Pick of the Brown Bag
December 2, 2025
by
Ray Tate
Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag. I'm Ray Tate. I review comic books and comic book related material. I've been doing this awhile. Since 1993 in fact. Back when there was a usenet. I have read a boatload of comic books. What I don't know in hand, I research. So this blog is about as informative as you can get. Some subjects however remain daunting. Anything involving the X-Men, for example, and Kang.
Pity about Kang because Kang is the antagonist and/or motivator for nearly every issue of Jed MacKay's impressive run of The Avengers.
I'm embarrassed to say I know very little about this version of Kang. I was still under the impression that he descended from or actually was Doctor Doom.
Turns out he's an alternate descendent of Reed Richards. Or something like that. If you want more, click the link. The nice folks at Wikipedia have got you covered.
Fortunately, writer Jed MacKay gleans the basics well enough. Kang lives to conquer. He's fond of blue masks. He despises the Avengers. It must gall him when earlier seeking their help.
After The Avengers premiere, Captain Marvel meets the injured Kang, and he has this to say.
These Tribulation Events come to pass in following issues. They're Grant Morrison JLA level kind of threats. Some just as weird.
The Marvel Universe is normally pretty streamline. They've got people who want to conquer the earth and/or universe. Kang for example. They've got people who want to rob banks. Paste Pot Pete. They've got people who just want to kill other people. Lots.
The Ashen Combine are alien, psychopath artists with bizarre powers that seek to murder cities in imaginative ways. I can honestly say. I've never seen the Avengers deal with anything like them. They probably wouldn't be a walk in the park for the Justice League either.
It's pretty cheeky to throw something like that at the Avengers. Every character in the Marvel Universe received amperage to better reflect the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Avengers still pale when compared to the power and guile Grant Morrison imbued to the Justice League.
That being said. The Avengers are heroes, and heroes have one thing to say when faced with such overwhelming odds.
The Avengers take care of business. They save the world. They capture the Impossible City. They free it from Ashen Combine enslavement. They furthermore recruit the city as a teammate. The city is alive. Though I'm sure Blade Runner would need another movie to prove it.
Kang makes a deal with the Avengers. He seeks time and protection to recuperate from battle against an arch-wizard named Myrddin. In return he'll feed them knowledge about the Tribulation Events. To broker trust, he gives the Avengers inside information on how to prevent mass casualties blipping in the immediate future. That's a nice bit of writing. What can Kang offer the Avengers? Lives. Brilliant.
As stated, Myrddin is responsible for Kang's sorry state. MacKay sets up Myrddin as an alternate Merlin. If you've created a Merlin, why wouldn't you create a King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table?
MacKay obliges. There's a lot more to these characters than compare and contrast. Myrddin introduces them as champions. In other words, the Twilight Court are heroes. They do not want to harm or kill innocent people. They serve Myrddin, and they battle the Avengers out of fealty to him. There's even more about the Twilight Court revealed in the most recent issues of The Avengers. I'll not spoil it.
Myrddin is self-admittedly not a hero. He like Kang is interested in obtaining a macguffin called The Missing Moment. MacKay just revealed what that whatnot is. Even though it's nothing to sneeze at, I'm still arguing that it's just a catalyst to motivate Kang. A good catalyst, but a catalyst nonetheless.
Myrddin tracks Kang down while the Twilight Court battle the Avengers. He unleashes some more devastation.
Ouch. I can't say I feel sorry for Kang, but did he have this coming? It depends on the Kang. This one...I'm going with...probably not.
With a massive gap in his memory, Kang tracks down the hard copy of data he compiled on the Missing Moment. Elder of the Universe The Grandmaster, whom you may know as Jeff Goldblum, possesses the data.
The Grandmaster locked it up for auction in his old-timey vault, at The Speculatorium of En Dwi Gast. An intergalactic casino, which he happens to own.
Through a magical contact, the Scarlet Witch learns of the auction, and she hatches a plan.
A heist says you? This is about as much fun as a superhero can have. Superheroes behaving badly. Stealing a whatnot from a cosmic super-being that's a ne'er-do-well at best. Still thievery. Something a superhero isn't supposed to engage in. Naughty, naughty.
MacKay demonstrates his fine skill for characterization during the discussion. It's telling that Wanda, one of the founding members of The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and Storm, a child pick-pocket, get the most charge out of this plan.
They're above board now. Not always so goody-goody in the past. Yes. I do know the original X-Men lore. It's when you go post-Byrne that the fog rolls in.
The art in The Avengers is uniformly excellent. It doesn't matter if it's C.F. Villa, Valerio Schiti or as in this case Farid Karami and Federico Blee. The art is just stunning. What I love about this story's visuals is that because it's a heist, a lot of the team are all smiles.
This is a rare thing in comic books. Incidentally, Vision and Scarlet Witch have never been chummier, other than when they were a couple.
The roulette ball is in play. With the distraction carried out, the other members of the team go to work.
What terrific disguises! If you haven't yet figured it out. This tale is an outright comedy, it would have to be because of its guest-star. Though not guest-Avenger as the cover would have it.
Kang because he is not a thief, recruits the Black Cat as his cutpurse. Kang cannot use his awesome time-travel technology because it's the Grandmaster's casino.
Any other casino, he may not have needed the Black Cat, but this one? "What's up, Pussycat?"
I love the Black Cat. Specifically Jed MacKay's super fun treatment of the feline. If you haven't picked up MacKay's Black Cat series and its myriad spin-offs with Mary Jane Watson and/or Iron Man, do so. You won't be sorry.
If I hadn't already been reading Avengers, I would have started with this issue. It has everything I'm looking for. The Black Cat. A heist. Time Travel that makes sense. Gosh.
The Black Cat has a personal stake in the heist, and that price gives this story its emotional punch. For Black Cat fans, this is the awwwww moment.
If you're not a Black Cat fan, well, you should be one. Then you would know what the Black Cat's price for helping Kang and her recruitment means to her.
Some of the Black Cat's crew do not need to be hidden. For example, there's the muscle, a fan favorite whom you may recognize from Excalibur.
The muscle of course adds to the light heartedness of the caper and her team messes with the Avengers providing further distraction, on the Kang Team front.
Of course because it's Kang, you can expect a double cross. The Black Cat may be unpredictable, but does have lines she will not cross.
Like many a hero, villain or parasitic alien pair of pants, Kang will regret his boast. Check for back issues at your friendly, neighborhood comic book shop. If you prefer the trade paperback look for ISBN: 9781302960766.
