Wow.
OK, I was distracted for the first few pages because I wasn't quite sure how we got where we were at that point. I re-read the Earth-666 parts of "Secret Avengers" #35 and, to be honest, I'm still not entirely sure why Beast, Captain Britain, and Hawkeye had to return to the Hall of the Avengers of the Undead to activate the portal to our world. But, I have some vague recollection that the portal only ever appeared there, so I guess that makes sense. It might've been a little better if Remender had reminded us of that fact, though, since it interrupted the flow of the story for me when I had to stop reading and flip through "Secret Avengers' #35 to try to find out how we got there. (Though, the resolution was pretty damn hilarious and I just want to put down a marker right now that I would welcome a Beast, Captain Britain, and Hawkeye buddy mini-series at any time.)
But, I'm also still a little unclear on how the Secret Avengers learned that Brian's father was involved in the creation of the Descendants. In issue #35, Brian mentions that the Human Torch had discovered that fact, so I'm assuming it happened during the team's original skirmish with the Descendants. But, I wasn't going to read yet another comic just to get through the first few pages of this issue, so I decided just to take this one on fact. I guess it's the problem of telling this sort of epic story, particularly one that builds off issues from much earlier in the run.
Once I got past this somewhat confusing start, though, I was totally floored by where Remender went. I loved that Beast, Captain Britain, and Hawkeye wind up appearing in a New York under siege from the Descendants, with Sentinels running wild and Spidey the only hero left standing. Scalera does a great job of telegraphing their confusion, particularly since they had just moments ago been thrilled that they managed to escape the Avengers of the Undead. But, Remender takes us somewhere else that I didn't see coming, namely leaving the heroes at a loss for how to solve the problem of the Descendants. It's a brilliant (and totally logical, in the context of the story) dilemma: if they activate the Orb of Necromancy, they kill all the Descendants, but if they wait too long to do so, the virus will have turned all of humanity into Descendants, meaning that they'll wipe humanity (albeit an altered one) off the face of the Earth.
Remender doesn't just set up some sort of cool action plot here; he really pays attention to the emotional aspects of this dilemma, making it a much stronger story. First, he has Henry kill a Doombot in defending Hawkeye and it's the Doombot's all-too-human death that really fuels their dilemma, since they now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Descendants have feelings. As Hawkeye had said in issue #35, they're dealing with human beings, at least emotionally, not robots. Second, by having the trio encounter Spider-Man and later Giant Man, Remender has some of the best minds in the Marvel Universe staring down the problem. It will probably result in the solution in the end, but, right now, he does a great job of using it to convey the sense of helplessness that they all feel, that these four geniuses can't find a way to outmaneuver the Father without leaving all of humanity (or, at the minimum, a large chunk of it) dead. It's these two twists that give this story its emotional impact and moves it beyond just the usual slugfest. Add to that the Human Torch's fight with Captain Britain, Black Ant's fight with Venom, and Hank Pym's continued Deathlokification and you've got yourself a really emotionally charged book. (By the way, just in case you were wondering, "Deathlokification" is not in the Spell Check dictionary.)
All in all, even with the somewhat confusing beginning, this issue was just really classic. As I said in my review for last issue, Remender is telling his own epic here, the sort of story that Kurt Busiek told in his Kang War. Without tie-in issues and the like to dilute the story, Remender just makes each issue all the more powerful than the next. Plus, Scalera is quickly becoming one of my favorite artists. The splash page of Giant Man punching the Sentinel was totally unexpected and awesome. I'm going to be sad to this series end, because I feel like it's really just hitting its stride. But, at least it's been a truly stellar end.
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