Secret Avengers #28 – Review

By: Rick Remender (writer), Renato Guedes (artist), Matthew Wilson & Jeremy Mohler (colorists), and Chris Eliopoulos (letterer)

The Story:  The Avengers away team confronts Hala’s ruler, Minister Marvel, to break Hala free from its Phoenix worshipping mind-control.

The Review:  This issue of Secret Avengers goes a long way to showing how valuable a good colorist is.  I’ve been raving about Guedes’ art for this arc and in this issue, it’s just as hyper-detailed and imaginative.  However, something is definitely lost with Bettie Breitweiser off the title.  Wilson and Mohler’s work is just fine and the art is still solid, but it’s lost that really eye-popping, European sci-fi vibe that has made this book so impressive of late.  We’ve gone from a book that had some of the best art coming out of Marvel at the moment to artwork that is merely solid, all due to the loss of a colorist.

Unfortunately, Remender’s conclusion of this arc is also fairly underwhelming, mostly because 3 issues just wasn’t enough for this story to really come together.

Avengers #27 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Walter Simonson (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Jason Keith (colorist), and Cory Petit (letterer)

The Story: The Avengers confront the betrayer in their ranks as Noh-Varr strikes a deal with the Supreme Intelligence.

The Review:  As someone who also reads Rick Remender’s Secret Avengers, this arc of Bendis’ Avengers poses an odd conundrum, essentially following the same characters through a story with shared and conflicting plot elements.  That said, while last month I was less certain, I’m actually thinking that Bendis’ story might be the better one.  While Remender fell back on ye olde mind control plot device to explain Noh-Varr’s betrayal and the general Phoenix obsess of Hala’s residents, Bendis goes for a simpler, but more genuine idea.

Instead, Noh-Varr turns out only to be doing what he thinks is best, taking big risks, playing people against each other, and making sacrifices in a desperate gambit to save Earth.  The result is a more human story and, more than that, by issue’s end, Bendis delivers the repercussions that “mind-control” devices are used to skirt around.  Without such a “get out of jail free card,” Noh-Varr is forced to face up to the consequences of his betrayal and we get a more meaningful story.

Secret Avengers #27 – Review

by Rick Remender (writer), Renato Guedes (art), Bettie Breitweiser & Matthew Wilson (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: Mar-Vell, Noh-Varr, and Ms. Marvel deliver a beatdown on a Hala gone mad.

The Review: This is an issue where in many respects, the script plays second-fiddle to the art.  Much as was the case last month, Renato Guedes is cranking out some of the best work of his career here.  Seriously, this is miles above the work he put out on Wolverine not too long ago.  It’s clear that Guedes excels at drawing outlandish, alien, science fiction environments and narratives.  His work is incredibly detailed, almost uncomfortably so.  His work on Secret Avengers has felt almost as much a comic as some kind of European sci-fi artbook.  Bettie Breitweiser and Matthew Wilson really do a lot to enhance this feel, with a very unique palette that furthers the European aesthetic.  This is particularly impressive in the case of Breitweiser, who has clearly completely changed up her game for this series.

Unfortunately, unlike last month, this issue feels somewhat forgettable insofar as the plot.  I love the fact that Remender is telling a cosmic story, but I’m sort of non-plussed that we’re ultimately just getting yet another “mind control” story in a comic.  It always feels like an “out” when writers do this, a way to cheat by having heroes double-cross each other or do bad things, without having to deal with the consequences or ramifications, without Marvel actually having to commit to the swerve.  It leads to stories and characterization that doesn’t really have he significance that it would otherwise have.

As a result, when you see Ms. Marvel and Mar-Vell romancing and rekindling a flame and taking their relationship to a new level, should we really care?  What could be a significant moment for the two characters is undercut by the fact that it’s probably not for real and could very well just be part of their being mind controlled.

The Avengers #26 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Jason Keith (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Cap sends Thor and a team of Avengers to space on a suicide mission to head off the Phoenix.  However, all is not what it seems for Noh-Varr.

The Review:  Let’s be clear here: the big selling point on this issue is Simonson’s artwork.  I imagine that there will be a lot of readers who won’t enjoy his style.  Admittedly, it’s not the polished, photo-referenced stuff that’s become commonplace in comics these days, nor is it the labour intensive awesomeness that you’d get out of a Lee Bermejo or Alex Ross.  In fact, Simonson’s art is basically a throwback.  Really, though, that’s part of why it’s so much freaking fun.  It’s filled with gleeful nostalgia and it’s really dynamic, fast-paced stuff.  This is also reflected in Simonson’s layouts as well.  His work has a tremendous amount of energy and character to it and it really just breathes “comics” in its purest form.  Hanna and Keith do great work in supporting Simonson’s work as well: Hanna simply emphasizes the already present strengths to Simonson’s work while Keith matches Simonson’s energy with simple but vibrant colors.

It also helps that Bendis realizes that Simonson is the big selling point here; he essentially writes a script that offers plenty of time for Simonson to shine.  Obviously, this means we get to see a lot of Thor, which is great, especially for that priceless nostalgia.  More than that though, Simonson gets to draw the Avengers battling the Phoenix in space, which is so much grandiose fun to read and look at.

Unfortunately, while the art is a lot of fun, the script is a puzzling one in that I’m left wondering why this story had to be told.  The problem is that Bendis is basically telling the exact same story that Remender told last month in Secret Avengers.  Both books are focused on the same team, the same general story/conflict, in the same setting.  It’s a bizarre duplicate.  Of course, this also leads to problematic contradictions between the two – the Avengers rig  up a second device in a second attempt to contain the Phoenix (which never happened in Secret Avengers), while Mar-Vell, a big part of Remender’s version of the story, is not present (here, all the Kree double-crossing is left to Noh-Varr).  It’s stuff like this that really makes your brain  hurt.  Why are two creative teams telling the same story in two different books, at the same time?  And how can there be such glaring contradictions between the two?  How did editorial okay this?  I understand that they wanted to give Simonson a Thor story, but surely it didn’t have to step on Secret Avengers’ toes to this extent.

Secret Avengers #26 – Review

By: Rick Remender (writer), Renato Guedes (art), Bettie Breitweiser & Matthew Wilson (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: A special team of Avengers head off into space in a desperate attempt to contain the Phoenix before it reaches Earth.

The Review:  It’s hard not to be skeptical going into this issue of Secret Avengers: it’s a tie-in issue and one that only features half the regular team, the other half of the roster being filled with guest stars (Thor, Ms. Marvel, etc).  This screams “derailment,” the fear that always looms when there’s a tie-in.  Worse still, regular artist Gabriel Hardman is nowhere to be found.

Yet, against all odds, this may very well be the best issue of Rick Remender’s run thus far.

Fear Itself: Avengers HC – Review

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, Pencils: Chris Bachalo, John Romita Jr., and Mike Deodato, Ikners: Tim Townsend, Jaimie Mendoza, Al Vey, Wayne Faucher, Victor Olazaba, Mark Irwin, Klaus Janson. Colorists: Chris Bachalo (double duty), Dean White, Paul Mounts, and Rain Beredo.

Collecting Avengers #13-17 and New Avengers #14-16

The Story: The Avengers fight against FEAR ITS—I can’t do it. It was just such a horrendous event. Still, other writers tried their best in the tie-ins and some of them were MUCH better than the main event (like Avengers Academy).  So the first section of this review should really be…

Dealing with the Crap that was FEAR ITSELF: Bendis had two series to tie into Fear Itself, and did so in very similar ways. He must have known that Avengers and New Avengers would be collected together, as he used the same narrative technique in both series. The idea is that the Oral Histories of the Avengers are caught up, so the heroes are being interviewed about their most recent crisis: Crisis of Infinite Hemorrhoids—I mean Hammers. So we have a video interview-like thing going on with the heroes playing Monday morning quarterback, and then we get images from the event. Without Fear Itself, you’d almost think that something was happening in the world. There is some brutal fights in these tie-ins. The fight between Red Hulk and the Thing was ten times more exciting than the “brawl” in Fear Itself #5. Even Squirrel Girl’s story in New Avengers was more exciting and more dire than anything that happened in the main event. So in terms of making Fear Itself seem like an actual major crisis the heroes struggle to deal with, it’s successful. Crazy shit happens here. Daredevil takes on a brigade of Nazi Robots. Spider-Woman fights the Hulk while protecting a school filled of children. Protector hacks into Stark’s Iron Men suits (including Iron Patriot) and sets them on Sin. Every moment in the Avengers/New Avengers tie-ins would make you believe that this is one of the most important events in Marvel history. If only that were true.

Avengers #20 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writing), Daniel Acuna (art), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Norman Osborn confronts the Avengers as he and his allies prove to be a step ahead in their war on Cap and the gang.

The Review: Well, it’s a hell of a lot better than the last issue of New Avengers.

While the HAMMER War is still a poorly conceived idea, this issue succeeds in its completely ignoring the new “Dark Avengers.”  Instead, it focuses on Osborn, Hyda, and HAMMER.  The result is that the comic feels at least a little less recycled.  Osborn’s effort has a more underground, insidious feel and it at least feels fresh and not a diluted rehash of Dark Reign.  It’s really strange seeing a the same writer write basically the same storyline in two books at the same time, but in two distinct ways.

There’s some nice meta styled comedy on Bendis’ part as well.  Through Norman Osborn, he points out the obvious absurdity of Madame Hydra’s utterly ridiculous octopus head, which is thankfully done away with.  Later in the issue, there’s also a bit of a jibe at Jeph Loeb’s frequently derided run on Hulk.  In some ways, these little spots of humour may jar tonally with the rest of the comic, but long time readers should nonetheless crack a smile.

Yet, for all these bright spots, there’s just no escaping the fact that there’s so much about this “HAMMER War” that is undercooked or poorly conceived.  For instance, we’re still not really clear on why the Avengers are suddenly hated and protested by the public.  I like to infer that it’s due to perceived failure during Fear Itself, but I don’t think that’s ever been explicitly referenced; it seems to be left up to the reader.