I've been working on these two reviews for about two weeks now so I figured it's about time I finished them up and posted them.
I wrote them in concert since the events of the first tie directly into the second. Without further ado…
Civil War: The Initiative
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Marc Silvestri
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Following Civil War, the new rules of conduct for superheroes have been established: register, or be tried for treason. Spider-Woman breaks the rules; she hasn’t registered, and she’s taking down the Grey Gargoyle. Ms. Marvel flies in to give her an assist, and pleads with her to come in. Spider-Woman refuses, calling Iron Man a murderer – she holds him responsible for the death of Captain America.
Ms. Marvel tells her that Cap’s not dead – that they’re keeping him on the raft and he’s in a coma as the super-solider serum in his veins tries to save him. It doesn’t convince Spider-Woman, who takes off; Ms. Marvel doesn’t pursue.
Meanwhile Walter Langkowski and Reed Richards recruit the young mutant known as The Collective into the new Alpha Flight – even though he killed the old Alpha Flight. Reed has designed a new Guardian suit for The Collective to control his powers.
Finally Iron Man discusses the future with Jarvis and Jarvis tells him that, even with the new world order, the Avengers are still needed…
____________
Why, why am I continuing to read Marvel Comics when the fallout of Civil War is tainting them all? Sigh. Actually this isn’t a terrible comic. If you can ignore the Thunderbolts portion – which I am, actually, because it’s terrible and because it doesn’t fit in with the rest of the story – and get past the inanities of Civil War, and just focus on the moment – and the new world order and what it means to the superheroes of the Marvel Universe – it’s not bad for what it is.
I’m going to point out for the record here that I don’t hate the current make-up of the Marvel Universe; the idea that superheroes should be registered or risk becoming outlaws. It’s the steps that were taken to get to this end. But I’m not going to talk about that here, let’s just focus on the issue at hand – the Marvel Universe is not all soft and cuddly towards superheroes anymore. The public fears and distrusts them and the government has taken steps to quell those fears.
So, for this issue, well, there isn’t so much a story here, as there is a broad look at the Marvel U., using a couple of scenes to illustrate it. The fight between Spider-Woman, the Grey Gargoyle and Ms. Marvel was fun, and I do appreciate that Ms. Marvel defeated the “real” villain before turning her attention to Spider-Woman. It’s seemed lately that many “registered” heroes think it’s more important to take down unregistered heroes, rather than villains, and it’s nice to see it’s not the case here.
The Captain America setup was… interesting. I’ll talk about it more in my review of New Avengers #27. I’m not entirely sure I like that the writers are playing to the emotions of the reader that way – teasing his return to us, only to pull it away. However… in this case, Spider-Woman and the reader are feeling exactly the same way, so it works.
Bendis’ usual snappy dialogue is in full play in the scene, and Marc Silvestri’s art is nice to look at. Though I must say, I much prefer David Finch’s work now. Finch started out in Silvestri’s studio with a style much like Marc’s before becoming a star on his own; at some point, he surpassed Marc as an artist and now it looks like Marc’s developed a style similar to Finch! Funny. But it does the job well enough here.
The next scene is the Thunderbolts scene, which I’ll ignore since Marvel has – for the second time – completely ruined a great title. Next up we have the Alpha Flight, Omega Flight intro, featuring Sasquatch and the Collective, the young mutant who killed all of Alpha Flight except Sasquatch back in New Avengers #16.
I’m not entirely convinced of the setup’s logic – I mean I’m glad they found the kid a suit to help him control his powers – but why have him join Alpha Flight? He’s an American, after all, why not have him in the Initiative where he would receive proper training? I dunno. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me; guess I’ll have to read the series when it comes out to see if they explain it.
Silvestri’s take on Sasquatch was cool, but I must say he drew a very odd looking Reed Richards!
Finally we have Iron Man scolding Ms. Marvel for telling Spider-Woman Cap was still alive. Or maybe he was scolding her for letting Spider-Woman go? It’s not entirely clear. In any event, Jarvis – acting completely out of character, by 1) not offering any helpful advice when Tony asks, and 2) calling Tigra a bitch or a cunt or something else so nasty it had to be censored.
Why would he do this? He’s never had a problem with Tigra in the past, has he? And besides, Tigra was on Tony’s side in the war, spying on Cap for him! What the hell? And he’s always been showing as willing to offer some sage advice – even if it’s as obvious as “you should put Thor on the team” – to those who ask. Here he’s just an ass. Shows once again why Bendis is a terrible Avengers writer!!
Anyway it’s at this point that Tony makes his decision to form a new team of Avengers, which takes us into Mighty Avengers #1.
This is followed up by a couple of previews for new series including Omega Flight, Mighty Avengers and Avengers: The Initiative. Why they needed a preview of Mighty Avengers, which came out the same week as this issue, is beyond me. The Omega Flight one shows off some cool Scot Kolins pencils, but little more.
The third preview is a little more interesting in that it implicitly illustrates the problem I mentioned above: a super-hero/government cop, in this case the armored, heavily powered, fully loaded War Machine, telling a flying teenager to cease and desist.
Look I understand the issue here. People with powers need to be trained. Fine.
But you’re telling me War Machine, a guy with a suit of armor just like Iron Man’s (with more guns!) has nothing better or more important to do that harass teenagers? He’s WAR MACHINE, for God’s sake! You think maybe someone with a little more human touch might not have been better than a flying one man army? Sigh.
If Marvel keeps throwing out unlikely scenarios such as this, it’s going to take me a long time to fully accept the new status quo…!
_________________________
New Avengers #28
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Leinel Francis Yu
Publisher: Marvel Comics
After rescuing Maya Lopez – Echo – from the Hand, the new Avengers are on the run in Japan. Wolverine believes the only place they will be safe is the home of the Yashida clan – current home of the Silver Samurai, with whom Logan has a long-running feud.
With the Samurai demanding to know how and why they are in Japan, the Avengers recap the previous days’ events, including a humourous sequence showing just how difficult it is for superheroes to operate in New York, as Cage is once again harassed in the street by SHIELD.
Convening at Dr. Strange’s house – now cleverly disguised as an under-construction Starbucks – the New Avengers decide what to do regarding Spider-Woman’s news from the Initiative (that Captain America is still alive).
Clearly, they all agree, it’s a trap… but what choice do they have? They have to check it out. So they storm the location the body is supposedly held – the Raft, the maximum security prison where the New Avengers first formed.
Their hearts soar when they see a body, in Cap’s costume, on an operating table, but one quick sniff from Wolverine reveals the truth – “it ain’t him.” It is a trap, and Iron Man, Ms. Marvel and their new, government sanctioned Avengers team is waiting for the New Avengers…
______________
This is the second issue of the Bendis/Yu run, taking place post-Civil war. This series has never felt like a “real” Avengers series, more like a cheap knock-off, and that pretty much continues here. The characters don’t seem to have a lot of connection to one another; once again it seems like it’s just a matter of Bendis saying “these are the characters I like, so I’m going to put them in my Avengers book.”
Now, it’s not that I don’t like the characters or their interactions with one another. But without any traditional Avengers, without Avengers headquarters, without Jarvis, without any official sanction… what makes them Avengers? As far as I can tell they’re a glorified Defenders team, even using Dr. Strange’s house as an HQ!
However, if you can get past the fact that it’s not much of an Avengers book, it’s actually a pretty good read, just like this title has been from day one. It might not be a good Avengers comic book, but it’s still a good comic book!
While I like all the team members, including Wolverine, I don’t understand his presence here. Why would he join this team? He’s got enough team issues with the X-Men. He’s got his solo adventures plus he’s tracking down his “origin” in his second solo book. On top of that… what’s his connection with this team? Everyone else is a registration outlaw in some sense (still not exactly sure why Cage is an outlaw. Doesn’t everyone already know his ID? As seen in NA#24 they also know where he lives. So… what’s he done wrong?). Anyway. They’ve all got that common bond, but as seen elsewhere, all the X-Men (and the 198 mutants) are already registered so weren’t a concern to the SHRA. So what’s his connection to this team? Other than the fact Bendis likes him? I dunno.
I do love Cage and Jessica’s married couple banter, though; Bendis always nails that one. I’m glad to see them still in a book together, and Iron Fist too (maybe the book is more Heroes for Hire than Defenders…!)
This issue, continued from the previous one, has the team fighting ninjas and traveling to Japan. Having this team fight ninjas makes a little more sense here than it did earlier in the series (ninjas wouldn’t bother the Sentry or Iron Man much, I’d think) since they’re much less powerful. Although with Dr. Strange in there I wonder how much of a threat anyone is. I think Bendis needs to set aside some time in an upcoming issue to establish exactly what Dr. Strange’s role is, and exactly what his power level is. I mean if he can teleport the whole team anywhere, when are they ever going to be in danger? (Also, didn’t he declare himself a non-concerned neutral in all of the SHRA doings? Isn’t he now actively helping SHRA outlaws? Sigh.)
I admit to not having much interest in Echo or her fight with Elektra and the Hand (it seems to me that the use of these characters indicates that Bendis wishes he were still writing Daredevil) but Leinil Francis Yu does draw some great fight scenes.
I’m a little torn on Yu’s work here. I’ve always liked his work, but I don’t know that it works as well on a team book as it would on a solo book. It definitely wouldn’t work on a traditional Avengers book, but as we’ve said, this isn’t a traditional Avengers book so… I guess it works. I guess the problem is that, with his (for lack of a better term) “scratchy” style, with so many characters in every panel and page, it looks very busy. It’s still good but the pages are really crowded. I bet he’d kick total ass on a solo book like the Hulk or Daredevil (much like he kicked ass on Wolverine!).
All in all, I’m standing in the middle ground on this comic. I neither loved nor hated it, and though I would lean towards the former Civil War had so many missteps that continue to affect books negatively, it brings me back to the latter.
But since Bendis is the man responsible for what I consider the two best comics of the century (his Daredevil and Ultimate Spider-Man runs) I’ll continue to give him the benefit of the doubt. The new New Avengers aren’t off to a great start, but it’s not a bad one, and that’s enough to bring me back for more next issue.
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