Definitely agree, MacKay's Avengers isn't decompressed at all. The plot has been moving along pretty well and hasn't been bogged down with subplots....
I would say that Ewing had a premise similar to Liss, king off the throne, becoming a more street-level hero. But that would be the only similarity....
'Why?' Just to see the disappointment on your corn-fed, gee-whiz face, Superman. And because a great dark voice on the edge of nothing spoke to me and said you all had to die. There is no 'Why?'