Avengers Review

The strength of Secret Invasion has been in it's tie-ins and those have been mostly miss for me. I like having all the fill ins which is kind of cool but lately they have been focusing on events and characters that I don't care about. I figure that I'd review both of them since they are tie-ins and it would be a waste of time to treat them separately.

New Avengers #44: Between the two of them this was the better of the tie ins. I really liked this one since it does explain a hell of a lot more than any of the previous tie ins. It also answers the fundamental question of how the Skrulls managed to stay hidden and undetectable. Outside the last pages that explained this I really don't think this issue is worth a look. The worst part about the tie ins is the lack of plot advancement in Secret Invasion. Another thing that the tie ins fail to accomplish to is to get you to understand the Skrulls point of view. Going off all the interviews and the information that Marvel has put out this event should be a bit more complex than they made it. The experiment was really cool and I liked how they ran simulations to try to use Reed Richards own intelligence to create a great war plan but that puts a lot of plotholes about the extent of the Skrull intelligence. If they can cure Earth of all its problem then why in the blue hell do they need Richards to do their fucking job? This tie-in would have benefited if it had came out a bit earlier. The art is solid and at times really shines during the interrogation scene.

Art: BALLIN
OVERALL: SKIM IT









Mighty Avengers #17: This issue has a fundamental flaw of being of no relevance to anything. To sum it up, a Skrull who is currently stepping in for Pymn realizes that the plan won't work and attempts to explain that to his superior Skrull buddy who blows him off and tries to kill him without ever listenign to what he has to say or getting into any type of dialog. It doesn't make sense that this issue relates to invasion at all. To state again if the Skrulls did not manipulate events to there advantage then there is no relevancy of showing their actions during major events. This issue pretty much was terrible, there isn't anything of value here so don't bother.





Art: HIT AND QUIT IT
OVERALL: FORGET IT

Mighty Avengers #13 Review

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: Alex Maleev

Summary:
We start the issue with Daisy (remember her? She was the little kid in Secret War. I don't) talking to someone. That someone turns out to be a black Nick Fury (C'mon Bendis). Fury tells her she has got to help him recruit some kids. We go to the son of Ares. He scares some kids away just by looking at them. Kid is Phobos. Daisy- 1/1. Ok so, the next one's name is Yo Yo. Yo Yo. Her power is like going fast, then being yanked back. What a clever little name. Her dad is the Griffen. Daisy- 2/2. We go to a convenience store, where some guy robs it. The clerk does nothing. Doesn't want to put in the effort because of minimum wage. Minimum wage = minimum effort. Somebody lock him up. Guy is JT. Daisy takes him to an alley. Dude can make fire. Turns out, he was the original Ghost Rider's grandson. He only agrees to join, if there is money involved. He is ok now. Daisy- 3/3. Daisy tries to recruit Layla Miller (it says 6 months ago, so don't freak it. It is still consistent with continuity). She basically says no because she sees the future. Daisy- 3/4. We go to Dr. Strange's kid. As JBL would say, Cha-Ching. Daisy- 4/5. Daisy bails some guy out of jail. Daisy- 5/6. We go to a lair, with all the recruits. Nick Fury- "You will do as I say every day for the rest of your lives". Holy fuck. He asks them if they know what a Skrull is.

Comments:
That was a pretty good issue. I am new to Nick Fury, but he kicks a lot of ass. He is such a badass, I just can't get over it. The last 2 issues, Fury has just dominated, and he wasn't even in the comic til the end. Fury is by far the best covert, sneaky, badass in comics. This was a good team assembly issue. I liked most of the characters, but the best was Daisy. She seems perfect to be Fury's right-hand girl. She isn't imposing, but she is slightly manipulative, which is all good. Maleev has some good art in here, and Bendis' Secret Invasion tie-ins are much better than the actual main story.

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Mighty Avengers #10 Review

Written by: Brian Bendis
Art by: Mark Bagley

Summary: Ever since Bagley took over the art it seems like New Avengers is coming out weekly. Last time we left our heroes they were invading Doom until Sentry, Iron Man, and Doom accidentally shot themselves back in time. We pick up with Sentry waking up in an alley. He starts to freak out and notice some things are different. He sees his past self and goes crazy. Doom and Iron man face off briefly before they agree they need to get the fuck out of here. Sentry then shows up all crazy and pops Doom. He eventually calms down and go break into the Baxter building to get to the time machine. Sentry kicks the Thing's ass and they go back to the present. Doom doesn't happen to materialize and a nuke is in the way (coincidence). Iron man takes the nuke and the issue ends there.

Comments: I enjoyed this issue. This is just a fun arc. It has witty dialog that just puts a smile on your face. I liked the throwback art to show that they were in the past, that was amusing. The last page of Tony getting nuked is just awesome to look at. If i ever got nuked, I want it to look that pretty. I hope this title picks up to its original direction because right now it is just playing catchup to secret invasion which has caused it and new avengers to suffer. Bendis does do a good job with the writing. Doom's demeanor is classic. The way he just talks to Tony about how more people hate Tony than him, a vicious dictator. This is a great, fun issue so

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The Mighty Avengers #9 Review

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Mark Bagley
Inker: Danny Miki

Synopsis: So Doom is chilling in the past, you know, nailing Morgan Le Fay (yeah, hes got game like that). She asks him for a gift and he says he can't because that could mess up time and he takes off and goes back to the future only to find that Tony Stark is getting ready to totally invade his country. Tony asks Ares (Marvel's favorite bigot) what the plan is. His response is an awkward silence followed by instructions to the team. He tells them get out of the plane and goes 9-11 on Doom's castle (to soon? please comment). He jumps out and the Mighty Avengers start going to work on Doom's army. Three splash pages later Doom and Iron Man stare each other down. They start to go armor to armor when Doom brings out the magic and starts winning the fight. They end up falling into the time machine and are sent to some mysterious dimension along with Sentry who tried to bail out Tony. The Mighty Avengers regroup and try to figure out what the fuck happened. Tony is waking up in a comic book world I guess, where Doom is standing over Stark about to just wail on him (he swore on his mom's soul).

Comments: Bendis's run on Mighty Avengers has hit a major snag since that awesome beginning (buy that trade). It has hit a snag and lately has been one rushed issue after another. The venom virus storyline got murdered and it appears that Bendis is just trying to get ready for Secret Invasion. It seems that the delays hurt the way the storyline was supposed to develop so he has just been rushing things to catch up. That being said, this was a very pretty issue to look out. It was nice to read but you won't remember it in a week. It looks really nice though, I can't stress that enough. The thought bubbles are getting old since they aren't saying anything funny but things that they should say out loud, in other words they are getting pretty useless. The comic does have moments but it earns a

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The Mighty Avengers #8 Review

Cover Mark Bagley
Writer Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils Mark Bagley
Colored by Justin Ponsor
Lettered by Dave Lanphear

Synopsis: We start with Wasp looking over matching suits for the avengers when Pryme comes in. There is some mild sexual tension and he gives her a formula that lets her go from being small to giant. The venoms are going off and the Avengers charge. Basically the everyone is Venom, including the new avengers, some of the group (Sentry, Wonderman, Stark, Ms Marvel, and Ares) are immune but the rest change. Stark synthesizes a cure, considers who is and isn't a Skrull, and wonders about their motive. They beat the Venom virus, find out where it came from, and go to invade Dr. Doom's country.

Comments: This was catchup. They wanted to get to get caught up with New Avengers due to the delays caused by the (brilliant but late) artist before Bagley. One thing that spiked my interest is Dr. Doom. He has been up to something (the shifty bastard) and it probably has to do with Secret Invasion. I'm looking forward to it honestly more than Final Crisis because this event is much more original (for comics, in movies they do this all the time ie invasion of the body snatchers), but i like the idea that superheroes are being replaced. This conspiracy stuff really pikes my interest. Stark also came off pretty cool, I think 08 is going to be his year, sure we have the up and coming Bucky but Stark right now, he has become the workhorse of Marvel. Steve Rodgers is dead, Spider-man has effectively been taken out, so now Stark has stepped up and in a big way.

Verdict:
SKIM IT

Mighty Avengers #7 Review

Written by: Michael Bendis
Drawn by: Mark Bagley

Synopsis:
Michael Bendis is one of the best writers at Marvel (top two, I'll let you guess who the other top dog is). He has a way with dialog like no other writers. It is absolutely fantastic and it shines in the Mighty Avengers. This issue starts off with Stark waking up in the hospital room with Jessica Drew holding the skrull body of Elektra. She basically tells him what is going on with the Skrulls. The next day they have a team meeting where they joke on Stark on him being a woman (The Ultron incident, pick up that trade, its fantastic). Stark then introduces Jessica with comical and dramatic results (the Sentry's wife also has tells Stark to kill the Sentry). Meanwhile in space several astronauts are cleaning up the wreckage from the Ultron incident and accidentally unleash the venom/carnage bomb into NYC. The Avengers assemble and then go to take action.

Comments:
Bendis is a brilliant writer. He owns at dialog. That being said, delays have essentially killed this tittle and this storyline. New Avengers has already addressed the result of this. If they could have gotten the two titles in sink this would probably being an amazing event. Bendis is also laying the ground work for secret invasion in this. The addition of Jessica Drew should help make the Mighty Avengers even better. This is a fun read and all but delays have been killing this title. This title is a good read and all but in the end the delays just kept hurting it and not even Bendis's dialog can make up for it. The art is good but not as good as the previous artist, my main gripe with it is that Tony's expressions look like Peter's from Ultimate Spider-man with different hair.

Verdict:
SKIM IT