Avengers: The Initiative #33

I do love some Avengers: The Initiative. This has consistently been one of the best books on the stand over the past few months, and this is no exception. Clearly Christos Gage and I enjoy the same comics, that's why he has Diamondback, Taskmaster, and Tigra taking such important roles in this book.

Diamondback gets to rehash most of the big happenings from Siege #2, including Maria Hill's rescue of Thor. I love how Norman Osborn tries to make Diamondback hang around and watch as Thor gets taken out, he's just twisting the knife since he knows that she's closer to being a hero than a villains.

Taskmaster gets dumped on again. He horned in on the action to take out Thor last issue, but this month Osborn just berates him for the trouble. Taskmaster correctly realizes that there is only room for Osborn at the top, so he goes back to the frontlines to work off his anger. I loved hearing Fandrall's awe at Taskmaster's increasing skill with the blade. I'm sure Tasky started off pretty good using the Black Knight's abilities, but as the fight wore on, he added Fandrall's skills too. Very cool use of Tasky's unique power set.

Tigra doesn't get much action until the end, but I'm really excited to see her go after the Hood. I suppose it is too much to hope that the Hood's comeuppance would be delivered in this title, but man, it sure would be incredible to see this now-major player taken down a peg by Tigra in this book. Even if the real dressing down happens in Siege, I'm sure Gage will have an excellent take on it next month.

Jorge Molina's pencils are solid. I dug how most details from Siege crossed over, but those little differnces do make me laugh. Diamondback certainly needs to have more time next to Osborn to make the story work, for example.

Good