Avengers Spotlight 29 - Acts of Vengeance

A handful of issues are explicit epilogues to "Acts of Vengeance" and this starts with Avengers Spotlight #29. As ever this issue contains two separate stories.

Avengers Spotlight #29

Plot/Script: Howard Mackie (first)
Writer: Dwayne McDuffie (second
Plot/Pencils: James Brock (first)
Penciler: Dwayne Turner (second)
Inks: Roy Richardson (first)
Inker: Chris Ivy (second)
Letters: Jack Morelli (first)
Letters: Rick Parker (second)
Colourist: Mike Rockwitz (all)
Editor: Mark Gruenwald (all)
Editor: Gregory Wight (second only)
Boss: Tom DeFalco (all)

The first story, written by Howard Mackie and drawn by James Brock, doesn't make any attempt to tie in with the crossover just gone but does continue with the theme of heroes battling others' villains, with Hawkeye called in to rescue Madcap from kidnappers even though everyone from Dollar Bill (the film-maker who used to hang around with the Defenders; now Madcap's television partner) through to the kidnappers is seeking Daredevil. Nevertheless Hawkeye tracks down the somewhat operation and clashes with a new set of henchmen, the Power Tools who have mechanical hands that turn into weapons based on home equipment. Madcap himself is a somewhat anarchic youth with an incredibly powerful healing factor and his own sardonic take on the pointlessness of life; he predated Deadpool by several years. The story's okay, and does manage to pull a sucker-punch with the revelation of the Power Tools' boss not being the character one instinctively expects, but Madcap is a difficult character to write because of the attitude and healing factor and this results in moments that don't know if they're trying to shock or are expecting familiarity.

The second strip is the final of "Tales from the Vault", written by Dwayne McDuffie and drawn by Dwayne Turner, and sees a lot of captured villains being brought to the restored prison whilst Iron Man introduces the new Guardsmen armour with design safeguards to protect his technology from being used elsewhere. However the solution of limiting the internal power supply and instead building an external supply system into the Vault doesn't sound like the most secure of systems as one could easily capture a suit of armour and provide an alternate power supply. The returning foes include the Wizard, who finds his teleportation has been tampered with to send him back, and Klaw. Iron Man and one of the Guardsmen have to take them on, demonstrating both the abilities of the new armour and the determination of the men inside. The last few panels use exactly the same narrative captions as the opening of the first part back in Avengers Spotlight #26 to provide a clear sense of closure to the story. For the Avengers titles it is, but some of the other series have some mopping up to complete.

The first story isn't part of the crossover and doesn't try to be, but does sensibly go for a self-contained tale that doesn't rely on reader knowledge so isn't going to be impenetrable to readers arriving just because of the crossover banner. The second wraps up some of the points from earlier issues, showing Iron Man making amends on his actions in the "Armour Wars", and through use of the Guardsmen it manages to feel at home in this series rather than in Iron Man's own title. It's not an essential epilogue but it does manage to provide a good sense of closure to the overall story.

Avengers Spotlight #29 has been reprinted in:

• Acts of Vengeance Omnibus (2011)