Avengers Undercover #10, by Dennis Hopeless (writer), Tigh Walker (artist), Jean-Francois Beaulieu (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - That's a pretty cool cover, although the bloody tear tracks on Cammi's face are a bit much.The final issue, so all answers must be provided, and all plot lines at least partially resolved. As it turns out, after his big hit in Avengers Arena, Arcade tried to get in on Zemo's crew, and received only trash talk and a beating. The only things Zemo needed were Arcade's image (to frame the kiddies), and the technology which made Arcade so powerful, which they could - and did - get from Ms. Corriander. Back in the present, the Avengers, the kids, and Maria Hill and her agents are trapped down in Bargalia, while Zemo hijacks their helicarrier, and villains run rampant across the globe. Now c'mon, Pym didn't bring that many Avengers. Surely Pete Wisdom had somebody left capable of keeping Sabretooth and Mystique from looting the Royal Palace.
Anyway, Zemo' true goal is to. . . demonstrate to the entire world how SHIELD is spying on them all constantly, and to offer to destroy that capability, while Deathlocket hacks into SHIELD's systems. But wait, Cammi and Arcade escaped, and Arcade has managed to give Cammi the same powers he had. So she beats all the villain's asses, makes a little speech to the worldwide audience, and leaves Earth. Oh Cammi, Cosmic Marvel is not what it was when you last saw it. Bendis runs things out there now, so it's a cold, boring place, full of stupid conversation that lead to nothing. Also, Cyclops is out there now, which makes space at least 37% shittier. Back on Earth, Hill clears the kids of any wrongdoing and they go have summer fun somewhere, and Zemo still has himself a helicarrier, one undetectable by anyone, piloted in part by Deathlocket and the still-back-from-Hell Alex Wilder. And Zemo tied Arcade to the front of the thing, like an awful masthead.
I understand Zemo's general point, that he has no reason to allow Arcade into his circle, because Arcade had nothing he wanted, but he should have phrased it better than questioning what Arcade had accomplished. Because what has Zemo accomplished, or Masque, or Hellstrom, or especially flipping Constrictor? Zemo's look-see pigeon about SHIELD's invasion of everyone's privacy was a nice touch. Not that he really cares, since he'd be glad to use it to his own ends, but it's a good way to take everyone's eyes off what you're up to by getting them focused on something else. Doesn't even have to get people on Zemo's side, if it hamstrings SHIELD even by just forcing them into a lot of committee meetings with the various governments of the world.
Ultimately, the ending suffers from how rushed it is. There wasn't really enough time to show the kids struggling with what they'd have to do to maintain their plan, to show just how rushed and not well-thought out it was. How Zemo was manipulating them, how Arcade and Cammi gradually agreed to work together and formed their plan. Kind of needed that build-up to give the payoff the proper oomph. I'm not sure how many more issues the book needed, 2 would have been nice, get it up to an even dozen. Letting it go to 18 would have been better still.
So would keeping Kev Walker as primary artist, but he's drawing one of Hickman's Avengers books now, which is good for him. More high-profile title to show his skills. Tigh Walker and Tim Green were OK, but neither one was on Kev Walker's level. Even Beaulieu's colors seemed to work better with Kev's art, don't know how to explain that, except perhaps that it was just familiarity.
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