The Queen of Night takes control in this Avengers: No Road Home exclusive
Weekly superhero titles are a big challenge, typically involving large creative teams that need to find the creative groove in order to tell an engaging story that doesn’t collapse under the weight of the accelerated schedule. Last year’s Avengers: No Surrender was a significant success for Marvel, bringing together writers Al Ewing, Mark Waid, and Jim Zub to wrap up their individual Avengers titles with a sprawling superhero story that featured exciting action, clever navigation of continuity, and plenty of strong character moments. The series also maintained visual consistency by having different artists handle blocks of consecutive issues, so readers weren’t thrown into a new art style with every issue. The team is back together for Avengers: No Road Home, assembling a smaller group of Avengers (plus Rocket Raccoon) to take out a new threat rooted in Greek mythology: Nyx, the Queen of Night.
Nyx and her family have taken out the Greek gods, and the Avengers have to stop her from regaining her full power and annihilating the entire world so she can build a new one from the ashes. Like No Surrender, the overarching plot of No Road Home isn’t particularly innovative, but the sharp execution elevate the series. This exclusive preview of next week’s Avengers: No Road Home #5 begins with half of the team captured by Nyx, setting high stakes and increasing the tension before the excerpt jumps to explosive action with Hulk swinging a sword on top of a burning black horse. Artist Sean Izaakse, colorist Marcio Menyz, and letterer Cory Petit depict that tonal shift clearly on the page, giving those early pages a bleak, claustrophobic atmosphere that is shattered with the move to Nightmare’s realm, where the scope dramatically expands and the color palette brightens. Editors Tom Brevoort and Alanna Smith have done exceptional work managing both weekly Avengers stories, keeping these creative teams on track so they can deliver superhero excellence without any hiccups.
