Revisiting Avengers Forever

by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern (Writers), Carlos Pacheco, Jesus Merino (Artists), Steve Oliff, Olyoptics.com, Graphic Color Works (Colorists)

There are several stories that are hold with high regard in the industry. Marvels, Kingdom Come, Watchmen and many others are such stories that people are still talking about to this very day, leaving an impact that can be debated for hours amongst fans. Most of them are cherished for their unique stories or with their presentation, which is the stuff that comic fans are living for. Still, amongst all of those critical darlings, there are some stories that represent either a specific character or concept at its best, like Batman: Year One or Daredevil: Born Again, which can be used as the summary and explanation of why this specific character is great.

Avengers Forever is sometimes referred to as one of the very pinnacle of the Avengers franchise, namely the pre-Bendis era of the title. Written by Kurt Busiek of Marvels and Astro City fame, it tries to hold the very essence of what makes the Avengers what they are while telling a story of cataclysmic proportions. Still, with the present era of Avengers being definitely different than the previous one written by such like Roy Thomas or Kurt Busiek himself. With such a big disparity between styles, can this book actually provide entertainment with a more modern outlook on it?

Secret Avengers #36 – Review

By: Rick Remender (Writer), Matteo Scalera (Artist), Matthew Wilson (Colorist)

The Story: The Secret Avengers manages to get on the scene to fight Father and his plan for massive robotic evolution.

The Review: Rick Remender, much like Jonathan Hickman, is a man with a plan. With each arc and characters he gets to write, he builds a plan that leads inevitably to a great confrontation, a crux if you will. He did so in Uncanny X-Force, in Fear Agent, and he does so right now in Secret Avengers.

Many of his characters are now set in place, for a grand finale involving all the major players. Be it with some grand choices they have to make or confrontations they had to face, most of the characters are now going against the massive threat that had been built from the very moment Rick Remender had begun writing this series and Father in Uncanny X-Force. There is a lot of action in this issue and a lot of very big and decisive moments, most of which are a joy to read.

Avengers #34 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (story), Brandon Peterson,  Mike Mayhew, Jim Cheung, Leinil Yu, Mark Morales, Mike Deodato, Olivier Coipel, Terry Dodson & Walter Simonson (art), Scott Hanna & Rachel Dodson (inks), Jason Keith, Laura Martin & Paul Mounts (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story:  The Avengers work to escape the microverse after one more big fight with centaur kingpin Lord Gouzar.

The Review:  I’m a big fan of Bendis and, as such, I’ve stuck with his Avengers books for a long, long time now.  Suffice it to say, it’s been a rocky road with highs and lows.  With that said, he’s done a lot for the franchise and so I really do wish I could give a glowing review for this giant-sized farewell issue.  I mean, the sheer amount of heart he puts into his lengthy farewell letter at the end of the issue makes me really want this issue to be a great one.  But it isn’t.

Quite honestly, it’s been pretty clear for a while now that Bendis perhaps overstayed his welcome on Avengers; ideas were being recycled, certain issues felt phoned in, and this issue really only evidences that fact.  Everything just feels so derivative and phoned in that it’s hard to believe much passion and effort went into its creation from Bendis.  Given how sincere his farewell letter was, you’d figure that he’d really try to blow us away with this issue, but perhaps he just doesn’t have it in him anymore.

Avengers #33 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (story), Terry Dodson (pencils), Rachel Dodson (inks), Jason Keith (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story:  The Avengers try to save the Wasp from Lord Gouzar and leave behind the Microverse once and for all.

The Review:  Comics like this are really frustrating, particularly when it comes to reviewing, let alone grading them.  What the hell do you do with a comic that is so perfectly inoffensive?  Bendis and the Dodsons give us that this month, providing us with an issue that is completely passable on every front but not a whole lot more than that.  There’s not a lot to praise, but there’s also nothing to really gripe about either.

That being said, in giving us a by the numbers “fun” Avengers story, it can definitely be argued that this issue feels a bit like comfort food.  It’s archetypal “big” superhero comics and everything is adequately and professionally done.  As such, it’s a nice, easy read and a fun way to pass the time, without causing any real irritation or frustration.

At the very least, Bendis gives us a nicely balanced comic here – there’s a good amount of action, plot progression, snappy dialogue, and humour, as well as genuine emotion in the reunion of the Pyms.  Overall, it’s a fairly rounded experience that never drags.

Daredevil #19 – Review

by Mark Waid (writer), Chris Samnee (artist), Javier Rodriguez (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer)

The Story:  As Matt’s mind falls apart, he finally figures out who’s behind all the insanity.

The Review:  While it’s not always had the same amount of success, one thing I’ve loved and respected Waid for doing in this series is truly experimenting and expanding on the type of stories that can be told with Daredevil.  With guys like Miller, Bendis, and Brubaker defining the “Daredevil comic,” we got to a point where the “Daredevil comic” was by definition a gritty noir affair.  Throughout his run, Waid has tried to break free of that mold, throwing the Man Without Fear into different genres.

This month, he tosses Daredevil a bit more into the horror genre (right in time for Hallowe’en!).  It’s a subtle, toes in the water move at this point, but it’s definitely palpable, and it definitely works.  Having a main character who is just as unsure as the reader is about what is and what isn’t real makes for a turbulent read that keeps the reader engaged and just a little unsettled.  Matt’s lack of vision and his radar sense also become vulnerabilities in themselves and as things pop in and out of reality and the Spot’s power mess around with Matt’s surroundings, there is also something distinctly creepy about the way Samnee illustrations Matt’s radar-vision of the world.

Where the horror element really kicks in though his with returning villain, the Spot, now new and improved with a distinctly horror-movie appearance.  Waid and Samnee do a great job of emphasizing the creepier aspects of the villain’s powers, leading to some really great panels.  There’s just something naturally disturbing about scores of disembodied hands reaching out to grasp Matt from black portals.  I don’t know what it is, but it just gives me the heebie-jeebies.  The ending of the issue is also great – it’s completely ridiculous, visually, but is a classic sort of “muhuhaha” horror moment.

All this being said, I’ll admit: I have an axe to grind with this issue.  I thought Waid’s use of Foggy this month was nothing less than deplorable.  What Waid has Foggy do this month is complete and utter betrayal of Matt.  That, in itself, runs completely contrary to who Foggy Nelson is.  I don’t care that Foggy thought he was doing it for Matt’s own good or that he was drunk – it’s a massive betrayal and, as such, it cuts to the core of Foggy’s character and it, well, it just isn’t Foggy.  Frankly, we’ve seen Matt in direr straits than this during Bendis and Brubaker’s runs and never once did Foggy even think of betraying Matt in this manner.  Foggy’s actions this month are really out of the blue and make the character difficult to like and genuinely irritating, which is a very bad look for Foggy and one which he was never meant to have.  Given what he and Matt have been through and who Foggy is, it also makes little sense.

Avengers vs. X-Men #3 – Review

By: Ed Brubaker (writer), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Laura Martin (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: Cap and Wolverine have a “discussion” regarding his actions on Utopia.

The Review: I figure a lot of readers are going to have a different interpretation of this issue, one that ends up being much more negative.  Why are the characters behaving so stupidly and resorting to violence so easily?  Why are they going directly against their clearly stated principles?  For more cynical readers, this will no doubt be ascribed to poor writing and “event storytelling.”

But I don’t think it’s that simple.  Rather, much like in the first issue of AvX, we’re finally being given an event that has heart and character moments and not just heroes smashing things.   I think the ease with which Cap and Wolverine resort to violence is a testament to their fraying at the edges under the pressure of this impending cataclysm, as well as the pandemonium of friends having become enemies.  That Cap behaves stupidly in so quickly throwing his fists isn’t poor writing at all – rather, it shows that he’s human.  He’s not some unassailable paragon.  Under tremendous stress, with the X-Men now enemies and the world turned upside down, Cap is slowly losing his cool, instead becoming more like….well, Tony Stark in his uglier days.  Stress is breaking these heroes and seeing events take their toll on their psyches is what makes this story feel meaningful and rife with significance and desperation.

Avengers Academy #14 – Review

By: Christos Gage (writer), Sean Chen (penciller), Scott Hanna (inker), Jeromy Cox (colorist), John Denning (assistant editor), Bill Rosemann (editor)

The Story: Electro attacks France’s main science institute while most of the full-fledged Avengers are away. The kids need a chance to prove themselves and Electro isn’t the baddest guy in town. When they get there, though, it turns out he ain’t alone. The kids don’t do too bad, though, all things considered.

What’s Good: Gage did one thing every great writer must do. He made the heroes active. They wanted something. They wanted it bad, and we the reader can sympathize: they want to prove themselves. They’re not asking for a free lunch. Just put me in the game coach. I like them already. This situation also creates a lot of tension, because when has any battle plan survived contact with the enemy? I love how well the trainees do against the Sinister Six and I have to say, I really like the ending. For a while, when I saw how they got the bad press and all, I was thinking “Oh great. Another thin persecution story. Seen it.” But Gage tricked me. That wasn’t the end. The end was about stepping up to the plate morally that was the big climax of the book. The fight, for all that it was a great superhero donnybrook, was really just a plot device to get to the personal growth made by a surprising number of people at the end. What am I saying about the writing? Gage was right on target.

And, I have to say, after my first exposure to the Chen-Hanna-Cox team, I’m loving the art. The fine lines leave a lot of room to fill the panels with detail, which I love. The credit page is a pretty good example of this. From top to bottom, the big panel is brimming with the external accoutrements of the Avengers Mansion, the backgrounded and framing characters, the tight line of those arguing, with some intense Giant-Man action thrown in as background. That is visual storytelling! And Cox’ colors are beautiful and clear, with the bright spots attracting the eye to the important parts of the page. I also enjoyed Chen’s slanting camera angles and overlaid panels. His layouts and choices of borders (or not) kept the pages from ever feeling the same. Chen and team made it feel like there was so much action going on that it could only be layered. And a PS: I loved the texture of Reptile and Rhino when they slapped down.

Realm of Kings – Review

By Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Leonardo Marco & Mahmud Asrar (artists), Bruno Hang (colorist)

The Story: What lies beyond The Fault? It’s an answer Marvel’s cosmic heroes have wanted to know ever since the war between Black Bolt and his Inhumans and the mutant Vulcan came to its tragic conclusion. Quasar, newly resurrected and desperate to prove his worth to his colleagues, has offered to delve into the tear in time and space to find out what lies on the other side, but what he finds there threatens to consume the entire Marvel Universe.

The Good: Readers will know that lately I’ve been taking a long overdue interest in Marvel’s cosmic heroes, and since I’ve missed the previous storylines set in this corner of the Marvel universe, I’ve decided now’s as good a time as any to jump on the rollercoaster and fully experience what so many other critics have been buzzing about for years now. I’m glad I’m starting here, because this issue has set the stage for a truly epic, terrifying story. Abnett and Lanning have masterful control over this little corner of Marvel’s universe, and it shows in the tight, interlocking arcs they are weaving together. From Annihilation right on through War of Kings, each story feels like a natural extension of the one that came before and not just another overly-marketed gimmick. These guys have literally rebuilt the universe from the ground up and it shows with the rich characterization and intricate plots they have developed. Quasar rings true as a devastatingly powerful hero struggling to earn his role as the guardian of the universe right at a time when it is most threatened, and the confidence with which he handles himself on the other side of The Fault reminds us why it remains a role he was born for. As for what lies beyond The Fault, I’m choosing not to comment because I don’t want to spoil the surprise, except to say the eerie combination of Lovecraftian horror and traditional superheroes is a delight and something I sincerely hope to see more of even after this storyline concludes.

The Not So Good: Nothing that won’t spoil your reading experience. This issue is primarily set up and exposition for the storyline proper, but I swear you’ll be so freaked out and have such a good time following Quasar’s journey (and I never thought I’d be saying that about a man named Wendell Vaughn) that you’ll hardly notice, and if anything want just a few more pages to see what happens next.

Conclusion: In a year highlighted by shockingly mediocre storylines, I feel like Marvel may have finally struck gold with Realm of Kings, and I’m really excited to see what happens next.

Grade: A-

-Tony Rakittke