The theme for this week of comics is: Pacing. Whether good or bad, I seemed to notice a good deal of pacing problems for some. This series suffers the same fate, which doesn’t really hurt the issue as a whole, but it did feel kinda weird.

Let me get this out of the way: Captain America as a Nova member was fucking awesome. Deodato’s ‘costume’ for Rogers was fantastic and I wish we could have even more Nova Cap in our life. The issue itself, which was basically a brawl with brainwashed Rider, was fun to read. This series just brings out the old school awesomeness of the old Avengers titles. A good amount of drama, suspense, and a whole lot of ass kicking. There is a good amount of intrigue as well, as Brubaker keeps the mystery going with Nick Fury and these Serpent soldiers to continue. The ending though, or the last 3-4 pages, did feel like an end though. The fight honest felt a bit too quick and it feels like we really didn’t need another issue. Obviously the Fury stuff needs to be answered, but as an arc itself it feels like it’s already over.

 Deodato continues to identify himself as Neal Adams considering how his panel layouts are. I just love how kinetic this issue feels. When the action gets going, Deodato hold’s no punches and let’s everything go on the page. I’ll admit though the digital effects (which look to be digital) of powerblasts and other flashy moments do make it hard to follow who is who. I swore I was looking at Cap fighting Nova and then realize it’s the other way around. Minor problems aside, Deodato is still impressing me with this series and I am starting to really like this guy.

Okay, so the big fight in this did feel a bit rushed. But overall this was still a fun, and exciting Avengers title to read. Having Rogers become a Nova member was more then enough to keep my attention. With Deodato doing some fantastic layouts I continue to feel like this is the best Avengers book (or best book with Avengers on the title) for Marvel right now. Now if I can only find a helmet like that for Halloween…