Avengers #2
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by John Romita Jr
One thing I can say is that the characters definitely feel like Bendis writes them, and that isn’t a bad thing. He’s great with banter, and this issue he seals it by just continuing a trend he start with New Avengers, where he can really get banter out of any character without forcing it too much. His Iron Man especially surprises me as Tony is as witty as Spider-Man. And the team definitely carries more of an early New or Mighty Avengers tone as opposed to the old school approach. There’s definitely still some growing into the characters, at least with this dynamic, but it’s flowing nicely. Bendis also maintains his famous talking heads approach, as this story is VERY heavily driven by dialogue.
Romita Jr’s art is something that I do enjoy, but there are issues. There’s a big spread of Tony’s workshop and everyone working that looks great, with a heavy level of detail. There’s a lot of characters that make cameos, a lot of unique and individual designs, and while I won’t say much about the layout, it’s such a cool spread. For the most part, his art actually looks better in this issue then the previous, as he accents his strengths a for lot more. His strengths being men and action, to be honest.
The story itself concerns a lot more time travel as they ramp up the story that started last month, and that means a lot of talk about timelines, futures, Kang, Immortus, and to be honest? A lot of stuff that I love about Avengers and have been missing since Busiek’s run ended all those years ago. Kang is one of my favorite Avengers villains, and it’s been rough having only seen him in Young Avengers lately! Especially since it wasn’t lately! And his appearance in Guardians doesn’t count….because it’s not Avengers! But yeah, I love time travel and alternate futures and all the things that work the absolute best in comics. I mean, you start doing alternate futures and stuff in movies and your audience is lost, and when you start doing it in TV then your audience is watching Lost. But in comics it just works better, you get freedom to mess around without worrying about budgetary constraints or timing. You’ve got six issues, you use six issues, and you let your artist do things that would cost millions to put on the small screen.
A lot definitely happens in this issue even if it doesn’t initially seem like it, the plot itself doesn’t jump forward leaps and bounds, but it’s a good issue that shows off the purposes for a few of the team members, brings someone new into the fold, and even features a surprising (sort of) fight before the last page cliffhanger leaves you raising a WTF flag and wanting more. Definitely an enjoyable issue, and I do love how Bendis writes the Avengers, both core and New.
Overall?
8/10
