AVENGERS #4 is packed with action from start to finish as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes try to stop the Ashen Combine from enacting their plans to destroy the planet. We’re only four issues into Jed MacKay’s run and the new team is already facing a challenge that may be too much for them to handle!

I’ve appreciate how much MacKay is able to give multiple heroes a moment to shine in each issue so far, even when one or two of them take center stage in any given issue. AVENGERS #4 is a true ensemble book as MacKay picks up where he left off in the previous issue with the Avengers splitting up to stop members of the Ashen Combine who are attacking different cities across the globe. Readers witness four different battles occurring simultaneously and none of them appear to be going our heroes’ way.

While MacKay’s dialogue between characters in each scene is distinct and intriguing, team of C.F. Villa on art, Federico Blee on colors, and Cory Petit handling lettering take this issue to the next level. The trio create epic visuals for each individual battle, ranging from a heavenly clash between Thor and Idol Alabaster in Vatican City to a magical hellscape in Sydney where Scarlet Witch faces The Dead. It is such a wide-range of approaches and yet it all works together to create one of the most visually pleasing sequences of comic book action in recent memory.

The only drawback to the issue is that the individual confrontations begin to feel formulaic and repetitive as they all follow the same flow: the Avenger involved thinks they have the upper hand only to be surprised when the Ashen Combine member reveals the extent of their powers. That doesn’t take away from the visuals at all, but I do wish MacKay had varied the pacing up a bit for each one. Some nuance to the scenes would have done a lot for the flow of the issue.

The Ashen Combine already feel like a monumental threat to the Avengers and Earth, and that says a lot about the work this creative team has done to build them up in just a handful of issues. It’s clear this new team of Avengers have met their match and I’m not sure where they go from here. There are some team members who have yet to join the fight, but will they be enough? We’ll have to stay tuned!

Rating: 8/10