As seen on the cover of Chip Kidd and Michael Cho’s The Avengers in the Veracity Trap goes back to the Marvel Comics’s and the group’s beginnings as the team roster and the depictions of some costumes reveal. Iron Man, Thor, Giant Man, Wasp and the Hulk are seemingly being blasted by Loki.
Buy The Avengers in the Veracity TrapHowever, Captain America is also there. He was found in a block of ice and revived in Issue #4, but the Hulk quit the group at the end of Issue #2 so there’s a slight discrepancy in continuity. But as it turns out this isn’t simply an Avengers story. Instead, it’s what used to appear in the pages of Marvel Team-Up with Earth’s mightiest heroes joining forces with…Chip Kidd and Michael Cho in a mind-bending meta adventure.
The books opens in Asgard as Loki and a number of monsters (keen-eyed Marvelites will notice Fin Fang Foom) await the imminent arrival of the Avengers. The battle commences and Cho’s art features bold colors that pop off the glossy page and panels that trick the brain into seeing action. In another reference to Marvel’s early days, individual Avengers, except for the pairing of Giant Man and Wasp, are featured on “A Marvel Masterwork Pin-up” splash page during the fight. These all would absolutely look great framed and posted on a wall.
Thor is the first one subjected to Loki’s Veracity Vortex and when he returns, he explains to his comrades what he has learned from the other side: that they exist in a comic book and what they do and say aren’t controlled by unknown, outside forces. The story pulls back and and readers see Chip and Mike working on the very book they hold…that is, until the Avengers show up. The Avengers pull the fellas into the Vortex to help destroy it, but can these storytellers help stop Loki, the god of stories?
The Veracity Vortex is not an indulgent excuse for the creators to get in on the comic action. Their inclusion allows for the telling of a thoughtful story, one that delves into identity and the choices one makes in their life, as well as the power of stories, in particular the inspiration derived from those told through “four-color pictures” on “cheap newsprint.”
Cho’s art is marvelous (pun intended and accurate) and the book includes a reversible, two-sided dust jacket featuring Giant-Man, Thor, Iron Man, and the Wasp with exclusive art by Michael Cho on the underside and Hulk and Captain America on the case designed by Chip Kidd
