I guess I didn't realize last issue that Hawkeye and Valkyrie were possessed by the Abyss. It certainly adds some dramatic tension, leaving Ant-Man and Venom holed up in a hotel room on their own, trying to figure out their next step in trying to stop the Abyss. Remender plays up this dynamic well, giving it the feel of the middle act of a horror movie where some people have already been killed by the mysterious villain. By choosing Ant-Man and Venom, Remender is also showing us the two guys with the most to prove on the team. He's pretty clear on their motivations throughout the event, and they aren't entirely altruistic, since Venom is hoping that saving the world means that Hawkeye will stop ragging him. However, things go from bad to worse when an Abyss-controlled Taskmaster sends his mindless minions to the airport to board planes for the outside world. Black Widow tries to call in support, but Captain Britain and Giant Man are busy fighting "Ultravisions" in Malaysia, so she's left on her own. Ant-Man and Venom manage to stop all but one plane from departing and we end the issue with Black Widow teleporting on board the last one and fighting with Hawkeye over control. As you can see, Remender keeps upping the ante as we go, taking us from a local threat (Ant-Man and Venom finding themselves in a city surrounded by Abyss-controlled villains) to a global one over the course of the issue. I'm interested to see where he goes with it next issue, given that Ant-Man and Venom have to get through an Abyss-controlled Valkyrie to have even a hope of stopping an Abyss-controlled Taskmaster.
As an aside, the cover is an odd example of pet peeve #2. I don't understand why Adams would put Max Fury in the Serpent Crown, since the whole point of last issue was that: 1) Max couldn't wear the Crown and 2) the Crown had merged with the other two crowns. Weird.
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