All-Out Avengers is a five-issue comic book mini series--collected with the subtitle Teachable Moments--written by Derek Landy with art by Greg Land. Derek Landy is an Irish novelist most famous for his Skulduggery Pleasant series which was hugely influential on me growing up, instilling in me a love of urban fantasy and quick-witted characters. All this to say that I was excited to read this collection as I think Landy's writing style could suit Marvel comics very well indeed.
There's a lot to like here. Landy's imagination shines in every issue, each revolving around a nearly-standalone Avengers adventure packed to the brim with bombastic scenarios, quips, and action. The way Landy throws the reader into the deep end of the story at the start of every issue is really unique. Most times I was scrambling to figure out how we'd gotten here after only a page or two, but in a good way. Landy knows what he's doing and structures these stories in a way that kept me reading.
There were two let-downs for me, though. I said that these stories were nearly-standalone. That's because there is a narrative thread running though every issue in the form of caption boxes conveying the voice of an unknown observer commenting on the events of the issue in 'real time.' It's a mystery as to who exactly is doing this observing, but whoever it is also seems to have the power to influence people's memories. It's a fun and clever concept, but its execution left a little to be desired. The narrator is constantly hitting the same beats--the world is danger from some nebulous threat soon to come; the Avengers are Earth's only hope; everyone is going to die. After a few issues of this I became frustrated that this plot (for a lack of a better word) wasn't developing. The Avengers stories themselves were fun but light on stakes and tension, and the caption boxes provided a nice and ominous counterpoint... initially.
Which ties into my second let down--this isn't in any way a complete story. Despite not being tagged as the first volume in a series, Teachable Moments is succeeded by a completely different series (also by Landy and Land) called Avengers: Beyond. Reading between the lines, it looks like when sales were flagging for All-Out Avengers, Marvel decided to 'reboot' the series under a new title with a new #1 around halfway through the story Landy was telling. This has the very unfortunate side-effect of providing absolutely zero resolution to the 'mystery observer' plotline, which actually started to get developed a small bit in the last few issues.
If I'd known in advance that this was only the first half of a story I might've been more forgiving, but its not flagged anywhere on the physical book. Even more strange, from what I can see online, the trade paperback for Avengers: Beyond doesn't directly state anywhere that it's the second half of the story that began in Teachable Moments, either. I guess it's just one of those baffling comic book things.
Nevertheless, I'll probably continue the story in Avengers: Beyond when I get the chance--more out of a loyalty to Landy than anything else. I want to give his story a fair shake, despite the hoops Marvel are making me jump through to do so.
***
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