the Mighty Avengers #33 - Marvel

This issue answers the question . . what would happen if Creel, the Absorbing Man, absorbed the power of the Cosmic Cube. Well . . apparently it's a question that's also perplexed the minds of the government scientists because they've been testing that conundrum at Project: Pegasus. I do have a question though. If they had the Cosmic Cube, or even just a portion of it, why did they test it this way? I mean . . holding the cube basically gives you power over all of reality . . why wouldn't one of the scientists just hold the cube and make the world the way he wanted it? Why would he take the chance of giving some psychopath the power? Does that make sense? Unless of course they aren't really testing the Cube, but instead are testing Creel. Anyways, the real action this issue happens between Norman and Hank. Both of them are trying to figure this out, and both of them would like access to the Cube. But again . . a little confusion here. After racing to find Creel's ball & chain, which is now a Cube, Hank does indeed get a hand on it first. But what does he do with it? He runs back to Creel and tries to hit him in the head with it. 'Godlike power meet Godlike weapon! Oldest game in the book . . fighting fire with fire!' And . . he accomplishes absolutely nothing. It doesn't look like anything is going to take this guy down. That is until Loki shows up and secretly gives Norman a special sword. 'A spellbreaker, Norman. Strong enough . . to undo any Asgardian charm.' Norman takes down Creel, and Loki manipulates the media to put all attention on Norman . . painting him to be the hero of the day. And with Creel beat . . everyone heads their own separate way. Well . . except for Captain Walker. Norman scolds him, strips him of his rank, and his office as USAgent because he colluded with the fugitives . . Hank's Avengers. However, Hank was astute enough to sense that there was some manipulation to the events. He has Cho scan the crowd, and indeed finds Loki in it. Oh yeah . . Ultron it back also. Somehow he infected one of Jacosta's replicants and is back in the mix of things. All in all, I thought it was an interesting book. There did seem to be a few leaps in logic in Dan Slott's story. But it was still entertaining. I enjoyed seeing Norman and Hank whip it out and measure it. And we got to see some interesting things happen to some of the characters because of Creel's use of the Cosmic power. And for the most part I'm enjoying Khoi Pham's pencils. I think the recent developments in this book have made it much more interesting than the New Avengers title. But . . that's just me.