The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

[doombug]

I don't mind Bendis. I am definitely not a hater. His stuff on Ultimate Spider-Man was very solid.

His Avengers work, I think, is hit or miss. I thought Breakout was a great opening arc to New Avengers. And Secrets and Lies had its moments. But the Sentry arc was a steaming pile of crap; and the lead up to Secret Invasion was so prolonged and, at times, illogical that I lost interest in the book. Admittedly, Yu's art was not strong enough to carry so many characters in each panel, and that made it harder and less satisfying to read. But still, it dragged on and on.

More recently, the first issue of The Avengers rocked. That, to me, was a great read with a really kick ass cliffhanger. But the New Avengers reboot was not nearly as fun. I was hoping NA would be more street-level action, where Cage and team would battle threats that actually match their skills and powers. But this magic story doesn't really seem to fit with the team. That's my complaint. Maybe, as the story unfolds, this will make more sense. But it doesn't right now.

It will, we have 3 possessed heroes at the end of this issue so we'll have to wait and see.

[S.F. Jude Terror]

I forget that Brian is a writer who's work you seem to really enjoy. even before the great one stuff.

The Great One always was, is, and always will be The Great One.

[Punchy]

A few things...
When did Punchy return?
Who is this Charles Mansion person?
And, I have never heard of next week's book

Yesterday, I wasn't banned or anything, just on holiday in Greece for a week, I guess you could say I was 'vacationed', but only in the best sense of the word.

[Victorian Squid]

Don't be ashamed of your love of The Great One. I love Him too.

You just go right ahead and align your tastes with Doombug's.

You guys are like 2 peas.

[doombug]

You just go right ahead and align your tastes with Doombug's.

You guys are like 2 peas.

who the fuck are you?

[Victorian Squid]

who the fuck are you?

That's the first question I ask myself in the morning.

[thefourthman]

When nitpicking occurs from me it is because early on I got bored or decided the book was laughable and then it never overcame that... New Avengers was that kind of book. I thought it was tedious to read and I would like to know exactly where I hate on Bendis, I have told Punchy and Twigg that their insane feelings of him being infalable are indeed insane, but I generally like his stuff and have defended him more often then torn him down. Next week's Avengers #2 started off laughable and got worse, but was okay by the end.

[Victorian Squid]

Marvel used to reward readers for nitpicking, No Prizes anyone?

If writing is sloppy, readers'll call out on it. As it's been forever.

[S.F. Jude Terror]

The New Avengers #1
Written by: The Great One
Art by: Stuart Immonen

Masterpiece. Triumph. Tour de force. These are the kind of words that spring to mind when considering The Great One's seven year run on various Avengers books. The architect of the dark age of Marvel, and the creator of the Heroic Age has been absolutely on fire, and as He has just wrapped up one of the most epic, long-running storylines in Marvel history with Siege, the conclusion to the story that began in Avengers Disassembled, readers everywhere have been anticipating the start of another defining era. Well, everywhere except the internet, where nitpicking haterz congregate to spew pathetic, jealousy-fueled venom from the anonymous comfort of their parents' basements.

Haterz, for instance, complain about The Great One's use of Marvel Magic in this issue. For some reason, despite Marvel Magic following the same rules it has since its inception (make up crazy, magical sounding names for spells and objects and ascribe whatever powers desired to it), haterz are claiming that His use of magic in this issue defies the laws of logic. By the hoary hosts of STFU, you people are fucking ridiculous. I mean, it's certainly no "saying words backwards", but the magic here functions as it always has and as magic should. If anything, The Great One's addition of captions describing the spells and what arcane text they come from adds more legitimacy to this, an adolescent fantasy about super-powered beings beating each other up.

The fact is, haterz just refuse to admit that The Great One has pulled off another home run, and that this is a fantastic first issue. We see some heroic age goodness, the interaction between the various Marvel Universe characters and the newly resurrected Steve Rogers and newly redeemed Tony Stark, which people have been clamoring for since they realized the end of the dark age was in sight. We also have the beginnings of a unique and interesting storyline, with a yet to be revealed big bad villain, and a cast featuring some of the most interesting characters of the magical corner of the Marvel Universe. The contagious possession happening in this book is intriguing and the interaction between the possessed and their future victims when the realization occurs that these are not the people they seem to be is ominous and chilling.

A mystery has been set up that I want to know the answer to, a sense of danger to the Marvel Universe has been established, and our protagonists have been left on the verge of an attack. What more could anyone ask for in a first issue?

Well, if you're a hater, you're probably wondering about the following:

On page 1, Dr. Strange is wearing a brown trenchcoat. Where did he get this? Is it tailored or off the rack? Can he show us a reciept?

On page 6, Iron Fist pulls a dollar our of his spandex suit to give to Luke Cage, who doesn't have any money. But Cage's costume is blue jeans and a t-shirt. Where does Iron Fist keep a dollar on a spandex suit? Is tucked underneath his balls? Does Luke's hand smell like liverwurst now? What is Luke spending money on that he doesn't have a dollar?

On page 8, Doctor Voodoo's Sanctum Sanctorum is littered with candles, with Voodoo floating above them, meditating. Isn't his ass getting hot? Furthermore, where did these candles come from? Did he get them at the dollar store? Yankee Candle? At the very least, an in-story explanation should have been provided for this. "What are you doing, Jericho?" "I'm trying to meditate, Daniel." "Where did you get those nice candles?" "I stopped by Bath and Body works last week for their semi-annual sale."

On page 10, Danny Rand is shown in one panel to be wearing a flat blue shirt, but in the next panel, the shirt has a pattern. Did he change between panels? WTF Bendis?!

On page 13, Victoria Hand hands Luke Cage a handwrittten note from Steve Rogers. Steve grew up in the 30s, and as a result, was almost certain to have been trained in handwriting in school. Before everyone typed everything on the internet, handwriting was very important, and I refuse to believe that Steve's handwriting would be so sloppy. Furthermore, on page 14, the letter appears to be two pages as Luke holds it in his hand, while the full text of the letter is clearly contained on only one page. What is on the second page? Is it a dirty drawing of Spider-Woman? I hope so.

Later on that same page, Luke Cage performs a thunderclap move, sending Hand flying back through the hallway of the Avengers mansion. Though she is clearly moving very fast, as evidenced by the motion lines and the motion of the leaves of a plant as she flies past, the chandeliers on the ceiling do not move at all. This is highly improbable.

On page 15, there is an add for UFC action figures with the tagline "as real as it gets." This is a lie, as these toys are made out of plastic, and you can clearly see the plastic joints at te various articulation points. That's not very real at all.

On page sixteen, Hand is shown to have had one of her shoes blown off by the thunderclap, but in the next panel, she is leaving the mansion with both shoes on. What the hell?! We never saw her put the shoe back on! Lazy writing!

On page twenty, Victoria hand is drinking a cup of coffee. It's bad enough that no one has explained whether this is regular or decaf, but after a conversation with Luke Cage and Wolverine, on on the next page, Hand gets up to leave with the pair without finishing her drink, or paying the check. Are we simply to assume these things occur off panel?! I find that hard to believe.

The following two-page spread shows the New Avengers eating around a table. Spider-Man and Hawkeye are sitting next to each other, and each has his own plate and glass, but mysteriously, in between the two is an extra glass. The Avengers mansion staff has always been shown to be very competent, and I refuse to believe that they would set an unneeded glass at the table. This should have been addressed.

Finally, on page 24, Luke Cage drops the Eye of Agamotto, but on the final page, page 27, Cage is shown holding the item again. An important act like picking up the item he dropped should have been drawn on panel, IMO.

The next page, an I Am an Avenger promo page, shows a bunch of characters I have never seen before. I don't think these people are really Avengers.

The end of the book features backup material titled "The Oral History of the Avengers." But it's clearly written down, making it a written history. Another Bendis contradiction.

Haterz: get the fuck over it.

Score: 10

[Starlord]

Yesterday, I wasn't banned or anything, just on holiday in Greece for a week, I guess you could say I was 'vacationed', but only in the best sense of the word.

welcome back. How was Greece? Very jealous. Greece and England are the two places in Europe I always wanted to visit.

[S.F. Jude Terror]

welcome back. How was Greece? Very jealous. Greece and England are the two places in Europe I always wanted to visit.

Greece for the obvious reasons, buy why England?

[Victorian Squid]

Greece was pretty filthy the one time I was there, yuck. Give me the clean water and islands off Portugal, Madeira and Porto Santo.

[Starlord]

Greece for the obvious reasons, buy why England?

Well there's more thant ONE reason for Greece but England has just always fascinated me. I'd love to travel the whole country and spend one week in London. I think it has to do with the music.

[Greg]

On page 8, Doctor Voodoo's Sanctum Sanctorum is littered with candles, with Voodoo floating above them, meditating. Isn't his ass getting hot? Furthermore, where did these candles come from? Did he get them at the dollar store? Yankee Candle? At the very least, an in-story explanation should have been provided for this. "What are you doing, Jericho?" "I'm trying to meditate, Daniel." "Where did you get those nice candles?" "I stopped by Bath and Body works last week for their

Nah, he's immune to heat and fire.

[Starlord]

Greece for the obvious reasons, buy why England?

Also I want a chance to make Twig squeal like a pig and the chance to have Punchy make me squeal like a bigger pig.