The Avengers #27

   When I took this issue of The Avengers to the cash register at the comics shop, I did a double-take at the price. It's a double-sized issue, but it's surprisingly priced at the usual $3.99.

   That's because the back half of the issue reprints the recent All-New Invaders #1 - a clever bit of advertising for that series (which is actually quite good).

   The Avengers half of the comic is pretty good, too - but the cover (which hearkens back to a classic Avengers cover featuring the Super-Adaptoid) depicts a scene that happens nowhere in this comic.

   Oh, the new Adaptoids that have been created by the super-science agency AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics) are in there - but they play only a marginal part of the story.

   Instead the issue is devoted to the clash between our Avengers and a twisted version of the team that AIM has brought over from another reality.

   I do like the way writer Jonathan Hickman has developed AIM into a genuine threat (as it was in its original incarnation), instead of being a bunch of chumps (as they have been for decades now).

   The battle with the alternate Avengers has been interesting but not really up to the usual standards of this series. But even Hickman's average stuff is better than most,  and as always, Salvador Larroca's art is tremendous.

Grade: B+

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