Batman gets a break this week (while Heath gets recognition), and several flavors of Avengers step up. (Hey, if we can have a rainbow of Lantern Corps, why not 31 flavors of Earth's Mightiest Heroes? Remember the United Nations of Justice Leagues several Crises ago?)
I hate to admit it, but I enjoyed the hell out of Dark Avengers #1 - I intended not to buy any 32-page books for $3.99 (#1 may have been longer), but if Bendis and Deodato keep it up, I may have to make an exception. SPOILER ALERT: Osborn certainly has stones to outright replace Ms. Marvel, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Hawkeye for his new Avengers team. Love him or hate him, you have to admire the gumption. Typical snappy banter from BMB - loved the brief exchange between Ares and Moonst--sorry, I mean Ms. Marvel. And the art was beautiful - highly recommended book, even if the higher price point grates. (UPDATE: Excellent interview with Bendis at Newsarama.)
Mighty Avengers #21 was 180 degrees different in tone, as you would expect from a Slott book - this looks to be the BWA-HA-HA Avengers. The final line-up is about as absurd as you're going to get, with - SPOILER ALERT - a little old (Scarlet Witch, Pym/Wasp, Jarvis), some updates (Vision), some legacies (Stature), and some oddballs (Amadeus Cho and USAgent), plus a few more. I'm not sure if I'll stick with this after the first three-issue arc, despite the $2.99 price, but I think I'll enjoy while it while I stick with it.
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Re MIGHTY AVENGERS #21: I give Slott credit for trying. He used his editorial skills to survey the wreckage left (created) by Bendis’s SECRET INVASION, gave some half-hearted nods to AVENGERS continuity, and proceeded to write a story. But that’s it for positives.
The gathering of the heroes that took up most of the issue was page after page of clichés, as trite as a threat consisting of something reaching “critical mass” and going BOOM!
The Wanda that appears in the issue is a third version of the character (the pre-”Avengers Disassembled” version being #1 and the Byrne/Bendis version being #2), possessing the Bendis version’s control of “magics” (?!!) and a mental makeup that doesn’t relate to either prior version.
The setting and threat (Chthon) recall the classic AVENGERS #187, in which Wanda was freed from Chthon’s grip, but the motivation for Chthon to possess Pietro specifically doesn’t exist. Wanda was prepared as a vessel; Pietro wasn’t. So, that plot element doesn’t work.
I haven’t read DARK AVENGERS #1 yet -- but the major problem with it is that the premise doesn’t exist. SECRET INVASION was such a plotting disaster, due to Bendis apparently having all the scientific and technical knowledge of a high school dropout, that the ending didn’t establish a basis for anything. It’s a case of unpublishable material being published, and Marvel Editorial pretending that the event was a success.
SRS
Steven,
Thanks for your comment - maybe I'm less critical because I'm less vested in the Marvel Universe. While not entirely internally consistent (to say the least), Dark Reign does seem like it could be fun for a while (of course, I thought the same thing about Secret Invasion for the first issue or two). It does make Secret Invasion seem like nothing but a bridge between Civil War/The Initiative and Dark Reign, as nothing else of lasting effect came out of it rather than the death of the Wasp (and the downfall of Tony Stark, necessary for setting up Dark Reign).
Mark
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