Avengers #8 Review/SPOILERS

[Prof. Warren]

Now that the fighting's done (for now) and the world is saved again (for now), it's time for the Avengers to have some downtime and plan their future as a team.

It's Avengers #8 from Aaron and artist David Marquez and it's a damn good issue.

With its first six issues devoted to much sound, fury and bombast and issue #7 being a flashback to the prehistoric Ghost Rider, this is the first time we've gotten to have a more relaxed look at the new Avengers team.

In this issue, we see the aftermath of the Avenger's battle with the Dark Celestials.

Loki is in custody and warns the Avengers they're being watched, as he says, "from beyond the raw void between dimensions. Eyes of night and nuclear decay and all the colors of rage."

Before he can say much more, the remaining Celestials spirit Loki away to (one assumes) deliver their own brand of justice to him. Despite Thor's wish to have Loki answer for his crimes on Earth, there's not much they can do.

Before the Celestials depart altogether, they leave the Avengers a gift. They exhume the body of the original deceased Celestial, the Progentior who helped spawn life on Earth, and mount the body in the North Pole to serve as a beacon of hope and wonder and a warning to any who might try to stomp out life on Earth.

With the help of Wakanda's finest architects and Alpha Flight technicians, the Avengers are outfitting the interior of the Progentior to be their new HQ.

Jennifer, de-Hulked, undergoes an examination by Dr. Strange. He determines that her body is storing more gamma radiation than ever before - her gamma counts skyrocketed after her encounter with the Celestials. This explains why her Hulk out during the battle with the Celestials led to a bigger physique, increased power levels and gave her less access to her full mental faculties.

Jen says that her own intelligent personality was in control (she thinks) but that she couldn't control her speech. Strange recommends further testing before returning to the field but Jen declines. She says these new powers are a blessing, not a curse. She knows she needed to be at her strongest during the battle with the final host and she knows the Avengers are going to need that strength again (beyond what even Bruce can generate) in the future.

Despite his doubts, Strange lets it go.

Striding through the halls of their new HQ, Carol and Tony have a talk. Despite their past troubles, Tony surprises Carol by asking her to stick around. Of course, being Tony he can't help but come on to Carol by the end of their conversation and subsequently get his butt handed to him.

Most importantly in this issue, T'Challa is voted in as the new Avengers Chairperson. T'Challa warns Steve, Thor and Tony that Washington DC might not take kindly to the leader of Wakanda being in charge of the Avengers but Steve, Thor and Tony are fine with whatever waves it makes. T'Challa is the guy they want.

And so, with an "Avengers Assemble", T'Challa calls his first meeting as chairperson. He determines that seven active members is enough, with an eighth slot open for rotating or reserve members. Before he can start to talk about potential trouble spots in the world, a warning of an international incident in the Southern Ocean comes in.

The team races to discover what's going on while we see that Namor has boarded a Roxxon ship whose crew has slaughtered several Atlanteans. He's brought a creature from the deep to help him kick some ass and he's out for blood.

TO BE CONTINUED!

This was a really fun issue, that sees the team really gelling as a unit and Aaron laying down tracks for the future. It's evident that his plans for The Avengers are as grand and far-reaching as what's he's done in Thor and he's just getting started.

I love the attention he's given Robbie Reyes (complete with Robbie continuing to get his own thought balloons so we can see his nervousness about proving himself as an Avenger as well as his joy at being on the team), I love the cool as hell Avengers Mountain HQ (it's about time they had better digs than just a prosaic old mansion!), I love that T'Challa is leading the team, and I'm glad we finally get to see more of what's going on with Jen - which makes the prospects of a Jen/Thor romance much more palatable.

If the first arc wasn't your cup of tea, I'd recommend giving this issue a shot.

I enjoyed the opening arc quite a bit myself but this issue really got me more jazzed than before for where Aaron's going with this team.