The old order yadda, yadda, yadda... - a review of The Avengers #1
"And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes were united against a common threat! On that day The Avengers were born — to fight foes no single hero could withstand!"
Luke Cage almost perfectly sums up recent Avengers' history as possibly only he can; "Then what was the @#$% point?" After 6 years of disassembling, alternate realities, wars, invasions and sieges, Bendis has brought the Avenger's full circle and begins a new cycle with The Avengers #1. Thor has escaped Ragnarok, Steve Rogers isn't dead, Tony Stark isn't brain dead but Spider Woman is still an Avenger. I guess we'll just chalk The Avengers #1 up to "the more things change, yadda yadda, yadda."
We've seen this story, or at least versions of it, countless times; it's the assembling of a new team. You can get the classics this way; the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man and Wasp. Or you can get Gilgamesh or Dr. Druid, both of whom are thankfully absent from this issue. And even beyond the Avengers, the "getting the band together" type story has become it's own cliche in comics; it can be just another version of Professor Xavier traveling the world to find his New Uncanny X-Men. The last time Bendis did this, he did his own riff on the original Avengers' story as fate brought a dissimilar cast together and forged them into a team back in New Avengers #1. That was a fate that, at the time, I don't think Captain America bought into that much. Maybe that's why Bendis has him superseding fate and actually recruiting a team of Avengers. Bendis' story is far too mannered and obvious. All of the darkness of the past few years, mostly built off of concepts he introduced to the Marvel Universe, are gone so it is time to once again assemble an Avengers team and a true Avengers team not the "street level" team or the villainous team that have been masquerading as Avengers for the past couple of years. There's no great surprises or shocks here as everyone Steve Rogers recruits has either been a New, Mighty, Initiative or Young Avenger recently. Meet the new Avengers, sames as the old Avengers. There's no fate or kismet or even Loki involved this time; it appears that the only requirement to be an Avenger nowadays is that you had to once be on a team that billed itself as an "Avengers" team.Stylistically, there's even less change from the old Avengers to the new Avengers; Bendis's writing is practically the same, right down to the little dialogue ticks that he's repeated and repeated during the years. Occasionally his light touch on the dialogue works, such as when Thor has no idea who the current Captain America is or Spider-Man hounding Hawkeye about Hawkeye's current costumed identity. Those are light moments that help establish a bit of the mood but Bendis tries to carry his witty repartee over into more serious moments such as when Steve Rogers and Tony Stark talk around their recent history. It's not nervousness, friendship or just awkwardness that comes through but it's Bendis who does; it's his voice that comes through too much and not the characters. His writing style works well on one of his own books like Powers but it falls flat more often than not on a book like The Avengers. John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson join Bendis on the book and, if recent history is any indication, do we believe that either of them is going to stick around more more than 6 issues? The two artists have been paired as penciller and inker for a long time now, producing some great work. Romita Jr. has his father's strong foundation of storytelling with Jack Kirby and Frank Miller's sense of pacing and action which seems wasted on a talking-head book like The Avengers #1. Bendis's story, like so many of his Avengers stories have been, is people standing around and talking, just talking and talking. Romita Jr. is all about composition, action and power and not about expressions or body language, two elements which really contribute to a typical Bendis script.The Avengers #1 is a return to tradition, a return to form and, therefore, a return to the old ways. Captain America, Iron Man and Thor will always be Avengers and there will always be the odd characters brought in to be given a chance at becoming true Avengers. Once upon a time, it was Hawkeye and now it's Wolverine. See, things don't change all that much. The Avengers #1
"Next Avengers Part 1"
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciled by: John Romita Jr.
Inked by: Klaus Janson
Colored by: Dean White
Lettered by: VC's Cory Petit
We've seen this story, or at least versions of it, countless times; it's the assembling of a new team. You can get the classics this way; the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man and Wasp. Or you can get Gilgamesh or Dr. Druid, both of whom are thankfully absent from this issue. And even beyond the Avengers, the "getting the band together" type story has become it's own cliche in comics; it can be just another version of Professor Xavier traveling the world to find his New Uncanny X-Men. The last time Bendis did this, he did his own riff on the original Avengers' story as fate brought a dissimilar cast together and forged them into a team back in New Avengers #1. That was a fate that, at the time, I don't think Captain America bought into that much. Maybe that's why Bendis has him superseding fate and actually recruiting a team of Avengers. Bendis' story is far too mannered and obvious. All of the darkness of the past few years, mostly built off of concepts he introduced to the Marvel Universe, are gone so it is time to once again assemble an Avengers team and a true Avengers team not the "street level" team or the villainous team that have been masquerading as Avengers for the past couple of years. There's no great surprises or shocks here as everyone Steve Rogers recruits has either been a New, Mighty, Initiative or Young Avenger recently. Meet the new Avengers, sames as the old Avengers. There's no fate or kismet or even Loki involved this time; it appears that the only requirement to be an Avenger nowadays is that you had to once be on a team that billed itself as an "Avengers" team.Stylistically, there's even less change from the old Avengers to the new Avengers; Bendis's writing is practically the same, right down to the little dialogue ticks that he's repeated and repeated during the years. Occasionally his light touch on the dialogue works, such as when Thor has no idea who the current Captain America is or Spider-Man hounding Hawkeye about Hawkeye's current costumed identity. Those are light moments that help establish a bit of the mood but Bendis tries to carry his witty repartee over into more serious moments such as when Steve Rogers and Tony Stark talk around their recent history. It's not nervousness, friendship or just awkwardness that comes through but it's Bendis who does; it's his voice that comes through too much and not the characters. His writing style works well on one of his own books like Powers but it falls flat more often than not on a book like The Avengers. John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson join Bendis on the book and, if recent history is any indication, do we believe that either of them is going to stick around more more than 6 issues? The two artists have been paired as penciller and inker for a long time now, producing some great work. Romita Jr. has his father's strong foundation of storytelling with Jack Kirby and Frank Miller's sense of pacing and action which seems wasted on a talking-head book like The Avengers #1. Bendis's story, like so many of his Avengers stories have been, is people standing around and talking, just talking and talking. Romita Jr. is all about composition, action and power and not about expressions or body language, two elements which really contribute to a typical Bendis script.The Avengers #1 is a return to tradition, a return to form and, therefore, a return to the old ways. Captain America, Iron Man and Thor will always be Avengers and there will always be the odd characters brought in to be given a chance at becoming true Avengers. Once upon a time, it was Hawkeye and now it's Wolverine. See, things don't change all that much. The Avengers #1
"Next Avengers Part 1"
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciled by: John Romita Jr.
Inked by: Klaus Janson
Colored by: Dean White
Lettered by: VC's Cory Petit