Avengers #4 – Review

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

The Story: In the future, the Avengers encounter the Next Avengers and their masters while in the present, the remaining Avengers meet an unlikely ally and struggle against total chaos.

What’s Good: This issue is basically total mayhem and, honestly, the crazier and wackier it is, the better.  Spider-Man bumping into Killraven riding a dinosaur and Thor blowing up War of the Worlds style aliens are just part of the fun.  Really, at times things get so ridiculous that they border upon comedic, and certainly Bendis’ dialogue helps that along.  Much like last month, there’s a strong old school vibe here, but also a slight sense of self-awareness.  While a lot of it has to do with Spider-Man, particularly his conversations with Killraven and Jessica Drew, this is an unexpectantly funny book.  Things are completely insane and the fact that the characters are hyper-aware of it makes for a generally fun read.

That feeling of absolute chaos and insanity also makes for Romita’s best issue thus far as he continues to improve after the first two underwhelming months.  Bendis really lets Romita stretch his legs here and let his imagination run wild.  Pretty much every splash and double-page spread is a lot of fun and all of them had me staring for quite a while.  There’s so much packed into them that it feels like a cosmic Where’s Waldo at times.  It’s as though Romita just through as many random, awesome things onto the page as possible.  His work is, overall, just a lot of fun this month.