Corey Brotherson
Dec 23, 2007, 06:00 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/mavengers.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/mavengersthumb.jpg" align="left" hspace=10 alt="The Mighty Avengers #6"></A> Reviewer: Corey Brotherson cbrotherson@googlemail.com
“It's still there. Everything is okay.”
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Frank Cho
Colours: Jason Keith
Letterer: Artmonkey's Dave Lanphear
Production: Anthony Dial
Assistant Editor: Molly Lazer
Editor: Tom Brevoot
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (www.marvel.com)
It's been a while, hasn’t it? Hm.
*Ahem*
The Mighty Avengers has come under more scrutiny than initially planned given its rather haphazard scheduling. Kicking off during March of this now fading 2007, the Brian Michael Bendis and Frank Cho title predictably had its detractors and doubters, most of which assembled under the scepticism held over whether prolific writer Bendis could capture that classic Avengers feel and whether Cho could stray from artistic cheesecake, only to find plenty more fuel for the fire when three-quarters of a year later barely six issues had been put on the shelves.
Fish in a barrel.
However, this is being fairly disingenuous. Bendis has ably brought back a more 'old school' style of Avengers romp -or at least in this writer's opinion- that fits within the contemporary styling and mechanics demanded from its audience. Cho's artwork continues to improve each issue, and while yes, his female form is often rather close to something you may see in Namco's forthcoming Soul Calibur IV videogame ('Voluptuous Anti-gravity Fighting Edition', or it seems) his pencils and inks are clear, well-defined and well-suited. As for the scheduling problems... by Cho's own admission it's been something of a continuous gut-punch as the demands of the book swiftly took him away from a monthly turnout and wrecked merry Marvel havoc on the New/Mighty Avengers story link-up. As a result, this is voluntarily Cho's last issue in the series, barring the annual.
So where does that leave us, here in the final throes of the first story arc?
You may be surprised to find that this issue is arguably the best of the series to date. Not to say The Mighty Avengers has been bad – far from it, despite its pacing and shipping idiosyncrasies, but this issue manages to bring the strengths of the creative team, the very reasons why they were hired for the book, into visible play. While prior issues naturally swayed on either side of the 'lots of fighting/lots of characterisation' slant as deemed necessary for the story, #6 captures a mixture of tense action and wonderful character moments that bode well for the book's future, making it a satisfying read – an element which has become utterly essential given the unfortunate delays.
It's here that relatively unknown quantity, Ares, proves his worth in the plan to take down the deadly new iteration of Ultron who has turned up and put the Avengers through a very stressful wringer. In fact, several characters who are fairly underused or otherwise marginalised get to shine, namely Wasp and Sentry. Bendis cleverly uses the latter as an emotional trigger throughout, given the Golden Guardian's rather understandable rage against Ultron. We root for him in his angst, which plays against the counter-productivity of his actions putting the team's plan in danger, creating a nice sense of conflict that ups the ante considerably. At the same time the numerous insecurities of various team members are starting to show more and more, giving these veritable gods a very human side. Hank's words of regret to his friends and his moment with Janet say much more than is expressed on the page, as do the quiet parts of the issue involving Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man, and Sentry's final scene which manages to be both touching and extremely disturbing for the character given the implications of his discovery.
Not to say there isn’t a fair share of humour. The 'exposition' scene where everything is explained to begin the story arc's tidy-up is wonderfully written with suitable pathos, comedy and drama that will have implications for the following issues. Much as been said about Bendis using thought bubbles as part of the book's style, but it works to simultaneously mark the cast in their nuances while showing us they're more alike than they may realise or seem. Again, it brings that element of humanity to the fore that allows our heroes to stay relatable and grounded without straying too far from their more iconic roots.
Cho's penultimate work on The Mighty Avengers is easily his best. As aforementioned, his art is crisp, with some excellent storytelling that keeps the action eye-catching. The synergy between him and Bendis makes the book as successful as it is, blending the high impact visuals required to get the big scenes across without sacrificing the minutiae. His facial expressions are fantastic, lending a large degree of gravity to the subtle character markers in Bendis' script and letting the emotional moments come to the fore with full impact. It speaks volumes of the creators' understanding of each other that despite the wordy and caption heavy panels the art remains clear and concise, never fighting with the dialogue no matter how crowded a page may get. Obviously some superb spatial awareness by the letterer and subtle colouring all help too, given how easy it is to underestimate how vital these roles are – The Ultimates 3, anyone?
The last page naturally loses a lot of its impact due to the tardy timing of the book, which perhaps sums up The Mighty Avengers' problems on a whole. The arc itself has suffered through its delays, which has hampered its momentum and made its shared universe strength into a very noticeable weakness. For some it may serve as an unintentional slap in the face, dragging you from its fictional reality a little too harshly for comfort. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t stop this issue from being well-rounded fun. True, there's a lot of ground to make up to bring The Mighty Avengers alongside its sister titles and make the most of its strengths, especially as Secret Invasion looms, but as long as there continues to be the progression and deft touches of characterisation shown here, things should be on the up. Given that Cho will be replaced by the brilliantly talented and freakishly quick Mark Bagely, I have little doubt this will be the case.
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avhalf.jpg
Buy Mighty Avengers #6 online now from X-WORLD and save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=24576)
“It's still there. Everything is okay.”
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Frank Cho
Colours: Jason Keith
Letterer: Artmonkey's Dave Lanphear
Production: Anthony Dial
Assistant Editor: Molly Lazer
Editor: Tom Brevoot
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (www.marvel.com)
It's been a while, hasn’t it? Hm.
*Ahem*
The Mighty Avengers has come under more scrutiny than initially planned given its rather haphazard scheduling. Kicking off during March of this now fading 2007, the Brian Michael Bendis and Frank Cho title predictably had its detractors and doubters, most of which assembled under the scepticism held over whether prolific writer Bendis could capture that classic Avengers feel and whether Cho could stray from artistic cheesecake, only to find plenty more fuel for the fire when three-quarters of a year later barely six issues had been put on the shelves.
Fish in a barrel.
However, this is being fairly disingenuous. Bendis has ably brought back a more 'old school' style of Avengers romp -or at least in this writer's opinion- that fits within the contemporary styling and mechanics demanded from its audience. Cho's artwork continues to improve each issue, and while yes, his female form is often rather close to something you may see in Namco's forthcoming Soul Calibur IV videogame ('Voluptuous Anti-gravity Fighting Edition', or it seems) his pencils and inks are clear, well-defined and well-suited. As for the scheduling problems... by Cho's own admission it's been something of a continuous gut-punch as the demands of the book swiftly took him away from a monthly turnout and wrecked merry Marvel havoc on the New/Mighty Avengers story link-up. As a result, this is voluntarily Cho's last issue in the series, barring the annual.
So where does that leave us, here in the final throes of the first story arc?
You may be surprised to find that this issue is arguably the best of the series to date. Not to say The Mighty Avengers has been bad – far from it, despite its pacing and shipping idiosyncrasies, but this issue manages to bring the strengths of the creative team, the very reasons why they were hired for the book, into visible play. While prior issues naturally swayed on either side of the 'lots of fighting/lots of characterisation' slant as deemed necessary for the story, #6 captures a mixture of tense action and wonderful character moments that bode well for the book's future, making it a satisfying read – an element which has become utterly essential given the unfortunate delays.
It's here that relatively unknown quantity, Ares, proves his worth in the plan to take down the deadly new iteration of Ultron who has turned up and put the Avengers through a very stressful wringer. In fact, several characters who are fairly underused or otherwise marginalised get to shine, namely Wasp and Sentry. Bendis cleverly uses the latter as an emotional trigger throughout, given the Golden Guardian's rather understandable rage against Ultron. We root for him in his angst, which plays against the counter-productivity of his actions putting the team's plan in danger, creating a nice sense of conflict that ups the ante considerably. At the same time the numerous insecurities of various team members are starting to show more and more, giving these veritable gods a very human side. Hank's words of regret to his friends and his moment with Janet say much more than is expressed on the page, as do the quiet parts of the issue involving Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man, and Sentry's final scene which manages to be both touching and extremely disturbing for the character given the implications of his discovery.
Not to say there isn’t a fair share of humour. The 'exposition' scene where everything is explained to begin the story arc's tidy-up is wonderfully written with suitable pathos, comedy and drama that will have implications for the following issues. Much as been said about Bendis using thought bubbles as part of the book's style, but it works to simultaneously mark the cast in their nuances while showing us they're more alike than they may realise or seem. Again, it brings that element of humanity to the fore that allows our heroes to stay relatable and grounded without straying too far from their more iconic roots.
Cho's penultimate work on The Mighty Avengers is easily his best. As aforementioned, his art is crisp, with some excellent storytelling that keeps the action eye-catching. The synergy between him and Bendis makes the book as successful as it is, blending the high impact visuals required to get the big scenes across without sacrificing the minutiae. His facial expressions are fantastic, lending a large degree of gravity to the subtle character markers in Bendis' script and letting the emotional moments come to the fore with full impact. It speaks volumes of the creators' understanding of each other that despite the wordy and caption heavy panels the art remains clear and concise, never fighting with the dialogue no matter how crowded a page may get. Obviously some superb spatial awareness by the letterer and subtle colouring all help too, given how easy it is to underestimate how vital these roles are – The Ultimates 3, anyone?
The last page naturally loses a lot of its impact due to the tardy timing of the book, which perhaps sums up The Mighty Avengers' problems on a whole. The arc itself has suffered through its delays, which has hampered its momentum and made its shared universe strength into a very noticeable weakness. For some it may serve as an unintentional slap in the face, dragging you from its fictional reality a little too harshly for comfort. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t stop this issue from being well-rounded fun. True, there's a lot of ground to make up to bring The Mighty Avengers alongside its sister titles and make the most of its strengths, especially as Secret Invasion looms, but as long as there continues to be the progression and deft touches of characterisation shown here, things should be on the up. Given that Cho will be replaced by the brilliantly talented and freakishly quick Mark Bagely, I have little doubt this will be the case.
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avhalf.jpg
Buy Mighty Avengers #6 online now from X-WORLD and save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=24576)