By Lee Newman
The Mighty Avengers #10
Published by Marvel
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley
Mighty Avengers, you had such promise when you started. There was the idea of a registration Avengers team. There was the powerhouse of your line up. To start out you had BMB and Frank Cho and followed that up with Mark Bagley. Kind of like a certain President, you took that mandate and literally flushed it down the toilet. Oh, you didn’t lie to us, not really. You were just plagued by delays and boring drawn out stories that lost their dramatic impact by having the albatross of being three to four months behind the rest of the Marvel Universe behind you. As an imaginary story years down the road, you might have lived up to your promise, but alas it was not meant to be.
This is, by far, the worst issue yet. Really, nothing that is in this comic has been done and redone for forever. The promise of excitement by the funny coloring and the time displacement was lost by a first page that had nothing to do with events of the last issue and still leaves my head itchy. Then Bendis uses his new toys, thought bubbles, to paraphrase the words in the narrative boxes right next to them. Then there is the Sentry as babbling nutcase. Yeah, that got tired a couple years ago. He is the most powerful being in your universe stop coddling him, have him do something or let him get killed by the Skrulls. Please. Cliche after cliche pretty much hits us after this point. The Sentry throws Ben out a window to catch him? We have never seen that in a comic before. There is some witty banter between Doom and Stark, but it is all too little. Really the only clever part in the whole story is the use of Mastermind’s gambit to give the trio a way out of the past.
Bagley. I just don’t get the love. It must be that he is fast. Because, otherwise he seems like pretty typical 90's Marvel House art and when I use the word House art, I am never being kind. Really it is the coloring here by Ponsor that should be showcased, given the book the old school vibe that everyone seems to think is there.
This story does two things to me.. It bores me and it insults my intelligence by assuming that I have never read a comic before. Bad show guys, bad show.
Thunderbolts #119
Published by Marvel
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Mike Deodato, Jr.
So over in Iron Fist, Brubaker and Fraction have been dragging a story that was okay into the decompressed ground. Well now Ellis, a writer that I have the utmost respect for, is doing the same.
Here’s how it all plays out...
The Thunderbolts in lock down in the mountain: genius.
Swordmaster pitting security guards against security guards: priceless.
However, the bimonthly schedule is playing havoc on my tiny brain. I don’t even remember who the villains are or why Doc Sampson is with Robbie. I read way too many books to be lost until half way through, wondering if I read the last issue before it all starts to make sense. It all boils down to us being on part four of a storyline that should probably be finishing up, but instead there is a nice “to be continued” at the end of the issue.
Deodato does fine with what he is given, but there is not much to work with. A 30 second shoot out takes up FOUR PAGES and then has an epilogue that is a TWO PAGE SPLASH SPREAD!
It isn’t a bad book, it has just gone on too long. It’s time to put this one to rest, guys.
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