I realized in reading this issue that the reason that I liked this series was that it had very little to do with "Axis." Unfortunately, that changes here, and my enjoyment with it.
Shinick is eventually forced to toe the Axis line, with Steve Rogers recruiting Hobgbolin for the Avengers at the end of the issue. This offer comes after Hobby successfully foils Phil's plans to assassinate him at a public ceremony thanking him for his efforts to save the city. (Yeah, we're not even going to talk about it. Shinick cleverly uses an aside comment from one police officer to another to establish that they're going to "overlook" his previous crimes because they can't confirm that it was Kingsley under the mask when they were committed. It's weak, but I'll throw Shinick that bone, since Hobby's convoluted 30-year history isn't his fault.)
It gets interestinly only in a brief moment where Hobby seems to acknowledge to Phil that he is, indeed, still evil, after he seems to have killed his crew lest Phil use them against him. But, this moment is undermined by his subsequent revelation that he only "killed" holograms of his crew; they're all still fine. It's unclear then why Hobby gave his little speech. Moreover, the rules of the inversion in "Axis" have so far been air-tight. No one -- not a single person, so far -- has been able to shake off the inversion, not matter how inspired to do so they are. As such, Hobby's speech about being evil can't be true, because he literally can't feel that way.
I would've really loved to see what Shinick could've done here if he didn't have to set up Hobby being part of the "Avengers" in "Axis" #6. But, I pretty much feel that way about every "Axis"-related issue, so it's not really a surprise.
** (two of five stars)
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