returns infected and splatters Hawkeye's skull like a watermelon. This despite the fact the story keeps telling us the problem was something that was inside people all along. Thor's not mortal, so how did it get him? The answer is, of course. . .hey look over there!

Seriously, though, I think Mayberry just wanted to do a Punisher story where Frank can treat everyone in the world as a target, where he didn't have to worry about innocent bystanders and collateral damage. Because all Frank's ever wanted to do was kill, and everything else was just the thin leashes he imposed on himself.

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