Beau Tidwell
Feb 22, 2008, 03:10 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/0208/MAVN009_col.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/0208/MAVN009_colt.jpg" alt="Mighty Avengers #9" hspace=10 align=left></a> Reviewer: Beau Tidwell, comixfanbeau@gmail.com
Story Title: Doom Goes Boom (I made that up, the story appears to be untitled)
“Do you have any ideas that don’t cost me north of 250 million dollars?”
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Mark Bagley
Artist (pages 2-4): Marko Djurdjevic
Inkers: Danny Miki & Crime Lab Studios’ Allen Martinez & Victor Olazaba
Coloring: Justin Ponsor
Lettering: Artmonkeys’ Dave Lanphear
Production: Paul Acerios
Associate Editor: Molly Lazer
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (www.marvel.com)
Here’s what you need to know: Mighty Avengers is finally back on its stride, with the incredibly talented (and incredibly fast) Mark Bagley coming to the rescue to get the book back on pace with its sister title New Avengers, and throttling full-speed toward the big SECRET INVASION event. After a Venom-virus “accidentally” dropped out of a Latverian satellite in orbit and turned midtown Manhattan into a symbiote swarm in the last story-arc, the registered heroes of Tony Stark’s “official” Avengers joined with their renegade counterparts to reverse the effects and save the city — but they didn’t get to hit anybody, what with all the symbiotes being innocent New Yorkers underneath. At the same time, the last arc suffered from feeling at once very rushed (cramming maybe three issues worth of story into two, not a common complaint about Brian Bendis’ books), and very late, given that the denouement of the action was already covered in a flashback in New Avengers maybe two months ago.
Now, we get to the good stuff:
Big sprawling epic action. Not a lot of dialogue, not a lot of plot development —but huge, huge, HUGE fights. Exactly the kind of thing you hope to see when the Marvel Universe’s biggest and baddest super-team invades a sovereign nation ruled by Doctor Doom. Endless hordes of Doombots and weaponry vs. eight duly registered superhumans riding a wave of righteous indignation and misplaced frustration.
Much smashing ensues.
After an engaging, surreal set-up in the early 13th century courtesy of Marko Djurdjevic, Bendis cuts right to the action with a two-page spread of the Mighty Avengers flying headlong into hostile foreign territory. If this shot looks familiar, it’s because you’ve essentially seen it before, on the two-page spread that ended the last issue. And it’s actually a better shot, well-served by bringing the cockpit of the Quinjet forward to give us a better look at the team inside.
Once the team hits the ground (or more accurately the castle walls — thanks to some creative piloting by the God of War), things start blowing up and they don’t stop for seven pages. For all the grumbling out there on the ‘net about Bendis stories being light on action and long on snappy banter, Bendis and Bags have an answer: an escalating sequence of double-page spreads literally packed to the edges with superhero action. After the somewhat plodding pace of the initial Ultron arc (created more by the interminable shipping delays than the story itself), and the rushed, gotta-catch-up symbiote story last issue, we finally get what feels like a perfectly paced, high-action, high-adventure comic. This is what editor Tom Breevort and Bendis were talking about before the book launched and they were promising a “classic Avengers, big superhero fights title” that maybe had more in common with the classic era that ended with Kurt Busiek than the more gritty, espionage-tinged New Avengers title.
The sprawling brawl in Latveria invites comparison to Bryan Hitch’s much-lauded spreads in Ultimates 2 #13. Whereas the necessarily more gritty (and certainly more endlessly, minutely detailed) approach Hitch took gave his spreads that patented “Wide Screen” feel, Bagley’s big battle scene seems to have a lot more movement and energy, a lot more life in the lines. That said, when you devote that much real estate in the book to essentially move the story forward exactly one panel, it’s necessary to pack a lot in. Here’s where things could have been somewhat stronger, in that amid all the chaos and confusion of the fight, the camera “lost” a few of the heroes. While we’re given to understand that Iron Man slipped away to confront Doom directly, the effect is undercut somewhat by the fact that other members of his team — presumably still on the battlefield obscured by all the ‘sploding — likewise vanish from view in the chaos.
Speaking of the art, that surreal opening sequence I mentioned above? Brilliant. Marko Djurdjevic totally nails Doom and the legendary sorceress he is courting, while capturing a distinctly otherworldly quality. His version of Doom reminded me strongly of the cinematic artwork from Marvel Ultimate Alliance, managing to evoke a chilling realism and a supernatural quality at the same time. He looked like he could be real, but he didn’t just look like a guy in a metal suit from wardrobe. He looked like a terrifying supervillain, regal and dangerous.
And that’s what I loved about this issue more than anything: the Avengers fought Dr. Doom. It’s that simple, but after what seems like years of hero-vs.-hero (or hero-vs.-Hulk) stories dominating the landscape of the 616, it was great to finally get back to the classics. This issue was a great example of the best of what’s made the Marvel Universe great, pre- and post-Civil War, and I’m recommending it highly.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avnone.jpg
Story Title: Doom Goes Boom (I made that up, the story appears to be untitled)
“Do you have any ideas that don’t cost me north of 250 million dollars?”
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Mark Bagley
Artist (pages 2-4): Marko Djurdjevic
Inkers: Danny Miki & Crime Lab Studios’ Allen Martinez & Victor Olazaba
Coloring: Justin Ponsor
Lettering: Artmonkeys’ Dave Lanphear
Production: Paul Acerios
Associate Editor: Molly Lazer
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (www.marvel.com)
Here’s what you need to know: Mighty Avengers is finally back on its stride, with the incredibly talented (and incredibly fast) Mark Bagley coming to the rescue to get the book back on pace with its sister title New Avengers, and throttling full-speed toward the big SECRET INVASION event. After a Venom-virus “accidentally” dropped out of a Latverian satellite in orbit and turned midtown Manhattan into a symbiote swarm in the last story-arc, the registered heroes of Tony Stark’s “official” Avengers joined with their renegade counterparts to reverse the effects and save the city — but they didn’t get to hit anybody, what with all the symbiotes being innocent New Yorkers underneath. At the same time, the last arc suffered from feeling at once very rushed (cramming maybe three issues worth of story into two, not a common complaint about Brian Bendis’ books), and very late, given that the denouement of the action was already covered in a flashback in New Avengers maybe two months ago.
Now, we get to the good stuff:
Big sprawling epic action. Not a lot of dialogue, not a lot of plot development —but huge, huge, HUGE fights. Exactly the kind of thing you hope to see when the Marvel Universe’s biggest and baddest super-team invades a sovereign nation ruled by Doctor Doom. Endless hordes of Doombots and weaponry vs. eight duly registered superhumans riding a wave of righteous indignation and misplaced frustration.
Much smashing ensues.
After an engaging, surreal set-up in the early 13th century courtesy of Marko Djurdjevic, Bendis cuts right to the action with a two-page spread of the Mighty Avengers flying headlong into hostile foreign territory. If this shot looks familiar, it’s because you’ve essentially seen it before, on the two-page spread that ended the last issue. And it’s actually a better shot, well-served by bringing the cockpit of the Quinjet forward to give us a better look at the team inside.
Once the team hits the ground (or more accurately the castle walls — thanks to some creative piloting by the God of War), things start blowing up and they don’t stop for seven pages. For all the grumbling out there on the ‘net about Bendis stories being light on action and long on snappy banter, Bendis and Bags have an answer: an escalating sequence of double-page spreads literally packed to the edges with superhero action. After the somewhat plodding pace of the initial Ultron arc (created more by the interminable shipping delays than the story itself), and the rushed, gotta-catch-up symbiote story last issue, we finally get what feels like a perfectly paced, high-action, high-adventure comic. This is what editor Tom Breevort and Bendis were talking about before the book launched and they were promising a “classic Avengers, big superhero fights title” that maybe had more in common with the classic era that ended with Kurt Busiek than the more gritty, espionage-tinged New Avengers title.
The sprawling brawl in Latveria invites comparison to Bryan Hitch’s much-lauded spreads in Ultimates 2 #13. Whereas the necessarily more gritty (and certainly more endlessly, minutely detailed) approach Hitch took gave his spreads that patented “Wide Screen” feel, Bagley’s big battle scene seems to have a lot more movement and energy, a lot more life in the lines. That said, when you devote that much real estate in the book to essentially move the story forward exactly one panel, it’s necessary to pack a lot in. Here’s where things could have been somewhat stronger, in that amid all the chaos and confusion of the fight, the camera “lost” a few of the heroes. While we’re given to understand that Iron Man slipped away to confront Doom directly, the effect is undercut somewhat by the fact that other members of his team — presumably still on the battlefield obscured by all the ‘sploding — likewise vanish from view in the chaos.
Speaking of the art, that surreal opening sequence I mentioned above? Brilliant. Marko Djurdjevic totally nails Doom and the legendary sorceress he is courting, while capturing a distinctly otherworldly quality. His version of Doom reminded me strongly of the cinematic artwork from Marvel Ultimate Alliance, managing to evoke a chilling realism and a supernatural quality at the same time. He looked like he could be real, but he didn’t just look like a guy in a metal suit from wardrobe. He looked like a terrifying supervillain, regal and dangerous.
And that’s what I loved about this issue more than anything: the Avengers fought Dr. Doom. It’s that simple, but after what seems like years of hero-vs.-hero (or hero-vs.-Hulk) stories dominating the landscape of the 616, it was great to finally get back to the classics. This issue was a great example of the best of what’s made the Marvel Universe great, pre- and post-Civil War, and I’m recommending it highly.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/avnone.jpg