Released on March 10th, 1972
Here it is...the big finale of the "Kree/Skrull War." I'd love to say that it's amazing and a worthy ending to such a famous tale but sadly it's not. The ending is pretty much a deus ex machina, which is machine of God, something writers like Shakespeare would employ when they couldn't figure out how to end a story because they were kind of stuck. Since realistic means couldn't get a proper ending, a miraculous event would. In this book, Rick Jones saves the day. Apparently, every earthling has an untapped power within them and the Intelligence Supreme helps Rick Jones unleash his. His power is to unleash dream versions of the Avengers into reality to fight the Kree. Then Jones shoots a beam of power from his head that freezes every Kree and Skrull in place so that they're defeated. It also unmasks Craddock, who was the senator dude on Earth that was riling up crowds to be anti-alien, as a Skrull. So they ended the story with a frigging beam of light shot out of a guy's head. Yep. Stupid, sure, though they had to end it somehow I guess. After Rick Jones does this he collapses but Captain Marvel saves him by merging with him to become one. And that's it, folks, nothing to see here! Sal Buscema is back doing the art, which helps it a little, though it's still a bit of a letdown. Wikipedia notes that this story line is "notable for its cosmic scope of interstellar warfare, enormous cast of characters, use of metaphor and allegory (for instance, to Joseph McCarthy and HUAC and the Arab-Israeli War), and the introduction of the Vision-Scarlet Witch romance, which became an ongoing theme for the characters (and the Avengers) for years to come. The "Kree/Skrull War" is considered by critics to be a highlight of its era." Well, not this critic. Although I admit I was entertained. The first handful of issues were a lot of fun at least. And the story and characters were compelling enough that if this had occurred right now I'd probably gladly keep reading the book to see what happens next (Goliath's fate is left up in the air for some reason). Why this story is so well-known is kind of beyond me. Maybe the other books of that era were really terrible? This was around the time when Stan Lee stopped writing all of his books. Maybe things got stale at Marvel and this was light years better than everything. Eh...it was fun while it lasted, but by no means is it some sort of revelatory classic. **
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