Avengers #26 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Salvador Larroca (Artist), Frank Martin (Colorist)

The Story: Adaptoids versus fascist Avengers from another universe. Fight!

The Review: If there’s one thing that I really enjoy about super hero comics, it’s the inherent ability of writers to bring in multiples universes in their stories. While not a norm nowadays with every series, there is a certain tendency to bring out beings and concepts from alternatives universes and dimensions to the fold that bring out twists to familiar elements that always add a touch of nostalgia and innovation in fun ways. While this concept is not exclusive to capes comics, there is always a certain appeal to see how things might have deviated from the norm with but some simple actions or changes.

With Hickman playing with those very concepts presently in his big Avengers/New Avengers story, there is a lot with which he can advance his ongoing threads in interesting ways. Having dealt with the Marvel universe at large along with its cosmology in his previous big storyline, can he manage to build things up in ways that feel good enough to entice readers to go along with the slow build for the next biggest thing?

The writer, in his ways, does a lot of interesting things in this issue, yet stumbles in a few moments as well. Where he mostly succeed is when he plays with A.I.M. and the approach this organisation has with science. The balance between mad and super science is a sound one with their scientists, with Hickman showing he has some fun with them as he builds them up to become rather big in terms of antagonists in the larger Marvel universe. The adaptoids, their purpose and how A.I.M. tests them make for some rather intriguing threads that could become very interesting down the line.

The Avengers #26 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Jason Keith (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Cap sends Thor and a team of Avengers to space on a suicide mission to head off the Phoenix.  However, all is not what it seems for Noh-Varr.

The Review:  Let’s be clear here: the big selling point on this issue is Simonson’s artwork.  I imagine that there will be a lot of readers who won’t enjoy his style.  Admittedly, it’s not the polished, photo-referenced stuff that’s become commonplace in comics these days, nor is it the labour intensive awesomeness that you’d get out of a Lee Bermejo or Alex Ross.  In fact, Simonson’s art is basically a throwback.  Really, though, that’s part of why it’s so much freaking fun.  It’s filled with gleeful nostalgia and it’s really dynamic, fast-paced stuff.  This is also reflected in Simonson’s layouts as well.  His work has a tremendous amount of energy and character to it and it really just breathes “comics” in its purest form.  Hanna and Keith do great work in supporting Simonson’s work as well: Hanna simply emphasizes the already present strengths to Simonson’s work while Keith matches Simonson’s energy with simple but vibrant colors.

It also helps that Bendis realizes that Simonson is the big selling point here; he essentially writes a script that offers plenty of time for Simonson to shine.  Obviously, this means we get to see a lot of Thor, which is great, especially for that priceless nostalgia.  More than that though, Simonson gets to draw the Avengers battling the Phoenix in space, which is so much grandiose fun to read and look at.

Unfortunately, while the art is a lot of fun, the script is a puzzling one in that I’m left wondering why this story had to be told.  The problem is that Bendis is basically telling the exact same story that Remender told last month in Secret Avengers.  Both books are focused on the same team, the same general story/conflict, in the same setting.  It’s a bizarre duplicate.  Of course, this also leads to problematic contradictions between the two – the Avengers rig  up a second device in a second attempt to contain the Phoenix (which never happened in Secret Avengers), while Mar-Vell, a big part of Remender’s version of the story, is not present (here, all the Kree double-crossing is left to Noh-Varr).  It’s stuff like this that really makes your brain  hurt.  Why are two creative teams telling the same story in two different books, at the same time?  And how can there be such glaring contradictions between the two?  How did editorial okay this?  I understand that they wanted to give Simonson a Thor story, but surely it didn’t have to step on Secret Avengers’ toes to this extent.