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.

Avengers #6 – Review

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

The Story: The Avengers try to reach an agreement with Ultron to stop Kang’s breaking the timestream.

What’s Good: This issue really goes out of its way to establish the Avengers as the central title for the Marvel Universe through its both hinting at, and setting up, major stories to come.  Bendis is able to do this thanks to the story’s conveniently being located in the future.  There’s a really nice reference to the outcome of the “Trial of Captain America” storyline over in Captain America, while the final events of the issue seem to hint at a major Ultron-related storyline that might possibly lead to an event spreading to other titles.  All told, it’s stuff like this that makes the Avengers feel really important as a title.

Bendis does a good job with the wacky time traveling dynamics.  For the first time, I feel as though things not only made perfect sense, but also were actually rather clever.  Bendis puts everything where they ought to be and, unlike previous issues, the timestream stuff is never dubious.  In fact, it actually allows for Bendis to write a really, really nice ending, allowing for this story-arc to end exactly as it began, as the murder of Immortus is explained and cast in a wholly different light given what we now know.  It’s really quite good, so much so that I was taken by surprise by how eloquent and well constructed it was.

The Avengers’ attempting to stop the war from ever happening is also well done; their dialogue with Ultron is tense but logical.  Bendis writes a really good back and forth, doing solid work in making Ultron’s reasoning and thought processes appear calculating and ruthless.  Honestly, Bendis just writes a good Ultron.

Romita’s artwork continues to sharpen and improve.  This may be his most polished issue yet, as it really cuts back on the “scratchiness” that at times gets out of control in Romita’s work and ends up making things look sloppy.  The detail work is solid and characters look Romita-trademarked cartoony, but never deformed.  The action and pyrotechnics are enjoyable and Romita also joins a very, very nice Ultron.

Avengers #2 – Review

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

The Story: The Avengers attempt to build a time machine with disastrous result and Wonder Man decides that it’s time for action.

What’s Good: This issue is a definite improvement.  Unlike last month’s unfortunate misstep, this issue has a solid structure and feels far more cohesive and organic in its plot developments and narrative progression as many of the growing pains begin to ease out.

I think a lot of this greater cohesion comes from this issue’s really spelling out the niche for this particular Avengers title.  Free from Dark Reign aftermath and such, the book is allowed to do what it was intended to do, which is delve into the high level, almost cosmic styled adventures reminiscent of classic Avengers comics.  Things are quickly gaining that wacky feel that lets you know that you’re getting increasingly distanced from street level, which is a refreshing shift from Marvel’s direction over the past while.  There’s a greater sense of camp and escapism and the book is finding its identity.

I found myself intrigued most of all by Wonder Man’s sudden, violent involvement.  It’s a promising development and I appreciated the Avengers’ fear of Simon becoming another Sentry or Scarlet Witch type debacle.  Wonder Man himself may serve as an opportunity for the Avengers to prove Simon himself wrong; that the Avengers can avoid repeating the mistakes of old, preventing rather than causing destruction.

Romita also shows improvement.  His art feels a lot more fun and comfortable with itself and while Maria Hill still looks weird as hell, there are, overall, far fewer oddities.