REVIEW: Avengers Forever #2
The series quickly takes a turn into an issue that is completely about the torture and demolishing of one character’s spirit, it is in that where Jason Aaron finds levity in some of the comedy, and meaning in the absurdity in our review of Avengers Forever #2
We have been outspoken in our opinion that Jason Aaron’s Avengers Forever is one of our favorite series of the year; with its pages beaming with creativity and ambition.
Source: Marvel
Yet, the beauty of the tightrope walker that Aaron has proven to be, is that he understands how to take a character as creatively interesting and comedic as Anthony Stark, and balance him out with the horrific acts of the second issue.
The story starts with the first appearance of Black Skull, who we learn is the mastermind behind the present reality that our Deathlok and Ghost Rider find themselves.
Source: Marvel
This Black Skull is akin to our Red Skull, except with near unlimited power thanks to his partnership with the venom symbiote and an army of War Machines at his every command.
Aaron makes no qualms about this rendition of Red Skull, setting him on a path that first introduces him to the audience through his relentless torture of Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider, as the entire issue chronicles Reyes’s attempts to thwart his horrific acts towards him.
Source: Marvel
It is an issue that brings a lot of weight to the story, and although the series doesn’t necessarily take a moment to emotionally connect you with Reyes, fans of the Marvel Universe know this rider all too well, and this physical pain inflicted upon him is enough to make any reader coil in desperation.
The moments between Deathlok and Robbie Reyes, in a small jail cell, give the hero his only chance to reprieve and work in creating a connection to the reader, that desires desperately for them to make it out of this.
Source: Marvel
That is when, Tony Stark and his band of misfits, finally have orchestrated a plan good enough to rescue the two, and Aaron’s work in endearing Robbie to us, just makes us anxiously await the day that he is allowed his revenge.
