Avengers #15 Review

Writer: Jason Aaron / Artist: David Marquez / Marvel Comics I had a few thoughts while reading Avengers #15, this week. The most important one was definitely, “Holy . . . did that vampire really just let off an Optic Blast?!” A close second was “Did he just say ‘Boy-Thing’?”. Aaron and Marquez continue ‘The Battle for the Throne of the Damned’, a vampiric civil war between O.G. Dracula and the newer Shadow Colonel’s Legion of the Undead. Falcon . . . The Shadow Colonel and his surprisingly articulate dog, Sarge, manage to induce and control a berserker Ghost Rider out of Robbie. Escaping Avengers Mountain, they proceed to use him to further their crusade to control the vampiric world. Oh, and they predictably want to establish vampires as the ruling class on the Earth (you know, classic stuff). Iron Man, meanwhile, slips past the Winter Guard to offer Dracula asylum with the Avengers. The voluntarily imprisoned vampire refuses Tony’s proposal, but not before screwing with Tony’s head by telling stories of Howard Stark (never fails). We end with the rest of the Avengers catching up to the Legion and Ghost Rider, in the midst of a horrific attack. They will undoubtedly discuss terms of peaceful surrender over mead, synthetic blood, and cigars. This issue was connective tissue for the arc, formally introducing the Legion of the Undead when Shadow Colonel gives a brainwashed Ghost Rider an orientation. I’ll give props to the creativity of the Colonel having a “Boy-Thing” he grew …