Monday, February 11, 2013

Avengers #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I...don't really know where to begin.

First, I'll say that I'm willing to give Hickman time.  I'll also say that he writes a lot more natural dialogue than Bendis did; the characters sound like they should sound, to my ears.  But, this series so far is missing, I don't know, heart.  In fact, it's like the opposite of Bendis.  Bendis had heart; it's just that his stories made no sense and his characters were interchangeable.  Hickman's story so far doesn't make sense either, but his characters are well defined.  But, I don't really feel like the world is on the line.  Maybe it's because Ex Nihlo might as well be called MacGuffin:  he doesn't feel like some newly discovered Thanos, like we're clearly supposed to believe him to be.  He feels like he is, a threat created solely to explain how this new team of Avengers assembled.  Moreover, even though the characters are better defined than they were under Bendis, they still feel a little color-by-numbers.  Cap and Tony tease each other over their differences, Jessica acts sexy, Carol acts assertive, the new kids marvel at membership in the club:  we don't really get the new and refreshing take on the Avengers that we were promised.

We'll see where we go.  Again, it's early days and, you know, it's not like the Red Skull took over Captain America's body or anything.  I'm willing to give this one a few issues to find its groove.  But I'm guessing that it's not going to happen during this first arc.

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