Doctor Strange is still missing and The Avengers and The Defenders don’t know where he is. But that’s about to be the least of their problems. Your Major Spoilers review of Tarot #3 from Marvel, awaits!

TAROT #3 (OF 4)

Writer: Alan Davis
Artist: Paul Renaud
Colorist: Stephanie Paitreau
Letterer: VCs Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: February 26th, 2020

Previously in Tarot: The combined forces of The Avengers and The Defenders have tracked down an evil Ichor and have defeated it’s wielder, Diablo. But in the climactic battle Doctor Strange is sucked into a dimensional portal.

New Team On The Scene

Tarot #3 starts off with Captain America and Namor enlisting the help of The Fantastic Four in trying to figure out what the Ichor Is. Elsewhere, Silver Surfer and Scarlet Witch are at The Sanctum Santorum to speak to Wong. While there they realize something is wrong too late and are captured by Mephisto. In space, Doctor Strange is still on Silver Surfers board when it’s suddenly summoned by Galactus.  Thor and Valkyrie are in Asgard to see if Heimdall can find Doctor Strange. But they’re shocked to find that he doesn’t even recognize them. The Hulk and Iron Man are at Avengers Mansion trying to run an experiment to trace the portal that took Doctor Strange. All at once reality seems to break apart and a version of the wacky racers appear they are then joined by a team calling themselves The Unbelievables, who look like versions of old cartoon characters like Mighty Mouse. This new team overpowers both The Avengers and The Defenders. Valkyrie finds Diablo hiding and confronts him. He claims he isn’t in control anymore and tries to give her the tarot cards he created. The Valkyrie responds by slashing them in half. Back in space Doctor Strange tries to explain that Silver Surfer is on Earth, but when Galactus doesn’t recognize the name, Stephen realizes he’s back in time.  A quick cut to present day Earth shows that The Avengers and The Defenders have become amalgamations of themselves based on how the cards were split. Then The Unbelievables return.

A Whole Lot Of Weird, Not A Lot Of Story

Tarot #3 continues this series’ one way trip to crazy town and really steps on the gas to do it. There’s definitely an enjoyment to be had in seeing how all the wackiness play out, but after that there isn’t much of a story here.  This issue seems to only serve the purpose of reshuffling the characters and establishing the players for the next act of this story.  And, while the new additions and new situations in this book are truly interesting, their actual introductions are not handled well.  Without much explanation or reason, new characters just seem to pop in and do things for no other reason than to just be there and do them. The whole point of this issue is to be a delivery method to give the reader the surprise if seeing a Penelope Pitstop like character chatting with The Avengers. While this is fun, it’s not necessarily enough to carry a whole issue on its own.

Gotta Love A Good Amalgamation

The art in Tarot #3 is clean and functional. The highlight though, has to be the mixed up versions of the heroes near the end.  Seeing Silver Surfer clad in The Stars and Stripes, a hippie Stephen Strange meditating on a floating surf board and a suitless Tony Stark with Thor like garb is a real treat.

Bottom Line: More Like A Prelude To The Next Issue

I wouldn’t say that someone should skip this issue, especially if they have been following this series, but the reader shouldn’t expect any resolutions to ongoing plots, in fact, the reader should be prepared for more questions.  In lieu of real story development, expect some weird, fun, and wacky new characters and some enjoyable moments. 3 out of 5 stars.

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Tarot #3

63%

63%

Superficial

Tarot #3 has it's fair share of cool things to look at and enjoy, but ultimately doesn't do much of anything with these things.

• Writing

  5
• Art

  7
• Coloring

  7
• User Ratings (1 Votes)
  3.1