Runner Up: Savage Avengers #3 – Gerry Duggan, Mike Deodato Jr., Frank Martin and Travis Lanham
Well, this was wild, wacky and amazingly violent.
Gerry Duggan and Mike Deodato Jr. have come up with an absolutely fantastic story that’s full of brutal action, some cheeky comedy and remains true to every character involved up to a point. It pulls no punches and with Deodato’s amazing art, not only does it read well, but it looks damn good at the same time.
Starting off with a bang, we see Frank Castle tearing his way through Kulan Gath’s stronghold in the Savage Land looking for the bodies of his family. Of course Frank knows that it’s a trap, but never in his life has he let that stop him. With rage as his eyes, he tears through the Hand Ninjas, using a sniper rifle at close range and taking their own katanas to use against them. Suddenly, one of the ninjas puts a sai into the barrel of his weapon and he immediately recognizes them. Elektra has joined the fight.
Elektra seems to know of Kulan Gath’s plan to use the blood of warriors to summon something and she’s there to put a stop to it. She looks absolutely fierce back in her old gear, especially as she roundhouses and slices through Hand Ninjas while telling Castle to be careful as they make their way through the castle.
Meanwhile, Wolverine is captured by Gath and is suspended over his blood pit. Unfortunately for Logan, his healing ability only helps the evil Wizard as his blood only makes the plot come closer to fruition and Logan has an ever flowing amount of it. Soon after, Jericho, in the disguise of one of Gath’s students, tries to fool him. The Wizard sees through the ruse and gets stabbed in the chest, but given his sheer power, says that the insult hurts a lot more than the blade does and Jericho insults him by saying that’s not even worth Doctor Strange’s time.
Just as Gath is about to stab Jericho again, remarking that in his time he is the Sorcerer Supreme, he is shot right in the head by Castle. Gath makes Castle an offer to return his family to him alive in exchange for finding the thief who stole his amulet. Logan smirks and muses that the thief is long gone by now… only for him to return and threaten the Wizard. Conan is portrayed is a comedic man out of time and element in contrast to his own books where he is as serious as death and twice as deadly. Elektra frees Logan who collapses as he tries to stand and fight and Gath commands his forces to attack.
Conan picks up Logan and uses his still unsheathed claws as weapons as he swings the diminutive mutant around. Gath uses his magic to toss Logan into Elektra and runs his hand through the heart of Conan for the Amulet of Power and just as things are getting bleak, a certain symbiote attaches itself to the warrior as Gath summons his creature, Jhoatun Lau, The Marrow God.
Savage Avengers is shaping up to be the same kind of sleeper hit that Secret Avengers was back in 2012, especially while building Conan up to be a possible major player in future stories and hopefully in the upcoming Absolute Carnage event now that he’s had the Symbiote become part of him. The rest of this team itself is pretty good, fusing Castle and Logan’s rage with Jericho’s magic, Elektra’s skill and Conan’s cunning, this is definitely a book to keep watch of.
Ty Talks Comics 