Avengers #687

   The pages of the Avengers continues to be devoted to the "No Surrender" story, as the team becomes involved in a game of high stakes being played between the Grandmaster and the mysterious cosmic being known as The Challenger.

   Their game uses super-powered villains to recover an assortment of small pyramids - but the cost of claiming the prize may be death.

   Earth's Mightiest Heroes find themselves playing the past of the monkey in the middle - mostly trying to gum up the works - but despite handicaps and the inclusion of a mysterious traitor (whose motivations are explained herein), our team is holding strong - but someone involved is a sore loser, and that may mean touble for everyone.

   The writing team has done a remarkable job blending their voices together for this extended weekly tale - part of the fun is to read a passage and wonder which writer provided those lines.

   I still think this has been stretched out too far, but I'm in it for the long haul.

   It's not an easy "read" so far, but it's been a bit of fun.

   But it's definitely time to bring it all home. Like, preferably next issue.

Grade: A-

---------------------