Avengers Prime #5 – Review

By Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Alan Davis (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Javier Rodriguez (colors) and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: Thor, Tony and Cap make a final stand against Hela, leading the diverse group they’ve managed to recruit in a giant, all-out battle. The outcome is far from certain, and even if they win, who knows if they’ll ever find their way back home?

What’s Good: What a great read this was! Taken on its own merits, the exciting battles and witty interplay between the characters make for an exciting and fun time. Bendis does a very good job capturing the feel of a large scale, old school Avengers adventure, and Alan Davis backs him up beautifully on pencils with excellent detail and some truly gorgeous splash pages. While I’m not a huge fan of contrived-feeling moral dilemmas like the one Thor faces at the end, Bendis treats it seriously enough, and treats the characters involved with enough respect, that it didn’t irk me nearly as much as it could have. That alone speaks volumes about the books overall quality.