New Warriors #2 – Review

By: Christopher Yost (writer), Marcus To (artist), Daniel Curiel (color artist)

The Story: Spurned by the X-Men, the Evolutionaries throw millennia of planning out the window and decide to back a new, more human, horse.

The Review: With the team’s final member making his appearance at the start of issue #2, New Guardians is clearly taking care with how the titular heroes come together. It’s an impressively varied group, but this is the time to prove that the execution will live up to its concept. In that respect, New Warriors #2 is a bit unsteady.

Picking up where we left off last month, this issue opens with our disparate heroes facing off with teams of Evolutionaries. These adversaries are imposing, thanks in no small part to Marcus To’s artwork, but despite the sheer number of conflicts, none of them justify the issue. It’s not that the book lacks spectacle, but that none of these fights feel like the core struggle. I suspect that this will seem less of a problem in trade, but as it’s probably going to be half a year before we see one, Chris Yost should really be providing a stronger arc in each issue.

The Evolutionaries also lose some of their menace this go around. At times this seems like a conscious choice, but in some cases it just diminishes the story. They whine too much and retreat too frequently, though hints of a greater plan keep them aloft.

With thirteen pages devoted to battles with the Evolutionaries or superhero infighting, Yost has to make his remaining seven count. Justice gets some much needed time to shine in the form of a visit to Avengers Tower. This scene could probably have sped up its exposition slightly, but is decidedly helpful to new readers and conveys Justice’s concern without making him seem dull. Then again, maybe it’s just the fact that he’s standing next to ol’ Slim Summers.

Avengers #14 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Dean White (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: “The Red Hulk…proved himself an Avenger.”

The Review:  As far as issue structure goes, this is a bit of a weird one.  We start out with the same talking heads format that found such success last month, then we end up with a near wordless action scene.  Bendis seems to be attempting to flirt with both of these formats, and it feels a little haphazard.

Which is a shame, because taken on their own merits, both sides are pretty solid.  The talking heads continues to bring an intimacy and humanity to the superhero community, which serve to highlight the gravity and devastation of the events of Fear Itself.  The action scenes are pretty damned awesome as well, as you’d expect a Thing-on-Steroids vs. Red Hulk battle to be.  More than that, Bendis manages to convey Red Hulk’s heroism through his actions alone and there is emotion attached to a battle that is, by and large, a regular old megapowered throwdown.

A major event of destruction happens this issue as well.  I can’t say much more than that, but suffice it to say that I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand, Romita’s grand artwork and Bendis’ tone sells this particular catastrophe well in both its scale and importance.  It again hammers home just how bad things are right now amidst the madness of Fear Itself.  On the other hand, it also feels kind of familiar.  Granted, this exact event hasn’t happened before to my knowledge, but we’ve come pretty close before and seen similar things happen.

I was also not a fan of “evil Ben’s” dialogue.  Bendis seems to, for reasons unknown, set Ben apart from most of the rest of his Worthy brethren.  He doesn’t speak that incomprehensible Asgardian monster language and, in fact, not only does he speak only English, he speaks colloquially.  In other words, he’s just evil Ben, which is a bit lame and completely at odds with what other writers have been doing, including Matt Fraction himself.

Mighty Avengers #30 – Review

By Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Sean Chen (artist), Mark Morales (inker), John Rauch (colorist)

The Story: Hank Pym and the embodiment of reality have a heart to heart while a ridiculously impressive number of past and present Avengers unite to collectively bitch-slap The Unspoken.

The Good: I enjoyed the subplot of this issue far more than I did the main story, but that’s not saying much when talking about “The Unspoken”.  The conversation between Pym and Eternity was far-fetched and more than a little ridiculous, yes, but at the same time it was so wildly off the wall that I couldn’t help but admire its brazen audacity.  I question if this is the right direction for Pym, but am also curious to see where Slott and Gage go with it.  This issue seems to be a prelude of sorts to the upcoming “Siege” storyline, as the New, Mighty, and Young Avengers all meet for the first time.  I was pretty impressed with how epic and powerful that moment felt, and am really hoping to see new team rosters come from this assembly.

The Not So Good: Why, oh why won’t this story end already?!  We’re now four months into this sloth-like monstrosity and practically nothing has happened.  Despite the writers’ efforts to convince us otherwise, The Unspoken continues to be an uninspired and thoroughly boring villain.  I’m utterly baffled that three full teams of Avenger are needed take down this guy when it takes him so long to get anything done.  Sure, the Slave Engine has finally been raised, but at the rate this story is going it will take another four months for this moron to actually activate the damn thing!  My concern is that this storyline will be dragged on right up until “Siege” begins, and I’m not sure I can hold out that long, this story is really that dull.

Conclusion: Mighty Avengers continues to be a fun comic and the best Avengers title being printed right now, but it is taking a serious beating from a bad story that is getting worse every month.  There are a few slivers of good ideas present here, but not nearly enough to justify buying the comic.  You don’t need this one, either.

Grade:  D

-Tony Rakittke

Mighty Avengers #28 – Review

By Dan Slott and Christos Gage (writers), Khoi Pham (artist), Allen Martinez (inker)

The Story: Cut off from the rest of their team by the machinations of Loki, US Agent and Quicksilver have no other choice but to battle The Unspoken alongside China’s premiere superhuman army.  Statue discovers ‘Scarlet Loki’s’ treachery but is prevented from revealing it to the other Mighty Avengers so she turns to her friends on the Young Avengers for help.

The Good: Ever since Slott came on board, I feel like this title has found new life and a sense of fun that is well worth my money.  There is a vibe to this book that reminds me of the kinds of Avengers stories I grew up reading, when dynamic and dramatic team rosters united against epic foes. Uber Republican US Agent was by far my favorite character in this issue, and I laughed out loud when he reverently referred to Norman Osborn as being a patriot.  What made that scene even cooler was his fight with the Collective Man, a Communist who can summon the strength of every person in China.  Delightfully mad ideas like this keep me coming back to this book every month.

The Not So Good: This was a fairly average issue that didn’t amount to nearly as much as it would have you believe it did.  I was so into the battle against The Unspoken that when Slott changed scenes to Pym injecting team members with keys to the Infinite Avengers Mansion or Stature deciding how to overcome the spell Loki placed on her, I felt like they dragged on longer than necessary .  The funny thing about that though was that when I went back to look at these scenes again, they really weren’t that long after all.

Conclusion: The Mighty Avengers is one hell of an entertaining book that harkens back to an older, more enjoyable tradition of Avengers stories.  If you’re fed up paying $8 a month for Bendis’ Avengers books, I strongly encourage you to give this a try instead!

Grade:  B

-Tony Rakittke

The Invincible Iron Man #14 (Dark Reign) – Review

By Matt Fraction (Writer), Salvador Larocca (Art), and Frank D’Armata (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Invincible Iron Man is written by the Matt Fraction that made me a fan of Matt Fraction.

The Story: With a mind that’s being deleted cell by cell, Tony Stark encounters the Crimson Dynamo and sees an opportunity. Meanwhile, Pepper Potts gets a checkup and then goes back to being a hero. As for Mariah Hill? She’s contacting a certain assassin for some help…

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: Another month, another very good issue of Invincible Iron Man that strengthens the argument for “World’s Most Wanted” being one of the best things to come out as a result of the Dark Reign period. The story keeps moving along at a pace that feels just right, pausing long enough for characters to make an impression (like Crimson Dynamo for instance) but never long enough to feel like things are starting to drag. While I’m sure some people will scoff at the logistics of Stark’s “delete my brain” plan, it’s difficult to seriously call it boring or unoriginal.

Creatively, Matt Fraction’s character work continues to be the obvious highlight. He handles his cast so well that you can’t help but get drawn into the world of a mentally deteriorating Tony Stark. In particular, I’d even go as far as to say that Pepper’s transformation into a hero is just as compelling as anything that Stark is going through. It’s the use of (and, almost,  the reliance on) the peripheral character that makes the Dark Reign arc of Invincible Iron Man such an effective piece of work.

I have two complaints about the seventh chapter of “World’s Most Wanted.” The first complaint is that once again Larocca’s art hurts the book whenever there isn’t some technology to show off. The second complaint is that the seventh chapter seems to be all about setting up the rest of the arc as opposed to moving things forward. While the plot definitely advances in interesting ways, it’s clear Fraction is saving the bigger stuff for next month.

Conclusion: Sure it’s a bit slow, but Invincible Iron Man #14 is still a clever, intelligent, and compelling slice of entertainment that’s well worth it’s cover price.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

Mighty Avengers #23 – Review

By Dan Slott (writer), Khoi Pham (artist), Allen Martinez and Danny Miki (inkers)

Even as I grew to despise Bendis’s writing over the years, I was always willing to give him a chance when it came to The Avengers because they have long been a favorite team of mine since childhood.  From Avengers, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, and right up to Dark Avengers, Bendis has conned me into thinking that each new iteration of the team might be the one that delivers the kind of epic action and drama that I’ve come to associate with the franchise.  Sadly, every title has let me down.  They’ve become vanity projects for Bendis full of overblown, Seinfeldian dialogue and plots that aren’t nearly exciting enough to justify the $3.99 price tags that are conveniently on his comics.  Needless to say, when I learned that Bendis was leaving Mighty Avengers I became optimistic, and when I read the roster for Slott’s new team, I became excited.  This team, a powerful combination of characters old and new, was a group of Avengers that made sense.  More importantly, it was a team I felt would be fun to read, and so far this title definitely delivers.

Completing the “origin” story of this new team of Avengers, this issue finds Hank Pym, now calling himself Wasp in honor of his late wife, being challenged by none other than Tony Stark for leadership of the group, which has been mysteriously assembled to combat the ancient Chaos god Cthon.  During the conflict egos clash, insecurities arise, a leader emerges, and the team’s malevolent founder is revealed.  In the sea of crap that Bendis has thrown the Avengers franchise into, Slott’s opening storyline on this title is a much needed breath of fresh air.  His script easily balances action, comedy, and characterization in ways that remind me why I’ve loved the Avengers for so long.  Khoi Pham’s art works best on a large scale, and if you don’t believe me, just check out the covers to his first three issues of this comic and tell me you wouldn’t buy a poster of it right now if you could!  Slott and Pham will need a little time to make this title their own, but I’m willing to give it to them because they have finally given me an Avengers comic I can enjoy again.  This is shaping up to be quite a fun comic and I hope you’ll give it a try!

Grade: B+

Tony Rakittke

New Avengers #48 (Dark Reign) – Review

By Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Billy Tan (Pencils), Matt Banning (Inks), and Justin Ponsor (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: It’s about time! While I enjoyed the Secret Invasion stuff for the most part, I am definitely glad that New Avengers is back on track. I look forward to see what the series will be offering in light of Dark Reign.

The Story: In the aftermath of the massive Invasion battle, Captain America discreetly calls for a meeting of the “underground” Avengers. The group meets the next day, but the gathering is cut short when Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Carol Danvers show up in a panic looking for people to help find Danielle, the daughter of Cage and Jones that was last seen in the care of Jarvis, the butler now known to be a Skrull. With little hesitation, the New Avengers (with a slightly different lineup) are off in search of the baby and any Skrulls that may know the whereabouts of the one that was posing as Jarvis.

What’s Good: As the first issue of New Avengers to truly feel like an issue of New Avengers in quite some time, #48 definitely does not disappoint. In fact, I’d even say it manages to bring back a lot of fond memories about my experience with the very first New Avengers arc. That’s a very good thing considering how visually impressive and entertaining that turned out to be.

While it deals with some of the ramifications of Secret Invasion as it ties directly into Dark Reign, the book feels surprisingly fresh for a number of reasons. For starters, the dynamic between the characters (new or returning) is handled extremely well thanks to how Brian Michael Bendis uses the fallout from the Invasion as a means to force everyone to become reacquainted and reestablished. It makes the book quite friendly to new readers while at the same time reminding hardcore fans that the dangling plot threads will not only be accounted for, but also addressed. Couple that with the fact that the team lineup is still somewhat up in the air at the book’s fairly shocking conclusion, and you have more than enough reason to put New Avengers back on the pull list.

Also worth noting about New Avengers #48 is how impressive it looks. Billy Tan’s pencils look better than they ever and show that he obviously wants to make the most out of his work on one of Marvel’s biggest titles. There is some room for improvement, however, but I like what I see so far and look forward to what he has in store for the series.

What’s Not So Good: There are really only two things that nagged at me while reading. The first is that the relationship between Ronin (Hawkeye) and Mockingbird doesn’t really seem to jive at all with last week’s Dark Reign: New Nation one-shot. I understand that New Avengers: The Reunion is not coming out until a bit farther down the road, but I hope Bendis takes some time to address why Mockingbird’s stance towards Hawkeye is so icy in The Reunion as opposed what is shown in New Avengers #48. The other thing that bothered me a bit is the way Matt Banning’s inks seem to almost overpower some of the artwork. While only a minor annoyance, it is noticeable enough to warrant mentioning.

Conclusion: To all of those that decided to take a break from New Avengers while it worked through Secret Invasion, it’s time to get back on board. As for those that have never checked the series out, now would be a great time to give it a look.

Grade: A-

-Kyle Posluszny