Avengers (Vol. 3) #71: "Whirlwinds"

** (two of five stars)

Summary
Janet and Hank go to Vegas for sex.  Hank, always the master of reading a situation, proposes.  Jan declines.  Whirlwind attacks because he's apparently in love with Janet.  No, really.

The Good

The story itself isn’t terrible.  I will say, though, in all the years I’ve read the “Avengers,” I’ve never really been a fan of the amount of pages dedicated to the tortured Yellowjacket/Wasp relationship.  I mean, I’ve always been taken aback by the “She looked just like my first wife!”/”He was like my dad!” comments that we’ve read several times over the years.  In particular, though, this series of story arcs in the later part of volume 3 (also see “Lionheart of Avalon” and "Avengers:  Disassembled") focus a lot on how terrible of a husband Hank was.  It all allegedly stemmed from his low self-esteem, which has been a frequent theme in the “Avengers” over the years.  I’ve always found it a little forced, like they had to give him a flaw and couldn’t invent something better.  Since I don’t really remember that many battles being decided by Yellowjacket’s involvement, it’s also made me wonder why he’s been kept as an Avenger in the first place if he's so awful.  But, within the context of the long-established trend of his character, the story actually adds some depth to him that makes him seem less whiny than he usually does.  So, well done, Geoff Johns, I guess.

The Bad

1) OK, call me a prude, but, um, seriously, a shrunken Hank Pym walking between Jan’s breasts was kind of creepy.

2) Whirlwind was in love with Jan.  Really?  When did that happen?  It's just so totally contrived.

3) The way Hank Pym is drawn here is really a little too...Fabio.  I mean, in one scene, where he’s holding Jan’s hands, he not only towers over her, but he looks like a professional wrestler to boot.  I mean, I get that he’s a superhero, but I don’t remember Hank Pym ever being drawn so...hulking.  The emphasis has always been on him as a man of science not a man of brawn.