Sigh. Even if you didn’t find Geoff Johns’ run frustrating because it only seemed to approach greatness without ever giving it a full-on embrace, you’ll be bored by this pointless (but brief) Chuck Austen story. Just think of it as a placeholder before the big “Disassembled” event of 2004.
It starts with WW2 hero Blazing Skull and USAgent forming a new Invaders team with the modern versions of Union Jack and Spitfire. And a new Human Torch…
USAgent has a new outfit–which is a Captain America costume–and the Invaders’ goal seems to be to meet with Namor, find a new oil reserve for the United States by taking over a country. This is really bad and dumb.
The Avengers stop them…At first.
But at the end of issue #499, the head of the oil-producing country is assassinated, right in front of the team. This leads directly into New Invaders #0, which I’ll blog about shortly (at which time the hotlink to that post will become active).
Also, The Avengers hold a funeral for Jack of Hearts–several issues after his death–and Hawkeye and Wasp kiss. Hank Pym bumps in while they’re making out in their underwear and then runs away crying.