Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Avengers (Vol. 3) #76: “Full House”

** (two of five stars)

Summary
Given the fact that Jack of Hearts can't touch She-Hulk without absorbing her energy, it becomes clear both Avengers can't be on the team at the same time.  Jack leaves the discussion in a huff after a lovers' quarrel  squabble with Ant-Man and Cap orders Ant-Man to work out his differences with Jack.  During the discussion, it's revealed that Scott's daughter has been kidnapped.  Ant-Man and Jack hunt down the kidnapper.  With his time outside the Zero-Room ending, Jack flies the kidnapper into space to ensure he can't harm anyone again.  Jack's apparently lifeless corpse is seen floating in space.

The Meh
“An Avenger, Cassie.  An Avenger.”  OMG, barf.  Also, Jack suddenly cares about people?  I mean, what the hell?

This issue is kind of a weird one to end the Johns era, and I can't really point to anything really good or really bad.  It's all kind of meh.  I mean, Johns continues to do the best job of any writer I’ve ever read in terms of every member of the team having a distinct and separate personality and having that personality be in tune with previous characterizations of the character.  Sometimes with the "Avengers," you can tell writers are just phoning in the portrayals of the minor characters, using a standard hero archetype.  So, kudos to him for avoiding that.  However, it doesn't hide the fact that a lot of these characters are annoying.  Ant-Man still irrationally hates Jack of Hearts, Jack of Hearts is still bitter for reasons other than the main one (him having to be in the Zero-Room for 14 hours a day), etc.  But, the child abduction storyline serving as a deus ex machina both in terms of Ant-Man and Jack’s relationship AND the removal of Jack from the team seemed a little too forced, particularly from someone of Johns' talents.

The art wasn’t anything special...except for the last page.  I think I missed the jack of hearts symbols in the corners the first time I read it, which shows how subtle of a nod it is.

The cover is a little deceptive.  It shows Iron Man, Black Panther, Cap, Vision, and Scarlet Witch...despite the issue being predominantly about Ant-Man and Jack of Hearts.  I'm not going to raise it to a pet-peeve level, since it's making the point that the team's deciding on its membership.  But, it's close.

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