Beau Tidwell
Mar 15, 2008, 10:37 am
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/0308/MAVN010_col.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/0308/MAVN010_colt.jpg" alt="Mighty Avengers #10" hspace=10 align=left></a> Reviewer: Beau Tidwell, comixfanbeau@gmail.com
Story Title: Time Is On No One’s Side
“A lot more people hate you than hate me.”
Writer: Brian Bendis
Penciler: Mark Bagley
Inkers: Danny Miki & Crime Lab Studios’ Allen Martinez
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
Letterer: Artmonkeys’ Dave Lanphear
Assisstant Editor: Molly Lazer
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (www.marvel.com)
Okay, that’s it. I love this book. Mighty Avengers is fast on its way to becoming my favorite Marvel book currently on the stands. And I don’t even like the AVENGERS. Okay, that’s an exaggeration--- but when it comes down to it I’ve always been more of an X-Men guy. And then a Daredevil guy. And then maybe Thor or the FF or Spidey, but AVENGERS was never my #1.
Until now. Wow, this book is good. Apologies for the sophomoric simplifications (he said, channeling Lee-era Hank McCoy … gotta keep my X-cred), but Bendis has finally, finally tapped the full promise of his re-launch of the franchise that began lo those many moons ago with Avengers Disassembled. With the launch of Mighty Avengers, he went on record as being out to recapture the “Big Super Hero” feel of the classic team, and with this story arc he is delivering in spades. With this issue, he’s blowing the damn doors off. This is better than classic Avengers. In fact, it’s exactly what you wish the “classic” Avengers books could have been. Witty, urbane, and packed to the brim with action. Not to mention it has a feeling of immediacy and connection with the larger Marvel Universe (and the Secret Invasion that’s about to hit) that recalls the very best elements of the days of Stan and Roy Thomas writing everything on the masthead.
We begin this issue thrust backwards in time, and the production department (ably aided by Mark Bagley’s classic layout sensibilities) does its best to plunge the reader right into the middle of a very good Bronze Age Marvel book, right down to the little one-liner house ads at the bottom of each page plugging fictional books that would have been on the stands during the Carter administration. The colors, the zip-a-tone inking effects, and even the caption narration in the early pages are meticulously designed to recreate the look and feel of a classic Marvel superhero book, while the action going down feels unmistakably modern. Bendis’ experiments with resurrecting the thought-bubble are less successful than the retro vibe suffusing the artwork, but markedly more effective than his early attempts during the Ultron arc. It’s a new tool, relatively speaking, and he’s getting more precise and more and more effective with its use. The interior monologue for the Sentry, in particular, was excellent--- to the degree that it made me really feel for the guy who, despite my initial distaste and distrust, is fast becoming a modern Avengers’ favorite on par with Jessica Drew and Luke Cage. Paul Jenkins really did tap into a truly classic Marvel trope with his creation of Bob Reynolds, the Golden Guardian with the feet of clay. He’s Superman with more neurosies than Peter Parker, and he works. Nobody does neurosies like Benids. (For an even better example, go re-read the Daredevil arc where it’s implied he might have married Mila in the midst of a nervous breakdown.)
Brian Michael Bendis is well-aided all the way by his longtime-partner Mark Bagley on the art chores. I am really going to miss Bags when he’s gone. His renderings of Doom and Iron Man are up there with superstars like Romita Jr. and Bob Layton, and his action set-pieces are second to none. The man can draw a damn good “boom”, and an even better Doom. Like no one since the late Mike Weiringo, Bagley gives us a Doom that is plausibly both arcane and technological, and all the deadlier and more menacing for the elegance of the combination.
I’ve always liked Dr. Doom when played as The Big-Bad of the Marvel Universe, even more so than as a foil specifically for the Fantastic Four. Chalk it up to my early encounters with him in Jim Shooter’s legendary (and yet still-underrated) Secret Wars. His complicated, layered persona plays almost as well here against Tony Stark as it often has in the past against Reed Richards and his fantastic family. Bendis and Bags do an excellent job here of selling Doom as an over-the-top megalomaniac with dangerous delusions of superiority, and a three-dimensional antagonist with more to him than “Bah! Curse you Richards!!!”, which is made all the more refreshing by seeing the Latverian dictator played back-on-his-heels, reacting to events rather than smugly orchestrating them.
All of which leads me to the strongest element of the issue--- the satisfaction of a done-in-one time travel story, without dragging through a needlessly decompressed two-pronged plot bouncing back and forth from the present to the past over three or more issues. Certainly, a degree of blame for the decompression trend can and should be laid at Bendis’ door, but here he is delivering a level of action-packed, dense storytelling that can stand on its own with the best of the Bronze Age tales referenced in the art and production. While I’ve complained elsewhere about team books lacking many or most members of the “team” for the space of an issue (go back and read my X-Men: First Class review from a couple weeks back … seriously, g’head, I’ll wait … my ego needs to see the hit-count rise …), it was actually a tremendous relief to see Tony Stark and Doctor Doom deal with their temporal paradox exactly in the most sensible, direct, and efficient way we could want. Because, as the characters themselves acknowledge, we’ve all been here before. Tony and Doom have done the time-travel-with-consequences thing enough that they know exactly what’s at stake (the “butterfly effect” … Ashton Kutcher is involved … it gets ugly) and very quickly resolve to work together to delicately and immediately get themselves out of it. There’s no artificial B-plot to get in the way of them getting back to the present as quickly, and elegantly, as possible. And the way Bendis incorporates Sentry’s back-story dovetails so perfectly with the character’s neurotic inner monologue makes the inclusion of this one-and-only other Avenger in the time-jump absolutely perfect. Well done all around.
Buy this book. If you’re into the Marvel Universe and the inescapable lead-ups to Secret Invasion, you don’t really have much choice. Fortunately, with the able aid of Mark Bagley, Bendis has finally brought this book up to full speed with New Avengers, functioning as a perfect high-octane counterpoint to the more cerebral, interior aspects of the renegade team. And with this issue, it finally feels like there are Avengers in the Marvel Universe again. Just in time, because you get the sense we might need them …
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/avfull.jpg
Story Title: Time Is On No One’s Side
“A lot more people hate you than hate me.”
Writer: Brian Bendis
Penciler: Mark Bagley
Inkers: Danny Miki & Crime Lab Studios’ Allen Martinez
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
Letterer: Artmonkeys’ Dave Lanphear
Assisstant Editor: Molly Lazer
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (www.marvel.com)
Okay, that’s it. I love this book. Mighty Avengers is fast on its way to becoming my favorite Marvel book currently on the stands. And I don’t even like the AVENGERS. Okay, that’s an exaggeration--- but when it comes down to it I’ve always been more of an X-Men guy. And then a Daredevil guy. And then maybe Thor or the FF or Spidey, but AVENGERS was never my #1.
Until now. Wow, this book is good. Apologies for the sophomoric simplifications (he said, channeling Lee-era Hank McCoy … gotta keep my X-cred), but Bendis has finally, finally tapped the full promise of his re-launch of the franchise that began lo those many moons ago with Avengers Disassembled. With the launch of Mighty Avengers, he went on record as being out to recapture the “Big Super Hero” feel of the classic team, and with this story arc he is delivering in spades. With this issue, he’s blowing the damn doors off. This is better than classic Avengers. In fact, it’s exactly what you wish the “classic” Avengers books could have been. Witty, urbane, and packed to the brim with action. Not to mention it has a feeling of immediacy and connection with the larger Marvel Universe (and the Secret Invasion that’s about to hit) that recalls the very best elements of the days of Stan and Roy Thomas writing everything on the masthead.
We begin this issue thrust backwards in time, and the production department (ably aided by Mark Bagley’s classic layout sensibilities) does its best to plunge the reader right into the middle of a very good Bronze Age Marvel book, right down to the little one-liner house ads at the bottom of each page plugging fictional books that would have been on the stands during the Carter administration. The colors, the zip-a-tone inking effects, and even the caption narration in the early pages are meticulously designed to recreate the look and feel of a classic Marvel superhero book, while the action going down feels unmistakably modern. Bendis’ experiments with resurrecting the thought-bubble are less successful than the retro vibe suffusing the artwork, but markedly more effective than his early attempts during the Ultron arc. It’s a new tool, relatively speaking, and he’s getting more precise and more and more effective with its use. The interior monologue for the Sentry, in particular, was excellent--- to the degree that it made me really feel for the guy who, despite my initial distaste and distrust, is fast becoming a modern Avengers’ favorite on par with Jessica Drew and Luke Cage. Paul Jenkins really did tap into a truly classic Marvel trope with his creation of Bob Reynolds, the Golden Guardian with the feet of clay. He’s Superman with more neurosies than Peter Parker, and he works. Nobody does neurosies like Benids. (For an even better example, go re-read the Daredevil arc where it’s implied he might have married Mila in the midst of a nervous breakdown.)
Brian Michael Bendis is well-aided all the way by his longtime-partner Mark Bagley on the art chores. I am really going to miss Bags when he’s gone. His renderings of Doom and Iron Man are up there with superstars like Romita Jr. and Bob Layton, and his action set-pieces are second to none. The man can draw a damn good “boom”, and an even better Doom. Like no one since the late Mike Weiringo, Bagley gives us a Doom that is plausibly both arcane and technological, and all the deadlier and more menacing for the elegance of the combination.
I’ve always liked Dr. Doom when played as The Big-Bad of the Marvel Universe, even more so than as a foil specifically for the Fantastic Four. Chalk it up to my early encounters with him in Jim Shooter’s legendary (and yet still-underrated) Secret Wars. His complicated, layered persona plays almost as well here against Tony Stark as it often has in the past against Reed Richards and his fantastic family. Bendis and Bags do an excellent job here of selling Doom as an over-the-top megalomaniac with dangerous delusions of superiority, and a three-dimensional antagonist with more to him than “Bah! Curse you Richards!!!”, which is made all the more refreshing by seeing the Latverian dictator played back-on-his-heels, reacting to events rather than smugly orchestrating them.
All of which leads me to the strongest element of the issue--- the satisfaction of a done-in-one time travel story, without dragging through a needlessly decompressed two-pronged plot bouncing back and forth from the present to the past over three or more issues. Certainly, a degree of blame for the decompression trend can and should be laid at Bendis’ door, but here he is delivering a level of action-packed, dense storytelling that can stand on its own with the best of the Bronze Age tales referenced in the art and production. While I’ve complained elsewhere about team books lacking many or most members of the “team” for the space of an issue (go back and read my X-Men: First Class review from a couple weeks back … seriously, g’head, I’ll wait … my ego needs to see the hit-count rise …), it was actually a tremendous relief to see Tony Stark and Doctor Doom deal with their temporal paradox exactly in the most sensible, direct, and efficient way we could want. Because, as the characters themselves acknowledge, we’ve all been here before. Tony and Doom have done the time-travel-with-consequences thing enough that they know exactly what’s at stake (the “butterfly effect” … Ashton Kutcher is involved … it gets ugly) and very quickly resolve to work together to delicately and immediately get themselves out of it. There’s no artificial B-plot to get in the way of them getting back to the present as quickly, and elegantly, as possible. And the way Bendis incorporates Sentry’s back-story dovetails so perfectly with the character’s neurotic inner monologue makes the inclusion of this one-and-only other Avenger in the time-jump absolutely perfect. Well done all around.
Buy this book. If you’re into the Marvel Universe and the inescapable lead-ups to Secret Invasion, you don’t really have much choice. Fortunately, with the able aid of Mark Bagley, Bendis has finally brought this book up to full speed with New Avengers, functioning as a perfect high-octane counterpoint to the more cerebral, interior aspects of the renegade team. And with this issue, it finally feels like there are Avengers in the Marvel Universe again. Just in time, because you get the sense we might need them …
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/avfull.jpg