Avengers #21: Every time I say something nice about Bendis, I find myself almost immediately wanting to retract it. Case in point: I liked "New Avengers" #21, but this issue is a hot mess. I was distracted enough last issue by the nagging continuity questions that I didn't quite focus on the fact that Cap splitting up the team to investigate Osborn was a terrible idea. I mean, from a reader standpoint, I was glad that we were finally getting a story that didn't involve trying to keep track of ten different Avengers on a battlefield. But, from a tactical perspective, it's a terrible idea, splitting up your small team to go against a remarkably clever enemy that has an almost limitless number of agents. As we see in this issue, regardless of how powerful you are, you're still going to fall against an onslaught of a lot of almost-as-powerful-as-you-are folks in this situation. I'm pretty sure Cap wouldn't make that sort of rookie mistake, so the rapid nature of H.A.M.M.E.R.'s defeat of the sub-teams that we see in this issue doesn't ring true. It winds up feeling manufacutred solely to inject drama into the story, like a horror-movie plot device. I mean, Red Hulk and Storm fall essentially without throwing a punch. ("No, Red Hulk, don't open that door!") Even Protector notes that it's almost impossible to hijack Tony Stark's armor, but Osborn somehow manages to do it. ("The butler did it!") Part of the problem is that Bendis uses these moments to lead use to believe that Osborn is near godlike in his powers and his reach, but he (still) hasn't revealed how he got that way. For example, we were supposed to believe he's stronger than normal in "New Avengers" #21, but we still don't know why. Here, we're supposed to believe he can take down Iron Man by hijacking his armor, but we still don't know how. Seriously, it's time to start answering questions. "New Avengers" #21 was fun because it was at least a slugfest between equally matched opponents, so you could reasonable see one character defeating another one. This issue and "Avengers" #20 just feel totally fake, because Osborn is portrayed as being so much more powerful than the Avengers, though we don't know how. Answers, Bendis. Now. (Also, in a total nitpick, where was Quake? Cap spotaneously included her in the new line-up in issue #19, but she doesn't appear in the title page profiles -- despite the title page mentioning her as a member of the team -- and doesn't appear in this issue at all. It's like Daredevil in "New Avengers." Why does Bendis insist on having ten-character teams if he can't be bothered to use all of them?)
Avengers: Solo #4: OK, I'm not entirely sure what happened in this issue. We get a lot of exposition, but not a lot of clarity. Everything Dr. Forrest says seems to be stuff we already knew or could guess: this Golden woman and her partner helped fund the project to create super-soldier babies with the intent of selling the formula (and, possibly, the babies, I guess) to investors. But, it's unclear to me what exactly her plan is now. We're lead to believe that she wanted Hawkeye and Trace to rescue Dr. Forrest so that he could lead her to their base. But, then, she never materializes. I mean, if you're using someone as bait to find your enemies' base, you usually strike pretty quickly, for fear that the enemy will move bases. Why don't we see her (or, at least, her minions) attack? Why would she give Hawkeye and the crew time to attack her, particularly since it's not like Forrest is loyal to her, so she can be pretty sure he'd reveal her base's location to them? Maybe it's because we're supposed to believe she wants them to find her base. But, if so, then why bother with the Dr. Forrest ruse at all, when she already had captured Trace, a sufficient piece of bait to get Hawkeye to follow her to her base? Then, to make matters even more confusing, we get the appearance of Iron Man, which, honestly, makes no sense. Cap and Mockingbird know that Hawkeye is working a case, so Iron Man's assertion that everyone was worried about Clint's absence makes no sense. Are we supposed to believe it's part of the Avengers secret support of the project? I'm really, really trying to like this series, because it's Hawkeye, but it's really, really getting difficult as this plot just start to spin its wheels. I feel like this mini-series is going to wind up being two issues too long.
Secret Avengers #21: Ellis, Ellis, Ellis. I wasn't thrilled with him at the start of his run. Issue #16 was boring and issue #17 was odd. But, I feel like he's really started building something with the team since then, and I'm sad to see him go. He returned the focus on the "black ops" nature of the team (particularly in this issue and issue #19) and he didn't make it the Steve Rogers show that it was in the first few issues (particularly after the initial arc). With his run at an end, I wonder where we're going to go with the Shadow Council. We learn in this issue that the aliens that control the Council were planning on invasion of Earth, and I wonder if Remender is going to take that ball and run with it. I guess we'll see. At any rate, thanks, Walter, for reviving my interest in this title. They weren't the showiest stories, but they were well written and carefully plotted, and I always applaud that.
There were so many things wrong with Avengers #21 as you pointed out, JW. But oddly enough, I kind of enjoyed this one... I mean sure, the battle strategy was terrible, what with splitting the team up and then getting picked off one by one(I really hope that was a part of Cap's double-secret-master-plan!), and don't even get me started with Tony's armor getting corrupted... AGAIN! Plus we also have Norman Osborn, a man who I'll always see as street-level criminal the Green Goblin(sorry Bendis...), not only taking on, but successfully taking down the Avengers. With that said though, this issue was relatively easy to follow, and Bendis, for the most part, kept his uber-annoying dialogue to a minimum, so I couldn't complain too much!
ReplyDeleteAvengers: Solo is sadly a lost cause for me. Unbelievably I'm just waiting for it to end now. And for a comic starring Hawkeye, that's just plain shocking.
As for Secret Avengers, all I can say is that Warren Ellis' run here was VERY hit or miss for me. It was like he couldn't decide if he wanted to go totally insane storywise like he did during his Authority run, or if he wanted to try to keep things more traditional. My scores for his run were just all over the place. I am very hopeful concerning Remender's upcoming run(tomorrow!!), because, if nothing else, we get Hawkeye leading the Avengers again, which makes this series well worth it's $4 cover price right there!
When I read your review of it, I did think, "Well, to be fair, I did actually enjoy the issue while I was reading it." It wasn't until I started writing the review that I was like, "Wait, WTF?" So, yes, I guess that's a win when it comes to a Bendis book! It's like "New Avengers" #21, which I found myself pleasantly surprised to enjoy.
ReplyDelete"Avengers: Solo," man. It's like the "Phantom Menace" of Hawkeye books. So disappointing.
I feel you on Ellis. I almost canceled the series after his first two issues, but I'm glad I hung in there a bit, because I enjoyed the last four. But, they were totally crazy at times. In the opposite scenario from "Avengers" #21, I didn't really enjoy reading "Secret Avengers" #20 while I was reading it, but found myself appreciating it afterwards for how well put together it was. Despite being cranky about #21.1 (mostly for the Cap mischaracterization), I'm excited about Remender's run, because we'll finally start getting somewhere with this series.
HA!! You don't know how many times I'll read a comic book, jot down my gut-reaction score to it, and then later on(usually the next day) sit down and wonder why I gave that comic the score I did while typing up the review... I usually try to stick with that initial reaction, although I do tend to knock off a half-point or so while typing up the review if the comic sounds really bad. But for a Bendis book? I'll take this issue over like 80% of the rest of his run!
ReplyDeleteYeah... Avengers: Solo went from being like THE mini-series I was looking forward to reading to just wishing it would end... Sad...
When Ellis first took over Secret Avengers I was kind of hoping he'd bring some of the out and out insanity from the Authority(or Nextwave) with him... For my tastes, he just doesn't do great on your more traditional superhero books. I dropped Thunderbolts when he was the writer, and Secret Avengers was neither here nor there for me. Ellis seems like he needs total freedom and no connection to other comic books to really write a great story. As for Remender... All I'll say is that I wasn't very happy with #22 and leave it at that for lack of spoiling anything for you...