Avengers #689

"No Surrender" has been a widescreen epic since the first panel. The creative team figured out a way to highlight some lesser-known Avengers, but managed to keep the tale epic in scope and severe in consequence. Over the course of the saga, they expanded the Marvel Universe with a few new characters, and gave us a story that could have easily been a free-standing event. Read Full Review

You'll be back because this one will pull you back with its tightly woven story and some of the very best visuals I've ever seen. Read Full Review

Perfect payoff. This is how to end an epic! The heroes are brave and smart, the villains tremendous. The story gives you all you could want and more. And the art is to die for. This works brilliantly. And there's a coda in the next issue? Wow. Read Full Review

Avengers #689 was an exciting exploration of what it means to be an Avenger. Some creative teams will miss that mark, but not this one. I don't think they have ever once forgotten to capture the significance and that is what has made No Surrender so captivating. Ask for the full package of an event, and what you have is this. Read Full Review

This run got me back into the Avengers without really showing me the main team. Excellent job Waid. I can't wait to see the last issue! Read Full Review

AVENGERS #689 may have an anticlimactic villain, but the overall message is inspiring and motivational. Al Ewing, Mark Waid, and Jim Zub deliver such beautiful quotes for fans, and the artwork delivered by Pepe Larraz and David Curiel stuns on almost every page. Read Full Review

It's a decent bookend to this long-running story; a little hackneyed, a little truly emotional. Amazingly, on such a tight schedule, the art consistency has outpaced that of the writing, a feat in itself. Read Full Review

Avengers 689 is a nice ending, it has all the trademark moments, sacrifice and team work, but there wasn't anything that original or groundbreaking. While we still have one more issue of this series to go, it doesn't feel like it went anywhere since it's all gone back to normal. Read Full Review

Although relying heavily on characters that struggle to hold the weight of the narrative, the latest Avengers issue succeeds in utilizing these heroes in an exploration of what it truly takes to be on the team. It eloquently addresses the concerns of many fans who question the relevance of so many characters in the team, showing that the heroes are those who dont act simply to be remembered. Read Full Review

A good climax to a large series that had the misfortune of having too many Avengers and not enough panel space for them. Read Full Review

It isn't bad, but it feels like it doesn't quite meet its full potential. Read Full Review

RustonLF

Apr 19, 2018

With issues still to come, it is surprising that the game between the Challenger and Grandmaster comes to an end. I really enjoyed the fact that the fate of the world came down to a poker game between the Grandmaster and Living Lightning. It is a satisfying conclusion even if there is more to come. We get a view of heroes reacting across the world as things fall apart. Something used often to show the level of the threat and I enjoyed. The art looks pretty great throughout the issue. The panels are all very classic. Larraz does not play with the page layouts, but uses them well to tell the story. Colors look pretty great. Characters are colorful and pop against some dark and gloomy settings. I would recommend the issue.

Kalaoui

Apr 19, 2018

What does it mean to be an Avenger! Great stuff! While all the heroes do their thing a very obscure guy saves the world. Fantastic story and Larraz is a fantastic artist that illustrates it all in a beautiful and epic manner while Curiel's colors fill the pages with every color imaginable. Just fun!!

Dispatchdcu

Apr 22, 2018

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten. We open with all of our heroes coming together to fight the new Grandmaster ( Challenger). And together, they get beat up and broken. They split into teams to hit him in waves but it still won’t work. Falcon somehow connects mentally to him, since we now assume Grandmaster is part bird, and tries to telepathically bring him down to no avail. But a plea to Voyager for help to alter everyone’s memories to get them to remember truly what they are fighting for, gives our heroes the last burst they need to push beyond their limits and take him down. Meanwhile, we get Lightening challenging the old Grandmaster to a game of poker. If he wins, he puts the world back to how it was before and releases all the heroes and villains that were trapped. If Lightening loses, the old Grandmaster gets all of earth as his trophies to play with as he wishes. However, Lightening throws it all on the line and bluffs the Old Grandmaster to fold by raising the stakes too high that he has to fold. Lightening offered up what it truly means to be a hero. He was willing to sacrifice himself and his existence if he lost but the Grandmaster wasn’t willing to do the same. You see; he would have been forgotten by everyone, never existed, and not even a memory to everyone. A true heroes choice. It’s what makes a great hero and a great human being. The idea is No Surrender. Now we finally get the title. No matter what, no matter what gets in our heroes way, humans will never give up. Humans will never back down. We will never surrender. It’s what makes us human. With free will comes choice. The choice to do right and wrong. And even though many humans choose themselves, choose the wrong choice over and over, there are so many of us that choose to do what’s right. We choose hope. We choose to fight. more

+ Like • Comments (2)

Dispatchdcu - Apr 22, 2018

It’s a nice reminder of what it means to be human as well as an Avenger. Avengers fight until the end and fight for those that can’t. We can all learn a lesson from these characters, especially Lightening, and in doing so could make our own world a better place. Now after stepping off my high horse, I will say this: I’m curious to see who our next Avenger team will be. Personally, after this issue, one of my votes goes to Lightening.

Dispatchdcu - Apr 22, 2018

This run got me back into the Avengers without really showing me the main team. Excellent job Waid. I can’t wait to see the last issue! If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Ryan

Feb 10, 2019

A really really solid conclusion and I don’t know what to say that I haven’t said already so just read Avengers: No Surrender. The art is pure eye candy

Spock's Brain

Apr 24, 2018

The penultimate issue of "No Surrender" is a likely climax to the the story, big and sweeping, and full of feel-good Avenger moments. I have to say that Pepe Larraz's art looks better now than it did when I first stepped on board this arc, and I think this serves as a note for Avengers writers as to the right tone and mood for the book. I think a lot of the good here comes from the really fun villains, and the cosmic-ness of the story. I never would have thought I'd say this, but the new Jason Aaron "Avengers" book has some big boots to fill.

mrDovydas

May 05, 2018

Wonderful final battle, definitely well executed with a great artwork.

Ultimate Goblin

Aug 18, 2023

Came for the Hulk - stayed for Avengers. It does a really good work of capturing what it is to be an avenger. I still don't really care much about most of these heroes and villains, but it looks like a solid comic to me.

CrazyforRAMU

Nov 10, 2018

Powerful Assembling saves the day on Earth while Lightning gets his moment in the spotlight by out-clevering the Grandmaster. Themes, story, and art are all excellent; there are a lot of great connections back to the very beginning. Clumsy words hold this on the threshold between good and great for me. It feels like the narration and the dialogue are making it harder to see the cleverness of the plot; surely their job is to do the opposite. The visuals really make the most out of a cast-o-thousands and deliver tons of impressive moments.

DDJamesB

Apr 19, 2018

This book had some really interesting points and also managed to take this 16 book event and kind of rush the ending a little bit. The part with lightning and the card game was really cool but the whole memories thing was a little too much. Overall, this whole arc has been pretty solid with just a decent ending. Definitely not bad at all.

SpiderKnight

Jan 07, 2019

Squirrel Girl is very annoying. Thank God she only had a few dialogues in this issue. Miguel saves the day by playing Poker cards with Grandmaster. Yes, this whole Avengers: No Surrender thing ends with Miguel winning in Poker against the Grandmaster. Its funny, but it felt a bit rushed. The art by Pepe Larraz felt rushed at times as well though, definitely not his best work here. As always, the standout is David Curiel with his great colouring. This issue overall was still good but just wasnt amazing. It was a decent ending to a decent event.

SloboSOY

Apr 19, 2018

At least ... It's Finish ... Well, not quite ... But it seem like it. That part was as disappointing as all the rest of the story. So Miguel was there just to bluff in a Poker hold hem. I'm bumped ! Cover - Nice & related to the story 2/2 Writing - I didn't enjoyed it much. 1.5/3 Arts - The arts is still really good. 3/3 Feeling - I just wait for the end now ! 0/2