by BlueStreak » Sun Nov 20, 2011 2:02 pm
The Avengers title has always had a bit of a disjointed feel to it. When the adjectiveless Avengers made a comeback a year and a half ago, it was with the understanding that it'd be the "Big Kids" team that handled the threats the rest of the Marvel Universe couldn't. While the New Avengers were primarily street-level based, the Avengers were supposed to be the premier team. However, Bendis' original line up didn't exactly live up to that standard, with the team completing one adventure before needing to call in the rest of the Marvel world in for assistance. Fear Itself hit the Avengers hard, with two members (not really) dying over the course of the series. Rogers decides to open up another membership drive, which leads to the addition of two new Avengers and one old Avenger. However, the entire issue is very lackadaisical in its approach to the reveal of these new members and highlights the many flaws the series has in comparison to its far stronger sister title, New Avengers.
First, Bendis really mishandles the voices of Storm and Black Panther. Both Storm and BP are regal characters who have a certain air and tone about them. David Liss has captured Black Panther's character excellently in his soon to be ending Black Panther run, even with T'Challa running around New York in an "depowered" state. Unfortunately, Bendis simply treats Black Panther like a commoner and gives the character several cringe-worthy lines of dialogue.
Secondly, the introduction of the "real" Vision is mishandled as well. When we last saw Vision, he was in several pieces in a warehouse somewhere in New York. However, Bendis reveals that Stark has been working on repairing characters for years and magically fixed him last week. Mind you, there's been no hint of this occuring in any Iron Man or Avenger book. One would think that the reintroduction of an Avenger that's been "dead" for almost a decade would merit a little pomp or circumstance, but instead, it's given a page and a half of various characters exchanging quips.
The one saving grace to this issue is the HAMMER subplot and the last page reveal. To be honest, the new and improved HAMMER seems like the type of threats that the Avengers should be facing and the last page has me hopeful that with this mess of an issue, the series will improve in the near future.
Story: 3
Art: 5
Overall: 5
