Editor's Note: Avengers/Invaders #5 arrives in stores tomorrow, October 8.

Krueger and Ross are spinning a web of intrigue with spider-like detail and precision. Everyone seems to have an agendum, and while some are clear or purposeful, others have had just enough light shed upon them to stir our curiosity.

Wildcard after wildcard is played. Displaced soldier Paul Anselm seems to have resigned himself to being "stuck" in the future - a future that contains his still living, veteran counterpart. His wish to put things right, and the possibility of seeing it realized, may be tied to the mysterious figure who appeared in the first chapter to hand him the newspaper. Or not.

The present-day Bucky is playing with fire by confronting his teen self and offering advice that would, if followed, change his personal destiny. He seems unfazed that doing so might unravel the future as we know it. Or not.

The Human Torch is perhaps playing the most dangerous game. He has become convinced that the Life Model Decoys employed by S.H.I.E.L.D. are rational, subjugated beings and is on the cusp of taking up arms in their cause. The LMD's, meanwhile, seem to have anticipated their potential saviour, which begs the question: who really controls the Cosmic Cube purported to have caused the time displacement? Based on the terrible glimpse we're given into the Torch's history, it's impossible to question his motives. Or it would be had the Invaders not been flung ahead from December 1943, while the horror the Torch relives is plainly dated 1945. Is he simply being manipulated?

Why Tony Stark and Dr. Strange haven't texted one another to compare notes on the overall situation remains a sticking point. Stark's desire to maintain order and isolate the Invaders from the present is sensible, but at no time has he so much as suggested a means of how to return them. Strange has things under control for the moment, using one of his larger hats to contain the rabbit that is the temporal landslide threatening to rewrite sixty-five years of history. Stark appears unaware of the influence of the Cosmic Cube, but Strange hasn't bothered to suggest that one of his renegade Avengers might mention this key detail while they're busy having at it on the Helicarrier. I appreciate that these events are occurring at the albeit brief height of the Superhuman Registration clampdown, but with the stakes so high and so many brilliant and heroic people working at cross-purposes toward the same end, it shouldn't take so long for someone to call a time-out. Of course we wouldn't be treated to quite so many fight scenes if this were the case, but I'd hate to think that the central purpose of creating this story was to have a bunch of people relentlessly punching one another in the face (though I am willing to continue to overlook the fact that, given Strange's being busy controlling a whole other kind of chaos, Stark's team should have mopped up the "New" Avengers and the Invaders in the first panel, notwithstanding attitude and teamwork).

During my first pass through this issue, I failed to notice the addition of Filipino artist Patrick Berkenkotter to the credits (a.k.a. ~sith70... muhahahaha!!!). Instead I absently wondered why much of Sadowski's work wasn't up to the standards he'd set in the previous chapters. Berkenkotter has done cover work for Dynamite Entertainment, who are the inspirational force behind Avengers/Invaders. Had I a little more lead time I might have asked why, exactly, he was brought aboard (presumably the delay between issues #4 & #5 were in part intended to allow Sadowski some breathing space) and whether his contribution was Sadowski's suggestion or an editorial one. There's nothing wrong with the art, but, as I said, it lacks the detail and polish of earlier chapters. Without looking at the solicitations, I can only hope that Steven will be back flying solo for the next issue.

Where does this leave us? Was the initial "Ordnung Zeitgeist" a red herring or a coincidence? Is there actually a Cosmic Cube in play that captured the Invaders to our time or is Strange being deceived? Why did his initial attempt to locate it produce a vision of the Golden Age Vision, and why didn't he recognize the WWII-era mystery man (noting only that he "looks like the Vision" - the synthezoid version)? If Strange is as powerful as we've always believed, and as grandly portrayed as he is here, why isn't the world up to its dingus in puppies and kittens? What's up with the LMD's? Is Paul Anselm's role more than incidental? All we can do is stay tuned. Same Avengers time, same Invaders channel!

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