Savage Avengers #26 or Getting the Band Back Together SPOILERS and REVIEW

[Iron Maiden]

I don't know if any one else is picking this up but Savage Avengers #26 finally has the reunion of the Magic Bros plus Conan. To quote the recap , in some future timeline, "Kulan Gath amassed enough mystical power to defeat all of Earth's heroes and villains". Doctor Strange, Conan and Doctor were one of the last to hold out but eventually Gath captured and killed Strange after sadistically prolonging his death. Then an elderly Conan returned using a suite Doctor Doom's armor (who had also died off panel of unknown causes) to battle Gath to now avail. Now that Conan is dead and has gone on to the "Final Wilderness". The scene shifts back to the beginning of the Conan/Doom/Strange alliances which happened what seems like many issues ago. This time Kang is in the mix. I think there must be some edict at Marvel for writers to shoehorn Kang into their plots ever since his appearance in the Loki series on Disney Plus.




Conan at his current age crashes the scene riding a Triceratops to throw Kulan Gath off guard and at this point we see one of the reasons why the cover has a tiny parental advisory on the price info box. Doom has had enough of Kulan Gath... he gets really nasty and decides to shut him up for good. Unfortunately even this doesn't work and Gath starts to heal himself.



Around this point, another version of Kang had time traveled and found a whole gaggle of Avengers that includes the Black Knight, Black Widow, Magick, Ghost Rider, Wolverine, and the new Electra/Daredevil At least I think they are another iteration of Avengers. One never knows these days. A melee ensues and various heroes (and Doom) get their chance at running Kulan Gath through with the blade of Shuma-Gorath but it is all for naught. Even though Conan and Magick finally get him to hold still, the knife has no effect and Kulan Gath still lives.

Over the months I have found the team Gerry Duggan and artist Patch Zircher to be very entertaining on this title, much more so than Jason Aarons main Avengers title. Zircher is a very overlooked artist imo and older readers will remember him from Thundbolts. But I doubt many readers are buying this. I will say that this particular issue seems more like filler and an excuse for a new character like Electra/Daredevil to make an appearance. Black Knight is just wallpaper and Wolverine is there because I think there is some rule at Marvel that he must appear in every comic at some point. I think this issue wasn't as entertaining as past issues but I think it's still worth following of only to see how they finally get rid of Kulan Gath.

[Dipter]

Duggan has built up Kulan Gath to be so ridiculously overpowered, I hope he's got some clever, satisfying resolution in mind. I won't lie, I was kind of annoyed when I thought Magik killed him with the knife, thankfully that was just a misdirect.

[tsaimelemoni]

Given Elektra has been semi-regularly appearing since the first arc, I wouldn't say part of this issue was an excuse to include her as a "new" character lol. They're just appropriately showing her newest costume/identity change.

As for the issue itself - it's fine. I think this whole series has been slow-walking a final fight with Gath for so long that it's hard to care. While I wish the series wasn't ending, I'm kinda glad as it means we'll finally (hopefully) get a satisfying conclusion to what would have otherwise ideally been a two-arc (max) story.

[Iron Maiden]

I count Electra/Daredevil as new because her look is so different. She looks like some kind of demon. I agree that Kulan Gath stayed at the fair too long and should have been put away several issues ago.

Duggan has built up Kulan Gath to be so ridiculously overpowered, I hope he's got some clever, satisfying resolution in mind. I won't lie, I was kind of annoyed when I thought Magik killed him with the knife, thankfully that was just a misdirect.

I kind of thought that ending was too easy and then nope, he's still alive.
I really have a fuzzy memory of Conan mythology and basically just remember a bit of the Roy Thomas/ Barry Windsor-Smith run. But Kulan Gath has been practically the only adversary in this series and I can't recall him being this big a deal. I hope it's just Conan, Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom that finally whack him for good. I think all the other characters showing up here just cluttered things up. Juggernaut should have been able to make a dent in Gath though. But Kang really had no plan other than to throw a bunch of bodies at Gath.