10 Thoughts Review on Avengers #3 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita

10 Thoughts, Reviews

1. Brian Michael Bendis has the Avengers facing a time displaced Apocalypse and his four horsemen before figuring out they need to send a team to fix what was causing the time dilemmas to begin with.

2. This issue is devoted to a giant fight without any real meaning. Apocalypse and his characters are a symptom of the problem, but have no depth, so unless the hitting things has some really cool concepts or character developments, it doesn’t work for a full issue. So, it doesn’t work for a full issue.

3. Bendis has his trademark pithy dialogue on display here, but he still writes a severely off character Wolverine. It feels like his Logan is for kids, and Tony Stark displays little of the intelligence he’s known for, instead seeming like a generic adventuring hero. Captain America is still generic. In fact, only Spider-Man, Maria Hill (who really has the same personality Bendis gave Victoria Hand) and Spider-Woman, along with Thor thanks to his dialogue style, really feel distinct. In a book carried by caring about characters, that won’t do.

4. John Romita’s art is very cartoony here, but could stand to be more dynamic and over the top. I feel like he should be having more fun with these fights. Is it just me?

5. Wolverine really, really should be a lot more on the ball about Apocalypse, being the former Death and all.

6. One of Apocalypse’s Horsemen is apparently Spider-Man. That royally sucks. I hate when non-mutants are Horsemen since Apoc believes mutants are the fittest… Hulk fit, if barely. Spidey doesn’t.

7. I forgot one character Bendis is developing – Noh Varr. I could have edited him in earlier, but he deserves his own bullet. This guy has been turned into something so freaking dull. He’s a generic science hero learning to be human. This was not the original Grant Morrison concept, at all, and really, really shouldn’t have been stapled on this character.

8. How the hell does going into the future to face Kang not warrant taking Thor with you to the future? Why send Iron Man and Noh Varr? You don’t need two science guys- you need a powerhouse. Way to write this to suit the plot, not what makes sense, Bendis.

9. Still, Devil Dinosuar almost has me sticking around for next issue, but I really like Apocalypse and the Horsemen and nothing interesting was done with them, so…

10. Rating: 3/10: So we get a big action scene that’s done with no energy and is fairly generic. The villains in the issue aren’t developed or doing anything of interest, while the real villain, who’s on the cover, mind you, doesn’t even appear. We have hackneyed characterization all around the book and it doesn’t even drive the plot… what little plot is moved forward here. Literally, nothing happens this issue. We knew there were time anomalies to begin with. We knew the Avengers had to go to the future to take care of them. We’re right back at square A again. I’m dropping this title.

Glazer is a former senior editor at Pulse Wrestling and editor and reviewer at The Comics Nexus.